Governor Chet Culver has appointed his chief of staff to serve as director of the Iowa Department of Human Services. Culver had appointed Gene Gessow to be chief of the agency, but Republicans in the senate voted against Gessow’s confirmation to the post and denied Gessow the job.
According to a news release from the governor’s office, Charlie Krogmeier will start immediately as the acting director of the Department of Human Services. Krogmeier will be up for a confirmation vote in the state senate next year. Culver calls Krogmeier "an invaluable, trusted advisor."
Krogmeier served as Culver’s budget director in the first two years of Culver’s administration and took over as chief of staff for the governor earlier this year when previous chief of staff Patrick Dillon left to join the White House staff.
Krogmeier was a top deputy to Culver when Culver was Iowa’s secretary of state. Krogmeier, who is a lawyer, is a graduate of the University of Iowa and was in the same Drake Law School class as former Iowa Governor Terry Branstad.