UB's Krause to Help Choose Leadership in County Executive's Transition Team

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Denise Krause, clinical professor and associate dean for community engagement and alumni relations in the University at Buffalo School of Social Work, has been named to the health and human services subcommittee of County Executive-elect Mark C. Poloncarz's transition team.

Krause will help select key positions in the administration, including the first deputy commissioner of social services, deputy commissioner of youth services and the director of legal affairs for social services.

Krause joins more than 50 other community, business and government leaders chosen to nominate positions for the Poloncarz administration when he takes office in January. All transition team members serve as volunteers.

"I am grateful to the executive committee and subcommittee members who have volunteered time out of their incredibly busy lives to help the transition for my incoming administration," said Poloncarz, elected to the four-year county executive term last month when he defeated incumbent Chris Collins. Poloncarz is only the second Democrat elected in the 51-year history of the office.

"As the subcommittees begin reviewing the applications and credentials from those persons interested in serving our community, I will rely on the expertise and unique viewpoints that each member brings to the table in order to recruit an administration representative of all of Erie County."

Krause will serve in the Health and Human Services Subcommittee under co-chairwomen Brenda McDuffie and Patty deVinney.

Krause's professional interests and areas of special expertise include solution-focused practice, interventions with individuals and families, and teaching and online education. Krause has been involved in several ongoing solution-focused training initiatives in New York State since 2005.

She works with the New York State Office of Children and Family Services, county-level social service departments and voluntary agencies to train at the administrative, supervisory and direct service levels. She also has been instrumental in the New York State Unified Court System's training project to help court personnel find solutions and strategies from a trauma-informed perspective.

Poloncarz's transition team received more than 650 applications from persons interested in serving in Erie County government, according to the county executive-elect's office. The subcommittee members will begin to review the applications, conduct interviews and make recommendations to the county executive-elect. In addition, the executive committee members will conduct interviews with selected candidates who are candidates for positions as department heads in the Poloncarz administration.

The transition team will help Poloncarz fill approximately 70 positions within the incoming administration, ranging from department heads to other policymaking, administrative and managerial confidential staff positions. Announcements on the filling of specific positions will be made by the county executive-elect's office in the near future.