System Board

Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development Secretary Amy Pechacek has focused her career on public service, with an emphasis on government administration strategy, and crisis and risk management. Before joining DWD in September 2020, she served as Deputy Secretary for the Wisconsin Department of Corrections and previously directed numerous public programs for Milwaukee County.

Amy's early efforts at DWD turned the tide on a backlog of unemployment insurance benefit claims that arose during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, through her leadership, the department is continuing its comprehensive modernization efforts – improving customer service with tools ranging from machine learning and multi-language translation to an ongoing overhaul of a decades-old mainframe system.

During her tenure, Wisconsin's economy has achieved record low unemployment, a record high number of jobs, and a labor force participation rate that has remained at least 2 percentage points above the national average. Thanks to Gov. Tony Evers' historic investment in workforce development, Amy has integrated strategic new initiatives with longstanding DWD programs to reduce employment barriers and address a worker quantity challenge arising from demographic trends that have been decades in the making.

She received her master's degree in public policy and public administration from Northwestern University and her undergraduate degree from UW-Madison in sociology and criminal justice. Amy is also a graduate of the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service's Senior Executive Institute at the University of Virginia.

Ex-Officio Member

Secretary, Department of Workforce Development
201 E Washington Ave
PO Box 7946
Madison, WI  53707-7946
amyc.pechacek@dwd.wisconsin.gov
(608) 267-1410