Michelle Harper

Michelle Harper, MPAff, is a Principle of Treaty Oak Strategies. She is based in Austin and has over 25 years of experience in health and human services advocacy, research, policy, and program operations. 

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Michelle previously served as Executive Vice President for State Partnerships and Executive Director at the Center for Child and Family Wellness at the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute, where she helped craft and advance some of the most successful mental health policies and programs in the nation—many of which are now serving as a blueprint for other states. During Michelle’s time at the Institute, she led a multi-disciplinary team building a coordinated mental health system for children, youth, and their families, working in partnership with communities across the state to increase access to care. Michelle also provided leadership on the Institute's local and state policy initiatives. 

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Prior to that, she worked at the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC)serving in a number of roles. As the Associate Commissioner for Community Access and Services Michelle was responsible for the Division's vision and setting strategies for delivering client services through faith- and community-based organizations; she oversaw a budget of $160 Million, 850+ contracts, and 12 health and human services programs that included partnerships with Food Banks, SNAP nutrition education programs, 211 Information and Referral providers, and Texas Community Partner non-profit enrollment organizations. As the Deputy State Medicaid/CHIP director for the Office of Policy, she oversaw the analysis, development and implementation of acute and long-term care program and clinical policy, administrative rules, waivers, and State Plans, for the Medicaid, CHIP and Texas Women's Health Programs. Michelle also served as a government relations specialist and in several Medicaid and CHIP policy advisor roles during her tenure at HHSC. While at the agency, Michelle led and oversaw a number of initiatives including: the development of STAR Kids, a managed care program for children and youth with disabilities, the transition of the Medicaid Women's Health Program to the state-funded Texas Women's Health Program, Medicaid and CHIP implementation of the Affordable Care Act, and the restructuring of the contracts and grants management organization pursuant to Sunset transformation recommendations. 

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Michelle worked for Kaiser Permanente Health Plan, analyzing legislation for the health plan and hospitals and leading implementation projects; the Consumers Union in San Francisco, overseeing the Healthy Kids, Healthy Schools' policy agenda for increasing enrollment in health insurance; and Child Trends, a non-profit research organization in Washington, DC, working on health and human services research projects. 

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Michelle has a bachelor's degree from the Pennsylvania State University and a Master of Public Affairs from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin.