If you don't know who Ron Younkins is, don't fret. Younkins admits his own daughter, who is a New York attorney, only has a vague idea of what he does.

But for those in the know, Ron Younkins is a BIG DEAL. He is the executive director of the Office of Court Administration responsible for a lot of what matters to NY lawyers: Administrative Services, Court Research, Facilities Management, Financial Management, Human Resources, Justice Court Support, Professional and Court Services, Public Affairs, Public Information, Public Safety, Technology and Workforce Diversity.

No wonder he's retiring after 22 years. He probably doesn't want to remember the names of all those departments anymore.

Seriously, the New York State court system—with its $3 billion budget—is a behemoth. Younkins oversees more than 300 courthouses, more than 15,000 employees and 1,300 state paid judges in 62 counties. And then there's the roughly 2,000 town and village judges who also receive state support.

“He's someone who made a truly invaluable contribution to the progress of court administration in this state for the last two decades,” said Chief Administrative Judge Lawrence Marks in an interview. “I think he's largely been under the radar of the broader justice and legal community. But he knows where all the bodies are buried and has a deep understanding of the internal politics of the court system, which is essential to getting things done.”

Younkins agrees that he has kept a low profile. He says his 31-year-old daughter is still trying to figure out his responsibilities.”She sends a $375 check every two years for attorney registration and so she knows we do that,” he says.

“I see my job as the person that is providing the resources, whether it's money, time of our tech people, resources for hiring people,” Younkins continues. “It's not really something the legal profession would focus on a lot because it's sort of behind the scenes.”

Under Younkins, there have been dramatic changes since 1996, and he has played major roles in all of them. Downsizing the workforce in bad times? Check. Rebuilding the workforce in flush times? Check. Instituting 4:30 p.m. court closings to save on overtime pay? Check. Going back to 5 p.m. closings to reduce case backlogs? Check. Renovating and building courthouses? Check. Making sure those who are not proficient in English have interpreters? Check. Providing computers to town and village courts? Check. E-filing? Check. And the list goes on.

Surprisingly, when you ask Younkins to cite his most important accomplishments, the first thing that comes to mind isn't the shiny new facilities or whiz-bang technology. He speaks instead about how he had to find a way to pay for $300 million in rising costs during the lean budget years that started in 2009 and ended in 2014.

“Since that time, the judiciary has received modest increases in its budget, but not enough to cover all of the increased costs that we faced, he says.

“Throughout this entire time period, the challenge has been to live within our budget and still give the courts the resources that they need. The goal was to find savings that had the least impact on service to the public,” he explains.

Another source of pride for Younkins is the state's support of the Justice Courts. First some background: When the state took over court operations in the 1970s, the Justice Courts, which handle more mundane but still important matters such as parking summonses and landlord-tenant disputes, remained the responsibility of towns and villages. And some of the nearly 1,300 Justice Courts in the state were functioning without computers and recording devices long after they were a mainstay in the state courts.

In 2006, Younkins and Marks developed an action plan to bring resources and technology to the Justice Courts that is still having an impact to this day. Just a few months ago, the state put a case management system into place, the latest of a series of innovations. There is also a $3.5 million state program for the Justice Courts, providing grants of up to $30,000 per court.

Altogether, the state's intervention in the Justice Courts “has had a major impact on improving those court operations,” Younkins said.

As far as upgrading court facilities, Younkins said the state has made a lot of headway during his tenure. That's particularly true in the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island.

But improvements in Manhattan have lagged behind the other four boroughs, Younkins said. That's because of the sheer number of court buildings in Manhattan and the difficulty of making renovations in facilities that are in constant use. Of the slower progress in Manhattan, Younkins says, ”I think that would be one area of regret.”

So what's next? For Younkins, it's reading, traveling and gardening. For the court system? Judge Marks won't say just yet. That's a story for another day.