William C. Bell became President and Chief Executive Officer of Casey Family Programs on Jan. 1, 2006. Casey Family Programs is the largest national operating foundation with a mission focused solely on providing and improving—and ultimately preventing the need for—foster care.
Prior to leading the foundation, Mr. Bell provided strategic direction to Casey Family Programs as its Executive Vice President of Child and Family Services in Casey's nine field offices in Arizona, California, Idaho, Texas and Washington. In this capacity, he provided leadership to staff working directly with young people from the public child-welfare system to provide quality services in safe and stable families through foster care, kinship care, family reunification, guardianship and adoption.
Career highlights
Mr. Bell has nearly 30 years of experience in the human services field. Prior to joining Casey, he served 2 1/2 years as Commissioner of the New York City Administration for Children’s Services (ACS). There he managed child welfare services—including Child Protection, Foster Care, Child Abuse Prevention, Day Care, and Head Start—with a staff of more than 7,000 and a budget of about $2.4 billion.
From 1996 to 2001, Mr. Bell served as Deputy Commissioner of ACS’s Division of Child Protection. From 1994 to 1996, he served as Deputy Commissioner of Field Services and Contract Agency Case Management for the New York City Human Resources Administration. In the early 1990s, Mr. Bell was Associate Executive Director for Miracle Makers, the largest minority-owned, not-for-profit child and family services organization in New York.
Selected public service and honors
Mr. Bell is a trustee for America’s Promise, and he serves on the American Bar Association’s Commission on Youth at Risk. He is also on the board of directors of the Association of Black Foundation Executives and the Marguerite Casey Foundation, and is co-chair of the board of directors of the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative. Mr. Bell is also a member of the board of Grantmakers for Children, Youth, and Families.
He has served as a member of the Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care, a member of the executive committee of the National Association of Public Child Welfare Administrators, and as a member of the board of directors for the Council on Social Work Education.
Mr. Bell’s many awards and honors include the 2007 International Rhoda G. Sarnat Award from the National Association of Social Workers Foundation, recognizing his contribution to advancing public awareness and recognition of the value of professional social work; the 2006 Lutheran Social Services of New York President’s Award for Leadership; the 2005 Valeria Bullard Black Administrator of the Year Award from the Black Administrators in Child Welfare; the 2004 Betsey R. Rosenbaum Award for Excellence in Public Child Welfare Administration from the National Association for Public Child Welfare Administrators; and the 2000 Child Welfare League of America Advocacy Merit Award for Outstanding Leadership in Children’s Services. In 2003, he was inducted into the Hunter College Alumni Hall of Fame.
Mr. Bell earned his master’s degree in social work at Hunter College School of Social Work, where he is currently a doctoral candidate. He received his bachelor’s degree in biology and behavioral science from Delta State University.