As he moves into his second term in office, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf has appointed Robert Torres to be the new Secretary of Aging. Governor Wolf made this appointment in January as one of the changes to his Cabinet for the new term. Mr. Torres will serve as the Acting Secretary of Aging until he is formally confirmed by the Pennsylvania Senate. Acting Secretary Torres replaces outgoing Secretary of Aging Teresa Osborne, who held this position throughout Governor Wolf’s first term.
Prior to this appointment, Mr. Torres had served as the Acting Secretary of the Department of State. You can read his full bio here.
The Secretary of Aging is responsible for overseeing the Department of Aging and its administration of all aging programs and services for the Commonwealth. The Secretary of Aging is a Cabinet-level position reporting directly to the Governor.
Later this year, Secretary Torres and the Department of Aging will begin crafting the Pennsylvania State Plan on Aging for 2020-2024, which will identify strategic goals for best serving the Commonwealth’s older adult population and setting priorities for enhancing programs, delivering services, and allocating resources. Including concrete steps in the State Plan for better reaching and serving LGBT older adults will be of great importance in order to improve the resources and services available to members of our LGBT older adult communities.