Executive Chamber has New Appointments

Joe Baker will serve as the Assistant Deputy Secretary for Health and Human Services. Mr. Baker previously served as Health Care Bureau Chief in the Office of the New York State Attorney General. From 1994 - 2001, Mr. Baker was Executive Vice President of the Medicare Rights Center, which became one of the nation’s leading Medicare consumer organizations during his tenure. Previously, Mr. Baker was the Associate Director of Legal Services for Gay Men’s Health Crisis. He has served as a member of the Standards Committee and the Consumer Advisory Council of the National Committee for Quality Assurance and the Co-Chair of the Consumer/Patient Rights Subcommittee of the Health Law Section of the New York State Bar Association. Mr. Baker has also served as a Consumer Representative of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. Mr. Baker received a B.A. and a J.D. from the University of Virginia.

Debra Bachrach will serve as Deputy Commissioner of the Office of Health Insurance Programs (OHIP) as well as the State’s Medicaid Director. OHIP is a newly created office within the Department of Health, charged with operating the State’s public health insurance programs, which are Medicaid, Family Health Plus, Child Health Plus and EPIC. From 1992 until November 2006, Ms. Bachrach was a partner at the law firm of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips where she served as Co-Chair of the Not-For-Profit Practice group. Between 1987 and 1992, Ms. Bachrach served as Vice President of External Affairs at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center. Before joining St. Luke’s-Roosevelt, she served for four years as Chief Assistant Attorney General in the office of New York State Attorney General Robert Abrams. Previously, Ms. Bachrach had served for three years as Chief of the Attorney General’s Civil Rights Bureau. She was also an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Law at the New York University School of Law where she taught the Public Interest Seminar. Ms. Bachrach received her B.S. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1971, and her J.D. from NYU School of Law in 1974.

Lloyd Constantine will serve as Special Counsel. Mr. Constantine served as a Transition Co-Chair for Governor Eliot Spitzer. He is the current Chairman of Constantine Cannon, a commercial litigation firm in New York and Washington, DC. Mr. Constantine has extensive litigation experience at all levels of federal and state courts. Mr. Constantine is the former Assistant Attorney General in Charge of Antitrust Enforcement for the State of New York (1980-1991). He served as Chair of the Antitrust Task Force of the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) from 1985-89. From 1998-1999, Mr. Constantine chaired the Transition Committee for incoming New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. He was a member of McDermott, Will & Emery from 1991 through March 1994 and devoted the first eight years of his career to the Legal Services program, representing indigents in civil rights and civil liberties litigation. Mr. Constantine also served as an Adjunct Professor of Antitrust Law at Fordham University School of Law from 1989 through 1996. He received his B.A. from Williams College and his J.D. from Columbia Law.

Marlene Turner will serve as Chief of Staff. For the past eight years, Ms. Turner served as Scheduler to Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. Ms. Turner began her career in 1972, working for the American Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) in both the corporate and news divisions. In 1978, she chose to leave ABC to raise her family. Ms. Turner received her B.A. from the University of Pittsburgh in 1967 and her J.D. from Fordham University in 1972.