The Northern Kentucky Health Department has narrowed its search for a new director to three candidates.
NKY Health, the regional health office based in Florence, began its search for a new district director of health after the former director, Dr. Lynne Saddler, issued her resignation in April 2021. Her last day with the regional health department was Dec. 31, 2021.
The new director will oversee at least 140 employees, full-time and part-time, as well as serve as “the highly visible ‘face’ of public health in Northern Kentucky,” according to the job description shared with LINK nky. The future director will be offered a salary between $140,000 and $200,000, the job description states.
The position was posted on public health job boards, and the health department has also contracted with Mercer Group Associates in its candidate search. The application window closed on June 13.
Mercer, a senior consulting and recruiting firm, based in Athens, Georgia, has a $25,000 contract with the health department for this search, plus the cost of travel and advertising, according to Director of Administration and Accounting George Moore.
On Tuesday, July 5, the health department search committee met and narrowed its list of 13 candidates to three for interviews. The committee did not share the identities of the three candidates on its shortlist.
Minimum qualifications listed for the position include a graduate degree in public health or a related field and a minimum of five years of “increasingly responsible professional experience in a management capacity with a public health department/system.”
The description also notes a licensed doctor trained in public health that is eligible to practice in Kentucky is “desirable but not required” for serious consideration.