Alyssa Bish

Farming takes hard work, passion, and vision to reap a harvest which can feed the masses. Similarly, my passion for public service was ignited when I realized the lessons engrained in childhood provided the opportunity to cultivate the resources and programs necessary to help my state and community grow and thrive.

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Throughout college, I served as Student Government President and discovered how to make widespread impact through relationships. After volunteering with foster children, I was inspired to advocate for this vulnerable population in the academic space. I earned my PhD and focused my dissertation on family communication and resilience. Always determined to effect lasting change, I applied this education to the Missouri Children’s Division. I oversaw several operational excellence projects including the strategy and implementation of a medical monitoring program to support children on psychotropic medications, as well as the implementation of Family First.  I loved the macro level impact I could have in the design of these programs, but the driving force on the hard days was my ‘why’ - the children in foster care. These kids showed me what it looks like to be resilient despite the unimaginable and to keep fighting for justice when the world seems bleak.

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Currently, I am the Director of Strategy and Leadership Development for the State of Missouri. Together, my team oversees and gives leadership to talent development and people analytics for 48,000 state team members. I am proud to be a part of Missouri’s talent transformation where we are focused on identifying and cultivating strong leadership to better serve Missourians. Specifically we focus on professional development, psychological safety, rewards and recognition, leadership development, and workforce planning through conceptualization of complex data. Having the opportunity to wake up every day and invest in our state’s most valuable resource - the people doing the work - will certainly be a highlight of my career.

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