Amy Hess

Ms. Amy Hess currently serves as Executive Advisor to the Secretary of the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet for the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Prior to this, she was the Chief of Public Safety and Services for Louisville Metro Government, overseeing the police and fire departments, corrections, emergency services, emergency management, and other components. She played a key role in the city’s response to both the coronavirus pandemic and civil unrest after the Breonna Taylor shooting in 2020, while leading many of its police reform efforts.

For 29 years before that, Ms. Hess was a Special Agent in the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) with assignments in Kansas City, Louisville, Tucson, Afghanistan, Memphis, Quantico, and Washington, DC. Her FBI career culminated with promotion to Executive Assistant Director—one of the agency’s highest positions—on two different occasions. In this capacity, she was responsible for operational and organizational strategy, national policy, and interagency coordination while overseeing the FBI’s criminal and cyber investigations, science and technology capabilities, and worldwide response to crisis events.

She is a native of Jeffersonville, Indiana, and holds a degree in Aeronautical/Astronautical Engineering from Purdue University where, as a co-op student, she worked for IBM Space Systems Division supporting NASA’s space shuttle program.