Perry's Chief of Staff Returning to Old Job

Ann Bishop, Gov. Rick Perry's newly hired chief of staff, is returning to her former job heading the state's Employees Retirement System, the governor's office confirmed on Wednesday. 

Bishop was named chief of staff in November, following Perry's appointment of her predecessor, Jeff Boyd, to the Texas Supreme Court. It was intended at the time to be temporary; in fact, ERS put an "interim" executive director in her place, planning for her eventual return to the top post there. 

“I owe a debt of gratitude to Ann, for agreeing to lend her time to my office as we prepared for the legislative session," Perry said in a press release. "Her expertise and contributions were invaluable.”

Bishop will be replaced on Friday by Brandy Marty, who is currently Perry's deputy chief of staff. Marty was formerly Perry's director of budget, planning and policy. Mike Morrisey will be deputy chief of staff and senior adviser.

Bishop has a long career in state government; she has been a deputy comptroller and was the inaugural head of the state’s Department of Information Resources. In a story published in The Texas Tribune and The New York Times last month, Bishop said she was “pleasantly surprised” to walk into her first staff meeting at the governor’s office and see how many of her new colleagues were female.

“The governor surrounds himself with the brightest and best,” she said at the time, “and women are obviously part of that mix.”