Garcia resigns as Iowa HHS Director, will be replaced by Iowa DIAL leader

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DES MOINES — Kelly Garcia has resigned as director of the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, Gov. Kim Reynolds’ office announced Monday.

Reynolds has appointed Larry Johnson, the current director of the Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing, to replace Garcia as HHS Director.

Garcia will leave the state agency next month, Reynolds’ office said. Her new employer will make an announcement “likely sometime later this week,” an Iowa HHS spokesman told The Gazette.

Garcia was appointed director of the Iowa Department of Human Services in November of 2019. She was the agency’s director through the COVID-19 pandemic and its consolidation with the formerly independent Iowa