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Amy is a government administration strategist with two decades of executive leadership experience, including serving as the Deputy Secretary for the Wisconsin Department of Corrections and directing numerous public programs for Milwaukee County. Secretary-designee Pechacek has managed benefit administration, health and life safety functions, community development, criminal justice and juvenile detention reform, and other complex program services for multimillion-member constituencies. For the past decade she has been involved in public policy creation and implementation, and acted in advisory roles for various practice areas associated with local and large-scale governmental administration, specializing in crisis management for compliance related damage mitigation and program recovery. Amy began her career as a licensed private detective focused on fraud investigations, and has traveled the country extensively working undercover.
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.
Pam was named the DWD Deputy Secretary in July 2021 and has been a member of DWD's leadership team since March 2019, serving a DWD's Chief Legal Counsel. As Chief Legal Counsel she managed DWD's Office of Legal Counsel and has overseen numerous high-level agency projects and personnel matters. She has served as the department's representative to the Governor's Task Force on Climate Change, the Governor's Task Force on Retirement Security, and the State Criminal Justice Coordinating Council and as the department's Tribal liaison.
Prior to joining DWD, Pam worked as an attorney at the Department of Health Services, advising the agency on personnel disputes, civil rights, and contract-related matters. Before her work for the state, Pam was a litigation attorney in private practice for over 16 years, most recently as a partner at McGillivray Westerberg & Bender LLC, a law firm dedicated to public service. Pam represented individuals and non-profit organizations seeking to remedy discrimination in employment and places of public accommodation, to correct constitutional wrongs for people arrested or imprisoned, and to protect our air and water through litigation.
She graduated from the University of Wisconsin Law School and received her undergraduate degree from UW-Madison in history. Pam grew up on the beautiful shores of Lake Superior and now resides in Madison.
Biography under development
DWD Contact Information
201 E. Washington Ave
P.O. Box 7946
Madison, WI 53707
(608) 266-3131
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