WASHINGTON — Former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley was sworn in as the new Commissioner of Social Security on Wednesday, the Social Security Administration said.
O’Malley’s term runs through January 19, 2025, the SSA said in a news release. His nomination was confirmed by the Senate December 18.
“I am honored for the opportunity of a lifetime to lead Social Security’s outstanding public servants forward, together, in such an important mission to help the agency to deliver critical services to the American people,” O’Malley said in the news release.
Acting commissioner Kilolo Kijakazi, who had been in the position since July 2021, when President Biden ousted Andrew Saul.
But in two and a half years atop the agency, Kijakazi struggled to gain traction in her efforts to address longstanding problems. Faced with insufficient funding despite an ever-growing number of Social Security beneficiaries, the agency’s workforce fell to a 25-year low in 2022, while it is perennially among the worst performers in the annual Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, an annual nearly government-wide survey measuring federal workers’ engagement and morale.
A lifelong public servant, Commissioner O’Malley brings a vast amount of experience to the position. He served as Governor of Maryland from 2007 to 2015, following two terms as Mayor of the City of Baltimore. Prior to being elected Mayor, he served as a member of the Baltimore City Council from 1991 to 1999 and Assistant States Attorney for the City of Baltimore before that.
Commissioner O’Malley is a pioneer in using performance-management and customer service technologies in government and has written extensively about how to govern for better results in the Information Age by measuring the outputs of government on a real-time basis.
As Commissioner, O’Malley will be responsible for administering the Social Security retirement, disability, and survivors insurance programs that pay over 1.4 trillion dollars annually in benefits to more than 66 million beneficiaries, as well as the Supplemental Security Income program that provides cash assistance to approximately 7.5 million people with limited income and resources. The agency has a workforce of about 61,000 employees and 1,500 facilities across the country and around the world.
Since 2016, Commissioner O’Malley has lectured on public administration at numerous universities and institutions, including the University of Maryland, Harvard University, Georgetown University, and Boston College School of Law.
Commissioner O’Malley graduated from Catholic University in Washington, D.C., in 1985, and earned his law degree from the University of Maryland School of Law in 1988. He and his wife of over 30 years, Judge Katie Curran O’Malley, have four children, Grace, Tara, William, and Jack.