Jennie Sutcliffe appointed; vows to guard against Trump-Kennedy cuts
by Robert Lynch; June 18, 2025
You’ll never accuse Jennie Sutcliffe of backing down in a fight. At least that’s the lasting impression one got from hearing the Trumansburg native’s acceptance speech June 17 after the Tompkins County Legislature unanimously appointed the animated, highly-credentialed policy advocate as its newest Commissioner of Whole Health.
“(It’s) what I’ve sort of been calling meeting the political moment,” Sutcliffe told the Legislature as she embraced her appointment Tuesday. “We need to be playing defense to really defend the work that we’re doing and prove why it is important, but also to play offense,” Sutcliffe said.
The new administrative hire explained why a defensive posture requires offense as well..
“It feels a little bit silly to think that it’s important to be forward-looking right now,” Sutcliffe acknowledged. “But if there are systems that are dismantled and if we lose funding, and programs have to stop someday, we will have the chance to rebuild those again, and we don’t want to be caught flat-footed when that happens,” she explained. “So I think it’s important to be thinking defensively, but also a little bit offensively in this moment as well.”
Jennie Sutcliffe was one, but not the only Tompkins County department head the Legislature appointed Tuesday.
With much less fanfare, and relegated to the end of a four-hour meeting—which included an hour-long Executive Session—legislators promoted Deputy Finance Director Darrel Tuttle to become Director of Finance. Tuttle succeeds Lorrie Scarrott in leading the funding-focused department. Scarrott is retiring following two years as Finance Director.
Both Jennie Sutcliffe and Darrel Tuttle will assume their new positions July 7.
In her three-minute address to the Legislature, during which she showcased her administrative priorities, Jennie Sutcliffe never mentioned the two federal officials whose take-no-prisoners policies hold the greatest impact over local health services delivery, namely President Donald Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Though not named, the collective shadows of Trump and Kennedy loomed over Sutcliffe’s words. Change must be expected became the appointee’s overarching message. Ill-advised reforms should be resisted when possible; but then services once lost can be restored and enhanced when political skies brighten.
Two other goals the newly-hired commissioner has set for herself, she said, are “building trust” among staff, decision-makers, and the larger community; and “supporting our resilient workforce,” people within her department.
“You know, I understand that this is a time where being in government isn’t the same as it used to be,” Sutcliffe admitted to the Legislature. “So we really need to do a really good job and continue to do a good job of demonstrating our value and what we bring to our community, both here in Ithaca and in Tompkins County as a whole.”
Jennie Sutcliffe is no stranger here. But like many who claim Tompkins County as their anchor, the woman who grew up as a girl in Trumansburg, left for a while to pursue her career in larger places. And then she returned.
“I can say without a shadow of a doubt that we chose an incredible candidate,” legislator Shawna Black proclaimed as she put Sutcliffe’s name into nomination to become Commissioner of Whole Health.
Giving prominence to their collective pride in choosing a person with such impressive credentials, legislators elevated Sutcliffe’s appointment to near the top of Tuesday’s agenda.
“Ms. Sutcliffe brings over a decade of robust experience in public health leadership, emergency preparedness, health policy, and cross-sector collaboration,” a news release posted the following morning by Tompkins County’s Communications Director stated.
“Since 2018, she has served as a Senior Advisor in the Office of Emergency Preparedness and Response at the New York City Health Department,” the release said of Sutcliffe’s credentials. “In that role, she led the strategic planning and implementation of the department’s Response Ready initiative and served in leadership positions during multiple public health emergencies, including directing quarantine and isolation operations during the Mpox response and leading COVID-19 incident command initiatives such as vaccine operations and personal protective equipment distribution,” the release stated.
Jennie Sutcliffe’s resume also includes her serving as a Senior Policy Analyst in the New York City Health Department’s First Deputy Commissioner’s Office. In that position, the news release touted, Sutcliffe “influenced Medicaid and healthcare policy and led multimillion-dollar pilot projects focused on social determinants of health.”
A former Fulbright Research Scholar who studied in Italy, Sutcliffe holds a Master of Science in Philosophy and Public Policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Before taking the position in New York City, the newly-hired Whole Health Commissioner held positions in Chicago, including serving as a Health Justice Policy Specialist under Illinois’ then-Governor, her task “focusing on Affordable Care Act and Medicaid implementation for justice-impacted populations,” Tompkins County’s news release stated.
Maybe that last-stated effort stood out more than anything else in getting Jennie Sutcliffe her job.
“The one thing that was very clear during her speech to us was that she has a real vision for our department, and her focus on health equity was something that I think is going to be really important for our community,” legislator Shawna Black said in moving Sutcliffe’s appointment.
Jennie Sutcliffe steps into a hybrid administrative structure that may look better in theory than it works in practice.
In 2023, after four years of study that began pre-pandemic, the Tompkins County Legislature merged the Tompkins County Health and Mental Health departments into the Department of Whole Health. The Public Health Department deals with physical illnesses, dog bites, vaccinations, and tasks as mundane as septic system approvals. Mental Health addresses, as its name implies, mental illnesses.
The 2023 merger saved hiring a separate administrator. But Health and Mental Health occupy different buildings, their locations widely-separated. And New York State administers the divisions separately, such that their combination required special consent. In some respects, as the state views it, Whole Health is an administrative oddity.
Even though Tompkins County’s Board of Health and the (Mental Health) Community Services Board had each affirmed the appointment prior to Tuesday’s legislative vote, Sutcliffe’s confirmation “is currently pending final approval from the New York State Department of Health for her designation as Director of Public Health,” the Communications Director’s release states.
Expect Albany’s ratification to stand as a formality.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Health Department side of the subsequently-merged administration, gained stature—lots of it—as the County Legislature reserved former Health Commissioner Frank Kruppa ample speaking time at each, twice-monthly Legislature meeting to update lawmakers on COVID case numbers, testing protocols, and vaccination opportunities.
In mid-January of this year, Frank Kruppa resigned as Commissioner of Whole Health. He assumed a position with Cayuga Health Systems, the local hospital corporation, as its Assistant Vice President for Community Program Development and Partner Integration.
In accepting her own appointment, Jennie Sutcliffe, noticeably animated and outgoing, expressed excitement about her incoming role in Tompkins County Government.
“I grew up in Tompkins County. I grew up in Trumansburg,” Sutcliffe said. “And although I moved back to the area a couple of years ago, my work has remained elsewhere, and so I’m really thrilled to be able to work in my own community again, and this feels like a real homecoming,” Sutcliffe gushed.
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Much more subdued was the end-of-meeting appointment of Darrel Tuttle as Tompkins County’s new Director of Finance.
Finance directors lack the public visibility of health commissioners. They don’t fight disease, but they do keep governments humming—and solvent. Finance directors monitor sales tax receipts. They assess budget balances. And particularly in departing director Lorrie Scarrott’s case, they initiate investment strategies that earn the county cash.
“I want to thank you for the opportunity,” Darrel Tuttle told legislators, after Chairman Dan Klein invited him to speak at meeting’s end. “This marks my third year working for Tompkins County in a couple of different roles, the appointee, now Deputy Finance Director, said.
“I look forward to better serving the Legislature, the County, and serving with my staff as I go into the new role as Director of Finance,” Tuttle concluded.
Tompkins County took strides Tuesday to close its longer-than-usual list of administrative vacancies. But the gap-closing remains far from finished.
Shortly after Health Commissioner Kruppa tendered his resignation, Kit Kephart in January revealed her plans to retire this July as Commissioner of Social Services. Then in early-May, County Highway Director Jeff Smith announced his retirement plans. The selection process for those pending vacancies continues.
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