Public Policy Forum names new president

The executive committee of the Public Policy Forum’s board of trustees has selected Rob Henken, the top administrative official in Milwaukee County government, as its next president. He will succeed Jeff Browne at the Forum’s annual meeting in early March.

Henken has served in several high-level research and administrative positions in Milwaukee County government and has extensive experience in policy research. Since early 2007, he has been director of the Milwaukee County Department of Administrative Services. Before that, he was director of the county’s Health and Human Services Department for almost three years. He also has been research director and budget analyst for the county board.

“Rob’s background, experience, and standing in the community will serve the Forum well,” says F. William Haberman, Forum chairman and a member of the search committee that selected Henken. “His work in the public policy and nonprofit sectors will enhance the Forum’s almost 100-year tradition of solid, nonpartisan research on issues affecting all of southeastern Wisconsin.”

Before joining the county in 1998, Henken was executive director of the Milwaukee Jobs Initiative and the Alliance for Future Transit, both nonprofits. Prior to that, he worked in Washington, D.C., as staff director for the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere Affairs, and as a legislative aide for two U.S. Congressmen. Henken has a bachelor’s degree in history from Brown University (Providence, R.I.) and a master’s in journalism and public affairs from The American University (Washington, D.C.).