Whitmer Names New Budget Director, Department Leader

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Sept. 30 named a new state budget director and a new leader of the Department of Technology, Management, and Budget.

Christopher Harkins, director of the nonpartisan Senate Fiscal Agency, will succeed budget director Dave Massaron — whose departure for a job at Wayne State University was previously announced. Massaron stayed on to finish the new budget, which the governor signed Wednesday.

Harkins worked in the budget office previously and was a policy and budget adviser for legislative Republicans for nearly a decade.

Whitmer appointed Julia Dale, who works in the state attorney general's office, as director of the Department of Technology, Management and Budget. She succeeds Brom Stibitz, who has led the department on a permanent or acting basis since 2020.

The governor also announced some staff changes.

Poppy Sias-Hernandez, chief equity and inclusion officer, also will lead the Office of Global Michigan. Deputy legal counsel Maria Martinez becomes chief compliance officer. Marc Rehmann is the new policy director after working as an aide to U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette of Colorado.