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Gov.-elect Maura Healey and Lt. Gov.-elect Kim Driscoll attended a briefing with Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders on Tuesday morning, a day after the Baker administration appointee announced her retirement next month.
But Healey, whose transition team has announced a flurry of new hires in the past week, declined to share whether she asked Sudders to continue under her nascent administration.
“We had discussions, but I’m going to keep those private,” Healey told MassLive Tuesday afternoon.
At the briefing, Sudders and her team provided information about the COVID-19 pandemic “in particular,” Healey said. She praised them for being “incredibly informed” and “insightful.”
“When it comes to health and human services, we are about ensuring that we have people in place who understand the needs and understand how to get things done and deliver results — and that is a secretary that really touches on the lives of people across this state in such profound ways,” Healey told MassLive. “The work continues in terms of setting up that leadership, but in the meantime, we’re grateful for Secretary Sudders.”
Sudders, in a newsletter sent Monday to employees at the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services, revealed she had filed her retirement paperwork last month.
Sudders oversaw the state’s COVID-19 Response Command Center, spearheading testing and vaccination efforts. From 1996 to 2003, she served as the commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health before leading the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.
“Having entered state service in 1978, it has been the privilege of my professional career and an extraordinarily humbling experience to serve as Secretary of Health and Human Services for Governor Baker and Lt. Governor Polito,” Sudders wrote in the message, which was shared with MassLive.
“Somewhere along the line, as has been pointed out by one of my predecessors, I became the longest serving Secretary of Health and Human services; that was never the goal,” Sudders continued. “The goal has always been to channel the millions of Massachusetts residents that need governmental assistance in order to have good lives for themselves and their loved ones.”
Healey expressed her gratitude to Sudders during the transition process. Following their victory last month, Gov. Charlie Baker had encouraged Healey and Driscoll to meet with his Cabinet secretaries and other administration officials to ensure a smooth transition.
“She’s just done an incredible job, working incredibly hard for a long eight, really consuming years,” Healey said. “So I wish her all the best, and I’m sure we’ll be able to look…to her in the future.”
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