Joy Bivens

Joy Bivens oversees the Franklin County Board of Commissioners’ health and human services agencies. As Deputy County Administrator, she oversees the Department Job and Family Services, the county's largest agency and core social safety net, as well as the Office on Aging, Child Support Enforcement Agency and the Office of Justice Policy and Programs.

Mrs. Bivens first joined Franklin County in 2004 as a JFS case manager before leaving to begin her own home healthcare administration agency. She returned to Franklin County in 2015 to serve as Chief Operating Officer for JFS and was appointed Director of the agency the following year. In October 2020, she was promoted to Deputy County Administrator and tasked with integrating the health and human services agencies.

In addition to her day-to-day responsibilities, Bivens also serves as vice chair of the National Association of Counties (NACo) Human Services and Education subcommittee, providing a voice for Franklin County’s most vulnerable residents on the national level. In 2020, she testified at a House Ways and Means subcommittee hearing on strategies for combatting child poverty and she has tapped to present at numerous national conferences and panels.

In 2017, she was recognized by Dress for Success-Columbus as one of Ten Women Trailblazers and in 2018 she was named Public Service Ambassador of the Year by Greater Columbus Community Helping Hands, Inc. In April 2022, she was honored by the YWCA of Central Ohio as a Woman of Achievement.

Bivens previously served as an elected member of the Whitehall City School Board, as Vice President of the Whitehall Area Chamber of Commerce and as chair of the Board of OhioMeansJobs Columbus-Franklin County. She is a graduate of Capital University