Gov. Tony Evers announced Friday that Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services (DSPS) Secretary Dawn Crim will be leaving his administration on Aug. 1.
“Secretary Crim has been absolutely critical to my administration from the very beginning, and her leadership has been indispensable on several fronts—from her efforts to ensure we have high standards for those serving and caring for Wisconsinites across our state to monitoring and preventing the misuse of prescription drugs to her work as chair of my Equity and Inclusion Advisory Council and so much more,” said Gov. Evers in a statement. “Even before joining my cabinet, I’ve known Dawn to be an exceptional leader, and I’ve long considered her to be a great friend. There is no challenge she hasn’t been willing to take on and work to solve, including throughout the many challenges we’ve faced together over the last three years. I’m incredibly grateful for her extraordinary service to the people of Wisconsin, and I wish her and her family all the best.”
The Department of Safety and Professional Services employs more than 250 people across five offices throughout the state providing a wide range of services, from building and boiler inspections and plan reviews to professional credentialing and state fire prevention programming.
“For the past three and a half years I have been focused on modernizing our agency, integrating our systems and staff, and securing the resources we need to work efficiently and effectively across all our divisions,” Secretary Crim said. “After more than ten years of operating with disparate processes and policies, DSPS is now a unified agency focused on ensuring safety and supporting the economy. I am proud of what I have accomplished in the past three and a half years. It has been a privilege to serve under Gov. Evers and to be a part of this administration.”
During her tenure at DSPS, Secretary Crim oversaw a redesign of the building plan review process to expedite decisions and updates to the state’s commercial building codes and plumbing codes, according to a press release from the governor’s office, and also assembled the Mass Timber Task Force, mobilized a task force of healthcare leadership to advise on the Evers Administration’s coronavirus pandemic response, and served as the inaugural chair of the Governor’s Equity and Inclusion Advisory Council in addition to developing the agency’s first-ever equity and inclusion plan.
Gov. Evers announced that he is appointing Dan Hereth, now Assistant Deputy Secretary at DSPS, to serve as Secretary-designee of DSPS upon Secretary Crim’s departure.
