Gavin Newsom’s chief of staff Ann O’Leary steps down, Jim DeBoo to take a top leadership role
California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s chief of staff Ann O’Leary will leave her post in Sacramento next year and political operative Jim DeBoo will step into a new executive secretary role, the governor’s office announced Monday.
As executive secretary, DeBoo will lead Newsom’s office “alongside” Cabinet Secretary Ana Matosantos, according to Newsom’s office.
“I could not think of a more qualified or committed team in their respective roles to help me and my Administration lead California to a healthier, more inclusive future for all,” Newsom said in a statement.
As executive secretary, DeBoo will take over O’Leary’s work overseeing the governor’s “overall strategy including communications, legislative, external affairs and intergovernmental affairs,” Newsom’s office said in a news release. Matosantos will continue to oversee state government agencies and departments. Traditionally, the cabinet secretary is the second-highest-ranking role after chief of staff.
DeBoo has been a close political adviser to Newsom. During California’s March primary elections, DeBoo led an unsuccessful ballot measure campaign spearheaded by the Democratic governor that would have provided bond funding to update school buildings. He previously worked as a lobbyist representing landlords and medical groups, but de-registered as a lobbyist to join the Newsom administration, according to the governor’s office.
“I am humbled to return to public service during these challenging times to serve the people of California under Governor Newsom’s leadership,” Jim DeBoo said in a written statement.
Newsom’s office did not announce where O’Leary will go next, although she is widely believed to be in contention for a job in President-Elect Joe Biden’s administration. O’Leary gave Newsom her resignation letter Monday, but will continue in her role through mid-January.
“She led the Administration through unprecedented crises – a global pandemic, the PG&E bankruptcy, a climate crisis and a national reckoning on race,” Newsom said. “She has left her mark on California through what we have accomplished over these two years – from expansions of paid family leave, the Earned Income Tax Credit and child care opportunities to our first-in-the nation zero-emission vehicle mandate and California’s death penalty moratorium.”
A former aide to Bill and Hillary Clinton, O’Leary led Newsom’s staff starting at the end of 2018 when she spearheaded his transition and through his first two years as governor.
Newsom said O’Leary agreed to join his administration if he promised to pursue an expansion of paid family leave programs. As his chief of staff, she made kid-friendly policies a priority both in the governor’s office and in the state policies she helped shape.
She and Newsom, both parents to school-age children, have spearheaded expansions to early childhood education and paid family leave programs in California over the last two years.
O’Leary got her start in D.C. politics out of college in Bill Clinton’s White House, where she held escalating roles and helped develop the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
She worked closely with Biden’s pick for chief of staff Ron Klain during Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign. O’Leary served as a top policy adviser to Clinton alongside Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris’ sister Maya Harris and Biden’s newly appointed national security adviser Jake Sullivan.
After Clinton lost the election, O’Leary became a partner at law firm Boies Schiller Flexner, where she worked for nearly two years before she left to join the Newsom administration.
While O’Leary came from a national politics background, DeBoo has a long history in Sacramento. Before he became a lobbyist, DeBoo held a host of jobs in the Legislature, including director of the Assembly Democrats, the campaign arm of the Assembly Democratic Caucus. He also served as interim chief of staff for Speaker John A. Pérez.
This story was originally published December 21, 2020 at 4:37 PM.