Phyllis Busansky

Phyllis Busansky most recently was a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, where her research focused on a wide variety of welfare reform, health care, and workforce issues. Before that, she served as executive director of the Florida Work & Gain Economic Self-Sufficiency (WAGES) Board. Under her leadership of Florida’s welfare-to-work program, the welfare caseload decreased by over 80 percent, saving the state $500 million in welfare payments. Her work in establishing policies, creating local boards, and supporting 24 coalitions helped to reform the program at both community and state levels. In the public sector, Busansky was elected to the Hillsborough County Commission in 1988 and chaired the Commission in 1991 before being reelected to a second term in 1992. In addition, she has earned local, state and national recognition and was named Governing Magazine’s Public Official of the Year for her role in establishing Hillsborough County’s Indigent Health Care Plan, which provided the indigent and working poor with affordable health care and, ultimately, reduced health care costs. She also served as director of the Hillsborough County Department of Human Resources. In this capacity, she developed counseling, employee assistance, minority internship, and other career planning programs. From 1980-1985, Phyllis was the director of the Hillsborough County Department of Aging Services, where she initiated community care programs that served 9,000 elderly throughout the county. Before relocating to Florida in 1980, she held various public service positions in Massachusetts. Most notably, she was the deputy director of Public Service Employment in Boston, Mass., where she developed a job placement and training program. She also served as executive director of Freeport, a model home for adolescents in crisis, and was joint owner of Boston Careers, Inc., a business providing training and counseling for women seeking part-time employment.

See also: Busansky2006.com