NASW Interim Chief Executive Officer (2022-2023)

Janlee Wong, MSW

Janlee Wong, MSW, was interim chief executive officer of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), and interim president of the NASW Foundation.  Wong previously served as Executive Director of the NASW California Chapter and retired after 25 years.

During his tenure as the chapter’s executive director, he worked on several social justice and anti-racism initiatives, including expanding diversity, equity, and inclusion in NASW’s leadership and membership; increasing professional development education focusing on practice and policy in communities of color; and advocating for progressive legislation promoting racial and social justice reform.

Wong served on the Board of Directors for the Council on Social Work Education, the Task Force for the NASW Presidential Initiative on Diversity, the Board of Directors for the California Social Work Education Center, and several schools of social work advisory boards. He represented NASW and the social work profession on the California Board of Behavioral Sciences and numerous other national, state, and local boards, committees, and commissions.

Prior to NASW, Wong served in the San Diego County Chief Administrative Office as the public conservator and chief of adult protective services in San Diego. He also served as a health care consultant and a budget examiner for the U.S. Office of Management and Budget in Washington, DC.

Wong earned his MSW from San Francisco State University and a BA in Asian Studies from Claremont McKenna College.