Lana E. Estevilla was appointed associate commissioner for Child Protective Services (CPS) in June of 2026. In this role, she provides executive leadership for one of the state's most critical child protection programs, overseeing the agency's efforts to protect children from abuse, neglect, and exploitation across Texas.

Lana brings more than 20 years of public sector experience to this role, with a career that spans direct protective services work, policy development, legislative engagement, and executive leadership. Prior to joining DFPS, she served as policy and strategy associate commissioner for community services at the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC), where she led system-wide policy and strategy across aging, disability, and veteran services programs, and as the deputy associate commissioner for Child Care Regulation (CCR) at HHSC, overseeing day-to-day operations for child-care inspectors, supervisors, and regional and state office staff and leading implementation efforts related to the federal foster care litigation remedial orders. She was also instrumental in the successful transition of CCR from DFPS to HHSC in 2017.

Lana holds a Master of Arts in Women's Studies and a Bachelor of Science in Management Information Systems, both from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.