When the Montgomery County Council confirmed Angela Talley as the first African American woman to lead the County’s Department of Correction and Rehabilitation (DOCR) – nationally recognized for its work in the fight against recidivism. Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich moved another step closer to filling all vacancies in his administration.
The Council also recently confirmed Elrich’s nominations for the director of the County’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS); the director and deputy director of the Department of Housing and Community Affairs (DHCA); and the director for the County’s Office of Human Resources (OHR).
The list of confirmed appointees is as follows –
DHCA Director Aseem Nigam – Nigam has more than 26 years of results-driven experience in housing finance and development, and quantitative research and evaluation. He joins the County after working in Fairfax, Va., where he was the director of Real Estate Finance and Grants Management for the Fairfax County Redevelopment & Housing Authority.
DHCA Deputy Director Frank Demarais – Having accrued a broad range of responsibilities in the housing industry since 1979, including local and national program development, management of mortgage loan products and affordable housing development, Demarais joins the County after having served as the Home Purchase Assistance Program Manager at the Washington, D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development.
DHHS Director Raymond Crowel – Crowel has more than 30 years of experience leading senior-level teams and partnerships in creating and managing services that address complex health and human service needs. He served as chief of DHHS’ Behavioral Health and Crisis Services for the past 10 years, leading staff in the implementation of core behavioral health, substance abuse and crisis services. In this role, he jointly established and co-chaired the County’s Opioid Intervention Team, a cross-departmental effort to coordinate data-driven efforts to reduce opioid overdoses and addiction. Recently, he helped broker a public-private partnership to design, build and operate a new addiction-treatment facility, which is currently under construction, on the site of the Avery Road Treatment Center.
DOCR Director Angela Talley – Since joining the County in 1990, including two years with DHHS and 27 with DOCR, Talley has years of management oversight of adult correctional facilities, Pre-Trial Services and juvenile justice programs. She also has expertise in management; corrections; criminal justice; Pre-Trial Services and Pre-Trial Reform; court and jail diversion; correctional facility operations; correctional program and services; offender work force development and work release; accreditation; administration; human resource management; labor relations and case management services. Talley had been serving as acting director since her predecessor, Rob Green, departed in May 2019 to be the head of the State’s Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.
OHR Director Berke Atilla – Recognized by The Daily Record as one of the 2018 Very Important Professionals Successful Before 40 in Maryland, Atilla has expertise in executive management; human capital development; financial analysis; budgeting; asset management; change management; business improvement; and performance management and measurement. Atilla joins the County from the City of Baltimore where he was the CFO and chief of the Office of Fiscal and Strategic Management for the city’s Department of General Services.
Remaining vacancies include the chief of the Montgomery County Police Department, as well as directors for the County’s Public Libraries, Department of Permitting Services, Department of Finance and the Department of Technology Services. Though not department directors, Elrich will also nominate a Chief Equity Officer and a Chief Digital Officer. All appointments require confirmation by the County Council.
