Safia Khan serves as Deputy Commissioner and Chief of Staff for the Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC). In this role, she assists the Commissioner in the overall management of the agency and oversees various areas of work including Finance, Grants and Subsidies, Legislative Affairs, Tribal Relations, Policy and Rulemaking, Research, Planning and Performance Measurement, Evidence Based Practices and the Project Management Center of Excellence. She previously served as an Assistant Commissioner and the Department’s Government and External Relations Director. Prior to joining DOC, Safia was the Director of Policy and Programming for the Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women (MCBW), where she worked extensively on public policy issues pertaining to gender-based violence within the criminal and legal justice systems for over a decade. Safia has led and collaborated on legislative and administrative policy at the local, state, and federal level. Her efforts to advance public policy for victims earned her the Minnesota County Attorneys Association’s Public Service Award in 2017. Safia received her B.A. in Political Science from Denison University, where she was a fellow of the Richard G. Lugar Program in Politics and Public Service. Her first language is Urdu and she is fluent in English.