Gov. Eric Greitens on Wednesday hired a partner at a global management consulting firm as the state's first chief operating officer and used a Jefferson City manufacturer as the backdrop for the announcement.
Through an executive order, Greitens chose Drew Erdmann from major consulting firm McKinsey and Company, which has done work for the Pentagon. The COO, who will report to Greitens, is supposed to work with state agencies to cut redundant programs and improve efficiency.
"Our government needs to do more with less. They are supposed to serve you," Greitens said during the announcement at DeLong Manufacturing in Jefferson City. "The mission of the COO is to work with me to make our government work better for you."
Erdmann said he is looking forward to "waking up every single day and working on behalf of the great fellow citizens of this state to make the government work better for them."
A spokesman for DeLong's applauded Greitens' call for improving government efficiencies.
"We are hopeful we can get help with the Affordable Care Act," said Morgan DeLong Costello, co-owner of DeLong's, who introduced Greitens at Wednesday's event. "We have around 200 workers, and with all the different requirements we have to meet under this act and other federal guidelines, we primarily depend on our small accounting staff to try and keep up with these.
"That puts a great burden on them, so the fewer requirements we have for them to keep up with, it would benefit our company greatly."
The governor, who took office Monday, did not take questions from reporters after the announcement.
Greitens' spokesman, Parker Briden, said the position won't change the responsibilities of Administration Commissioner Sarah Steelman, whose office manages state government. Briden said Erdmann will be "intimately involved" in a review of state regulations ordered by Greitens on Tuesday.
Both Briden and Erdmann declined to comment on the salary for the new position.
The announcement was met with skepticism from a top Democratic lawmaker.
"The governor certainly is free to hire whatever staff he sees fit to assist him, and if he wants to give them important-sounding titles, that's fine, too," House Minority Leader Gail McCann Beatty said in a Wednesday statement. "But this so-called state 'chief operating officer' is just another staffer with an empty title and no independent authority."
Erdmann, of St. Louis, previously worked as the National Security Council's director for Iran, Iraq and strategic planning in 2005 under former Republican President George W. Bush. He also was a member of the policy planning staff of the State Department from 2001-03 under former Secretary Colin Powell and senior adviser to the Iraqi Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research.
Greitens also was in the White House under Bush as a fellow from 2005-06.
Both Erdmann and Greitens studied at Oxford University in England. Erdmann received a bachelor's degree in philosophy, politics and economics in 1990. Greitens later earned a master's degree in development and a doctoral degree in politics.
This article updates and expands on earlier coverage.