A former deputy director of the state Department of Human Services will return to the department in a lower-level position -- but with a higher salary -- after a stint at a nonprofit agency, the department announced late Tuesday.
Mark White will start work on Feb. 19 as deputy director of the department's Aging, Adult and Behavioral Health Division, according to a department news release.
As one of the department's deputy directors before he left in 2016, White, who is now 41, oversaw five divisions, including two that later merged to form the Aging, Adult and Behavioral Health Division.
After a year and a half in that position, he left for a job with the nonprofit Arkansas Public School Resource Center, which provides support to charter schools and rural school districts.
In his new role at the Human Services Department, White will work under Aging, Adult and Behavioral Health Division Director Jay Hill.
White will help the division take over functions that had been a part of the Aging and Adult Services Division, which merged with the Behavioral Health Services Division, according to the department release.
Once the transition is complete, White will oversee Adult Protective Services, which investigates reports of maltreatment and neglect of older Arkansans, and ARChoices, which provides in-home assistance to the elderly and disabled. He also will work with the state's community mental health centers.
"Mark has extensive knowledge of this area of DHS," department Director Cindy Gillespie said in the news release. "He is a steady, capable leader who is highly respected in this agency and across the state. There was no doubt that he was the right choice for this new position."
The division deputy director post was created using a job slot that had been assigned to a different part of the department and hadn't been filled, department spokesman Marci Manley said.
White made an annual salary of $123,169.49 when he left the department in 2016. His salary in the new role will be $127,655, Manley said.
Metro on 02/01/2018