Former MD Governor Martin O’Malley Sworn in as Social Security Commissioner

Former Maryland Governor Martin J. O’Malley has been sworn in by Senator Ben Cardin as Commissioner of Social Security, to a term that expires on January 19, 2025.

Per the press release: Commissioner O’Malley expressed his gratitude for being chosen to lead the Social Security Administration. “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,” said Commissioner O’Malley. “Social Security is the most far-reaching and important act of social and economic justice that the people of the United States have ever enacted. For tens of millions of Americans across our country, Social Security is the difference between living with dignity or living in poverty.”

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, Mr. 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.