Amy Pechacek serves as the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development secretary, a cabinet-level appointment under Governor Tony Evers.

Evers named Pechacek the transition leader at the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development (DWD) on Sept. 18, 2020, and asked for the resignation of then DWD Secretary Caleb Frostman, citing a backlog of unemployment insurance claims during the pandemic.[1]

Gov. Evers appointed Pechacek secretary-designee on Dec. 29, 2020.[2] Pechacek hired Google to help clear the backlog of unemployment insurance claims.[3] The solution used predictive analytics and artificial intelligence to evaluate claims and clear a backlog that a team of adjudicators faced.[4][5]

Evers appointed Pechacek in October 2023 to lead a 30-member commission on artificial intelligence, called the Governor's Task Force on Workforce and Artificial Intelligence.[6]

Secretary Amy Pechacek responds to a journalist in La Crosse, Wis. at an event in 2024.
Pechacek responds to a journalist in La Crosse, Wis. at an event in 2024.

References

edit
  1. ^ "Wisconsin secretary resigns amid unemployment claim backlog". Associated Press News. 18 September 2020.
  2. ^ "Evers appoints DWD Secretary-Designee". 31 December 2020.
  3. ^ Wood, Colin (August 12, 2021). "Google's AI helped Wisconsin clear unemployment backlog".
  4. ^ "Wisconsin partners with Google to process unemployment insurance claims". TMJ4 News. October 19, 2020.
  5. ^ Beck, Laura Schulte and Molly. "DWD chief sets goal of clearing unemployment backlog before 2021 after Google helps clear 103K claims in one week". Journal Sentinel.
  6. ^ "Members Named for Wisconsin Task Force on Workforce and AI". 27 October 2023.