Mark Benton is DHHS Deputy Secretary for Health Services. He is responsible for overseeing the Divisions of Public Health, Health Services Regulation, Vocational Rehabilitation Services, Services for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and Services for the Blind. He also oversees Disability Determination Services and the Offices of Rural Health, Minority Health and Health Disparities, Internal Audit, as well as the N.C. Council on Developmental Disabilities.
Prior to accepting his appointment as Deputy Secretary, Benton was the co-owner and founding partner of The Paratum Group, LLC, a Raleigh-based healthcare consulting firm. He was also the former chief operating officer and acting president for N.C. Community Care Networks, a non-profit organization that provides care coordination and population health management to the state’s Medicaid recipients and other insured and uninsured residents. He has also served as the senior program officer with the Milbank Memorial Fund, working with a bipartisan group of senior health policymakers across the U.S. and abroad.
Benton previously worked for 18 years at DHHS. Key leadership positions included: deputy director and director of the state’s Medicaid and SCHIP programs; assistant director and chief of planning for the state’s health care licensure/regulatory agency; and senior health care policy analyst to the secretary.
Benton received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Mount Olive.