Ernie Appel was named Director of Public Fiduciary in April 2023, having served in an interim capacity since February 2022.
Ernie has been with Pinal County since 1996, joining what was then the Division of Behavioral Health, Medical Examiner, and Public Fiduciary. He started as a medicolegal death investigator, capitalizing on his background in Law Enforcement, where he spent twenty years with the Coolidge Police Department.
Ernie achieved his Public Fiduciary license in 1999 and continued to work across both the Medical Examiner and Public Fiduciary fields until 2008, when he took a role with the County's Environmental Investigations and Emergency Management team. After four years, he returned to the Public Fiduciary's Office as the Department's Intake Investigator.