A look at the Chiefs of Staff to the Governor

sodakgovs
Mark Miller

The news today is that Mark Miller will be departing this summer as chief of staff to Governor Kristi Noem. Miller, a Florida native, joined the Noem administration as general counsel in 2020 and has been chief of staff since late 2021 (at first on an acting basis).

The chief of staff role has a low profile within the state, but a high profile in state government and political circles. The job is adaptable and has varied widely depending on the people in the roles of governor and chief of staff.

This blogger has served as chief of staff to two governors, worked directly with nine others, and personally known another eight.

It’s a job that reports directly to the governor and that has wide responsibility to carry out the governor’s directives and work on the governor’s behalf. Sometimes, as in the Mickelson and Rounds administrations, the chief of staff is the only staffer reporting directly to the governor, and all cabinet and staff report up through the chief of staff. Other times, as in the Daugaard and Noem administrations, the chief of staff is one of several people reporting directly to the governor. Governor Janklow’s structure was more fluid, although he generally had a few direct reports.

Dianna Miller is the only woman to hold the title of chief of staff, although numerous other women have held positions of authority in the Governor’s Office. Pam Roberts served for eight years a Governor Janklow’s “chief of operations,” undertaking many of the chief of staff functions. Other examples include Deputy Chiefs of Staff Connie Tveidt (for Rounds) and Beth Hollatz and Rachel Oglesby (for Noem), Senior Advisors Deb Bowman and Kim Malsam-Rysdon (both for Daugaard), Chief of Communications Maggie Seidel (for Noem), and Budget Director Liza Clark (for Daugaard and Noem).

This blogger with another longtime chief of staff, Frank Brost. I recently interviewed him for the SD State Historical Society’s oral history project.

The history of the chief of staff role is hard to trace. Early governors had very small staffs and employed a “private secretary” or “executive secretary” who was the governor’s top staffer. The earliest whom I have known personally is Rolly Samp, who was Gov. Frank Farrar’s chief of staff.

It is also job that generally is not a stepping stone to elected office. There have been a few exceptions, though; most notably Congressman Dusty Johnson, who served as chief of staff to Governor Daugaard. Three other chiefs of staff have gone on to serve in the State Legislature: Ron Williamson, Dave Knudson, and me. Three have made failed bids for statewide office: Ted Muenster, who challenged U.S. Senator Larry Pressler in 1990; Williamson, who sought the Republican nomination for U.S. House for the special election following Janklow’s resignation; and Knudson, who made a bid for the Republican nomination for governor in 2010.

What follows is a list of the chiefs of staff, to the best of my knowledge (please contact me with any corrections). On this list, Frank Brost is the longest-serving chief of staff, having held that role for the entire eight years of the Mickelson/Miller administration. He and I are the only two to have held the role for more than one governor.

Chief of StaffGovernorYears
Rolly SampFarrar1969-71
Ted MuensterKneip1971-75
Dan GarryKneip1975-78
Jim PribylWollman1978-79
Ron WilliamsonJanklow1979-83
Tony MerryJanklow1983-86
Dianna MillerJanklow1986-87
Frank BrostMickelson/Miller1987-95
Dave KnudsonJanklow1995
Jim HagenJanklow1995-99
Dave KnudsonJanklow1999
Jim SoyerJanklow1999-2003
Rob SkjonsbergRounds2003-07
Neil FultonRounds2007-10
Tom DravlandRounds2010-11
Dusty JohnsonDaugaard2011-14
Tony VenhuizenDaugaard2014-19
Herb JonesNoem2019
Josh ShieldsNoem2019
Tony VenhuizenNoem2020-21
Aaron ScheibeNoem2021
Mark MillerNoem2021-23

A copy of this list, which will be kept up to date, has been added to the Online Almanac of South Dakota Politics.