Michele Ahern
Assistant Deputy Commissioner
NYC DSS Office of Child Support Services
I have over twenty-five years of public service experience in programs and policies to reduce child and family poverty. I currently serve as Assistant Deputy Commissioner for Enforcement Operations for New York City’s Office of Child Support Services, which collects over $770 million annually. In this role, I am responsible for the appropriate application of administrative and judicial enforcement remedies; developing programs to assist low-income obligors; and identifying new strategies to increase collections.
Over the course of my career, I have held both policy and operational roles in child support and related social service programs, both in New York and in the federal government. Prior to my current role, I was the Chief Advisor to the Commissioner of the NYC Human Resources Administration (HRA), the City’s principal social services agency, serving more than three million New Yorkers annually. At HRA, I also developed and administered employment programs for low-skilled workers, and, in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, directed critical citywide storm response efforts. More recently, I led New York City’s participation in a federal OCSE-supported demonstration to provide occupational skills training to parents who owe child support but are unable to fully meet their obligations due to low earnings.
At the federal level, I was a senior budget analyst at the federal Office of Management and Budget, where I had budget, policy and regulatory oversight responsibility for income support programs, including the federal child support program and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. I began my government career at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, conducting analyses of 1996 welfare reform legislation. I hold a Master in Public Policy from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.
I am a current member of the NCSEA Board of Directors and currently serve on the Policy and Government Relations (PGR) Committee. I previously served on the PGR Legislative Education Subcommittee, of which I was co-chair for two years.
