Flores has served in the health and human services deputy governor’s role since Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s first term started in January 2019, the statement said. Prior to that, Flores was the founding executive director of the nonprofit La Casa Norte. The statement said she will head a Chicago-based family foundation beginning in November.

“Sol Flores has dedicated countless hours of work and a lifetime of expertise to my administration over the last four and a half years; she has led with a focused tenacity, passion and energy, and I am incredibly grateful for her years of service,” Pritzker said in the statement. “Although she will be missed at IDHS, Secretary Hou has been a partner in some of our largest and most impactful initiatives, and I’m looking forward to accomplishing even more together.”

Pritzker’s statement touted Flores’s accomplishments as deputy governor, including expansion of health care access, restoration of the human services safety network, leading COVID-19 response efforts and guiding “one of the most successful rental assistance programs nationally to keep people housed.”

The statement said she brought an “equity lens” to the job and collaborated with other parts of state government on the 2020 U.S. census, the Home Illinois Plan, health care expansion and managing the state’s response to the influx of migrants from the Southern border.

“Looking back at the last four and a half years, I see a state that had suffered years of disinvestment and mismanagement that now leads the nation in providing progressive and efficient health and human services care,” Flores said in the statement. “It’s been my honor to serve the governor in making our shared dream of a better Illinois a reality — and I know I leave my office in the strongest possible hands as Secretary Hou continues her exemplary record of service.”

Hou has been part of the Pritzker administration for almost as long, starting as IDHS secretary in March of 2019. Prior to that she was president of Woods Fund Chicago.

“Hou led IDHS through the COVID-19 emergency into a period of critical human services recovery,” the statement said. She led IDHS expansion to the largest headcount and budget in its history and established a standalone Early Childhood Division, the statement said.

“My heart will always be with the IDHS clients, staff, providers, families and all individuals touched by human and social services in Illinois,” Hou said in the statement. “In recent years, IDHS has met the challenges of the pandemic and its lasting impact while also eliminating the Medicaid backlog, anchoring the Smart Start plan, implementing the Reimagine Public Safety Act and much more. The lessons and inspiration from my time at IDHS will propel me in this new role, and I am so grateful.”

Flores’s final day will be Oct. 13th. Hou will become deputy governor for health and human services on Oct. 9, the same day that Quintero takes over at IDHS.

Quintero has served as assistant secretary of operations at IDHS since 2019. The statement described Quintero as a longtime and prominent community builder and innovator in the fields of health care and human services, with a particular focus on LGBTQ+ services and advocacy.

Before joining IDHS, Quintero directed operations at Erie Humboldt Park Health Center and founded the Casa Corazon Youth Drop-in Program at La Casa Norte. Quintero was born in Mexico to migrant farm workers and moved to Chicago at the age of nine, the statement said.