O’Malley’s chief of staff to head Goldseker Foundation

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John R. Griffin, secretary of the state Department of Natural Resources, has been chosen to succeed Matthew D. Gallagher as Gov. Martin O’Malley’s chief of staff.

Griffin was in his second stint as DNR secretary, a job he held from 1995 to 1999. Before that, he spent 11 years as DNR’s deputy secretary and also was general manager of the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission for five years.

“I am truly honored by Gov. O’Malley’s confidence in me and am looking forward to working with him, his talented staff and cabinet in this new role,” Griffin said in a statement.

The public announcement came Thursday after Gallagher, O’Malley’s chief of staff for the last four years, decided to take over as head of Baltimore’s nonprofit Goldseker Foundation.

Gallagher will become president and CEO in June, replacing Timothy D. Armbruster, who announced his retirement last fall after running the foundation since 1975.

“Like the team at the Goldseker Foundation, I have spent much of my career working to strengthen and support Baltimore city — its neighborhoods, its institutions and its overall economic vitality — both on a city level and more recently from within the State House,” Gallagher said in a statement. “I look forward to working with the board of directors, foundation staff and community stakeholders, as we advance Morris Goldseker’s vision to support programs that directly benefit disadvantaged people in the metropolitan area of Baltimore.”

Gallagher becomes the third top O’Malley aide to leave since November, when Joseph C. Bryce — the administration’s top lobbyist in the General Assembly — joined Annapolis-based Manis Canning & Associates.

Rick Abbruzzese, the governor’s director of public affairs and perhaps his closest adviser, joined Annapolis-based Rifkin, Livingston, Levitan & Silver LLC as a partner in December.

Three O’Malley cabinet members have also left the administration in the last year. Most recently, state Department of Business and Economic Development Secretary Christian S. Johansson departed in January to join Baltimore-based Laureate Education Inc., formerly Sylvan Learning Systems Inc., where he heads a new group focused on university partnerships.

Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation Secretary Alexander M. Sanchez departed last May to become Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake’s chief of staff and Department of Transportation Secretary Beverley K. Swaim-Staley resigned last July and was then named president of the Union Station Redevelopment Corp., which is working to expand Union Station in Washington.

In a statement, O’Malley praised Gallagher, who had worked with the governor when he was mayor of Baltimore as director of CitiStat.

“Matt is one of the most competent and able administrators that I have ever had the pleasure to work with,” O’Malley said. “While his departure will be felt far beyond the second floor of the State House, I am excited Matt will remain engaged in such important work through his new role at the Goldseker Foundation.”