Alex Mayer, whose departure as secretary of the West Virginia Department of Human Services was announced last Friday, has already gone to work as director of a national consulting firm.
Mayer’s profile on LinkedIn, the social media platform focused on careers, indicates a March start date as a director with a company called Guidehouse.
Guidehouse specializes in healthcare, financial services, defense and national security plus energy and infrastructure.
The company has been involved with projects across a range of West Virginia government, including partnering with the West Virginia Office of Energy to design and document Home Energy and Home Efficiency and Appliance rebate programs.
More broadly, Guidehouse has participated in bidding for state-level performance evaluation and auditing services for the West Virginia Department of Administration.
Guidehouse’s work in West Virginia also included a foster care listening tour that started last spring and wrapped up last fall.
West Virginia has an entrenched and complicated problem with children who cannot live in their original homes. The state’s foster care dashboard shows 5,905 foster care placements.
“The Department is committed to listening with intention and turning that listening into action,” Mayer said when the tour launched across eight cities.
The West Virginia Department of Human Services paid $348,000 for Guidehouse to facilitate the meetings and produce the report.
The April 1, 2025, contract listed Mayer as the state agency’s project director.
Mayer’s hiring to lead West Virginia’s human services agency was announced Feb. 3, 2025. He is a U.S. Army veteran with more than a decade of experience in public administration, operations management, strategic planning, and public policy.
Previously, he held leadership roles in the state of South Dakota, particularly as the chief of Children and Family Services.
“I look forward to working alongside dedicated professionals to improve the well-being of West Virginians, with a special focus on supporting our most vulnerable populations,” Mayer said when his hiring was announced in West Virginia.
Last year, when Mayer testified before the West Virginia Senate Judiciary Committee, then-chairman Mike Stuart proposed ramping up legislative oversight of the agency. Stuart was pushing to direct a comprehensive, independent study of West Virginia’s child welfare system.
On March 10, 2025, as senators pressed Mayer, he promised that the agency would work toward improvement and suggested that no study would be necessary.
“It will take time, but I think, you know the timeline that’s laid out in this study or this bill, by that time, I think we’ll have meaningful change within the system by then. And I don’t need a study to do it, and I think we can do it and accomplish it without the bill that you have in front of you,” Mayer told senators last year.
When Stuart interacted with Mayer last year in the state Senate, the then-chairman said the responsibility for improving West Virginia’s child welfare system would belong to Mayer.
“If it’s not going to be helpful, your effort we’ll lay it on the table and a year from now, when you come to us, if this system isn’t improving and fixed, accountability is on your shoulders,” Stuart told Mayer at the time.
Stuart has left the state Senate for roles in the executive branch of the federal government. He took a role last year as general counsel for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Today, in a text, Stuart said important work with West Virginia child welfare remains not done.
“I have no knowledge as to the reason(s) Mayer left the role but I will say I predicted a year ago that his stay would be fairly short. He is not from West Virginia, had no local family relationships that I am aware of, and it’s a tough role,” Stuart said. “In that role, a month is a year.”
Stuart said he is glad to see the appearance of sincere efforts to try to improve the child welfare system in West Virginia, but he said when it comes to child welfare, “incremental change is our enemy.”
“I also don’t believe there is consensus among policy makers for bold, effective solutions to the long-standing and tragic place of child welfare in West Virginia. Too many of our policy makers view it from a ‘$$ today’ standpoint. They believe it’s ‘someone else’s problem’ and don’t believe we can afford the dollars to fix it,” he said.
“I, on the other hand, believe we can’t afford to not fix it. The costs of a broken child welfare system are far greater than simple economic measures. The economy of West Virginia will rise or fall on the health of our families and the long term effects are devastating.”
Mayer’s departure from the state government role was effective Sunday. Christina Mullins, the current deputy secretary for mental health and substance use disorders, is stepping in as acting secretary following Mayer’s departure.
“I want to thank Alex Mayer for leading the Department of Human Services during an important period for our state,” Gov. Patrick Morrisey said in an announcement.
“He has worked tirelessly on behalf of West Virginians, and I wish him the very best as he pursues an opportunity in the private sector.”