Beverly D. Mackereth Politician

Beverly "Bev" D. Mackereth (née Ehrlich) is the Secretary of the Department of Public Welfare and a former member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. She represented the 196th state legislative district in York County, Pennsylvania and is a member of the Republican Party.Mackereth is a 1979 graduate of Frostburg State University. Following college, she worked at the York County Blind Center. Later she became a Supervisor at York County Children and Youth Services, and a Victim Witness Coordinator at the York County Attorney’s office. In 1997, Governor Tom Ridge appointed her Deputy Director of the Governor’s Community Partnership for Safe Children.Mackereth served on the Spring Grove, Pennsylvania borough council and then as Mayor of from 1996-2000. In 2000, she ran for the State House of Representatives, when incumbent Todd Platts opted to run for Congress instead of running for re-election. She defeated Democratic nominee Donald Hake by a wide margin, and took office in 2001. She has been re-elected in every election since.Representative Mackereth chaired the Subcommittee on Drugs and Alcohol, and was a member of the committees of Judiciary, Children and Youth, Education, and Health and Human Services. She remains a resident of Spring Grove, and is married with four children.Mackereth announced in July 2008 that she would retire at the end of her term in order to take a position as York County's Director of Human Services.Bev Mackereth, who has worked her way through government positions, including state legislator and York County's human services director, said Friday she was honored to be named acting secretary for the Pennsylvania's public welfare department.Mackereth, who has been serving as the department's deputy director for the Office of Children, Youth and Families since 2011, will take the reins from Secretary Gary Alexander, whose last day will be Feb. 15. Gov. Tom Corbett announced the appointment in a news release.