Minnesota Department of Human Services Commissioner Jodi Harpstead will step down next month, Gov. Tim Walz announced on Monday.

Harpstead, who was appointed in August 2019, will vacate her post on Feb. 3.

“I have been so proud to be the Commissioner of the caring, competent, and high-capacity Department of Human Services,” Harpstead said in a statement. “I’m pleased that we were able to balance new, stronger process controls with greater responsiveness to community partners, worked with the DHS grants and contracts team to imagine a re-design of the agency’s thousands of grants, and built an unparalleled team of strong senior leaders.”

Walz applauded Harpstead’s work running one of the largest agencies in the state.

“I am proud of her work running the most complex and wide-ranging agency in state government,” Walz said in a statement. “I am especially proud of how Commissioner Harpstead supported the enterprise-wide work to separate DHS into three separate agencies, which will make each of them more effective, more accountable, and easier to manage.”

The Department of Children, Youth and Families spun off from DHS in July 2024, and the Department of Direct Care and Treatment will follow in July 2025.

Harpstead’s resignation comes as federal authorities investigate allegations that youth autism centers abused a DHS-administered program to defraud millions in Medicaid reimbursements. A 2022 report from the Office of the Legislative Auditor also found a pattern of lax oversight of DHS programs.

5 INVESTIGATES has also reported extensively on the agency’s failure to move inmates to state-run treatment facilities within 48 hours of a judge’s order for civil commitment, as was required — until recently — by state law.

As of Monday, Walz had not named an interim DHS commissioner to take Harpstead’s place.