Howard Hendrick
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Howard Hendrick is a politician from the US state of Oklahoma.
Hendrick has been director of the Oklahoma Department of Human Services since July 1, 1998. With offices in all 77 counties, Director Hendrick leads a staff of nearly 8,000 employees and administers a $1.7 billion budget. Hundreds of thousands of Oklahomans are touched daily by more than 40 state and federal human services programs administered under his leadership. Director Hendrick is currently in his second terms as Cabinet Secretary for Human Services for Democratic Governor of Oklahoma Brad Henry and served as Cabinet Secretary for Health and Human Services for former Republican Gov. Frank Keating.
Before being named Director, Hendrick served 12 years as a member of the Oklahoma State Senate, representing parts of northwest Oklahoma City; Bethany, Oklahoma; Yukon, Oklahoma; and Warr Acres, Oklahoma. During his tenure, he amassed a career roll-call voting record in excess of 99 percent. He served two years as the Republican Floor Leader in the State Senate.
For many years, he served as the Senate representative to the Oklahoma State Pension Commission and the legislative representative to SoonerStart, the Interagency Coordinating Council for Early Childhood Interventions. Hendrick has served on several national committees for legislative organizations, primarily sharing state solutions to America’s health care and welfare problems.
Director Hendrick was reared in Bethany, Oklahoma. He graduated summa cum laude from Southern Nazarene University earning his undergraduate degree in accounting. During his years at Southern Nazarene, he was active in Circle K International, the collegiate affiliate of Kiwanis International, holding numerous elective offices, including international president.
During the three years following his graduation from college, Director Hendrick passed the Certified Public Accountant’s examination and earned both an MBA and a law degree from the University of Oklahoma. Upon graduation from law school, he was elected to Order of the Coif in recognition of his legal scholarship for graduating in the top 10 percent of his law school class. He practiced business, real estate and tax law for 17 years before his selection as Human Services Director.
He is active in numerous, local and national, civic, professional and church organizations. He is a member of the Oklahoma Bar Association. He serves on the Executive Committee for the National Council of State Human Services Administrators. He serves on the boards of the National Children’s Alliance, Nazarene Theological Seminary and the American Public Human Services Association. Locally, he served as chairman of the state employees State Charitable Campaign for seven years and serves on the United Way of Greater Oklahoma City Advisory Board of Trustees. He has served on the church board at Bethany First Church of the Nazarene for many years. The Oklahoma Institute of Child Advocacy named him to the Child Advocates Hall of Fame in 2003. In 2004, he was one of four Americans to receive the National Public Service Award for leadership in public administration from the American Society of Public Administration and National Academy of Public Administration.
His most important commitments are to his family. He and his wife, Tracy, have been married for 30 years. They have four children: Chelsey who was recently married; Cally who is in college; Christiana who is in high school; and Hudson who is in middle school. His nights and weekends are stuffed with baseball, basketball, soccer, musicals and homework.
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