President Trump nominates Idahoan Alex Adams for key HHS position under Secretary RFK

BOISE, Idaho (KIFI) - President Donald Trump has nominated the director of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, Alex Adams, for a role in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

If confirmed, Adams would serve as the Assistant Secretary for the Administration of Children and Families at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Adams was appointed to lead the department by Gov. Brad Little in May 2024, after over five years as the governor's budget and regulatory director.

Governor Little has expressed his gratitude for President Trump's recognition of his former staff member and the potential appointment of another Idahoan to a key post.

“Alex Adams brings a highly strategic and visionary approach to achieving my priorities for Idaho. As my longtime budget director, he helped us champion record red tape reductions, historic tax relief, and huge wins for Idaho public education and workforce training. In under one year at the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, he completely transformed and improved Idaho’s child welfare system to better serve our state’s most vulnerable children and the generous foster families who care for them," Governor Little said in a statement to the media.

Adams is the third Idahoan nominated to a key position in the Trump administration. His nomination follows the appointments of Clearwater Analytics founder Michael Boren as under-secretary for Natural Resources and Environment at the USDA and Tom Schultz as U.S. Forest Service chief.

"I am grateful to President Trump for his nomination of yet another Idahoan to a key post, and I am excited to see the positive changes to come at HHS with Alex in such an important leadership position,” Governor Little said.