Key Influencer – Danielle Hartung – Chief of Staff to the Minister of Assisted Living and Social Services
Source: LinkedIn
Danielle Hartung has recently taken on the role of Chief of Staff to Alberta’s Minister of Assisted Living and Social Services, Nathan Neudorf. In the position, Hartung joins the senior leadership of a broad portfolio responsible for assisted living and continuing care, seniors, housing, disability services, income and employment supports, and homelessness programs. Her appointment brings a background spanning government, strategic communications, stakeholder engagement, and the non-profit sector.
Prior to joining Neudorf’s office, Hartung served as a Senior Advisor within Alberta’s Ministry of Justice under Minister Mickey Amery. The role placed her close to some of the government’s more complex legal and social policy files and involved engagement with external stakeholders and communities. Her time in Justice adds direct ministerial-office experience to a career that has largely centred on communicating complex issues and building relationships between organizations, government, and the public.
Before entering provincial government, Hartung spent several years with Samaritan’s Purse Canada in senior communications roles. She worked as both a Senior Projects Communications Specialist and a Senior Communications and Engagement Strategist for the international humanitarian organization, helping communicate its response to disasters and humanitarian crises in Canada and abroad. Her work included media engagement surrounding the organization’s response in Ukraine, giving her experience communicating sensitive issues in fast-moving and high-profile environments.
Hartung now moves into a portfolio with significant responsibilities across both Alberta’s health and social services systems. Assisted Living and Social Services oversees Assisted Living Alberta and is central to the province’s continuing health-system restructuring. Current priorities include moving non-acute patients into more appropriate community settings, expanding seniors lodge capacity, implementing disability-support reforms, coordinating income-tested benefits, and continuing work to increase housing supply and address homelessness.
A University of Calgary alumna, Hartung brings a combination of political, communications, and stakeholder experience to the Chief of Staff role. With Assisted Living and Social Services touching some of the government’s most consequential files for seniors, people with disabilities, low-income Albertans, and those requiring continuing care, Hartung will be an important figure in helping Neudorf manage both the policy implementation and stakeholder relationships surrounding the portfolio.