This article was republished with permission from WTOP’s news partners at Maryland Matters. Sign up for Maryland Matters’ free email subscription today.
This content was republished with permission from WTOP’s news partners at Maryland Matters. Sign up for Maryland Matters’ free email subscription today.
Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) is getting a new chief of staff, his fourth since taking office in January 2015.
Hogan announced Tuesday that Roy McGrath, a former deputy chief of staff who is currently CEO and chairman of the Maryland Environmental Service Board of Directors, will take the top job beginning on Monday.
He’ll replace Matthew Clark, who will begin next month as senior vice president for Marketing and Communications with the University of Maryland Medical System. Clark has been Hogan’s chief of staff since August 2017, and previously served in the administration as director of communications from January 2015-July 2016.
McGrath is a seasoned hand in the Hogan administration who was appointed to lead the Maryland Environmental Service, a quasi-governmental agency that provides environmental operations services, in December 2016. He previously served as a senior adviser to the governor, deputy chief of staff, and liaison to the Maryland Board of Public Works.
Since March, McGrath has been a member of the governor’s Coronavirus Response Team, and was part of the group in state government that helped secure 5,000 COVID-19 testing kits from a South Korean company.
“Roy McGrath is an experienced public and private sector leader with a proven track record of managing at every level of government and a passionate commitment to public service,” Hogan said in a statement. “Roy has played a key role in our coronavirus response over the last three months, so his transition to chief of staff will be seamless.”
Prior to his roles in the Hogan administration, McGrath was most recently vice president of business development for the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, a leading retail and health care trade group, where he worked for nearly 20 years. He also served at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Department of Defense, and in the office of former Maryland congressman Wayne T. Gilchrest (R).
McGrath will become Hogan’s fourth chief of staff. Craig Williams served from the beginning of the administration until October 2016, and he was replaced by Sam Malhotra.
As for Clark, this is not his first experience with the University of Maryland Medical System. He has been a Hogan appointee to the UMMS board since last year, after Hogan and legislative leaders overhauled the board following a well-documented self-dealing scandal.
