Chief of Staff (Zamastan)

Chief of Staff
Incumbent Naomi Houghton since December 19, 2021
Nominator	President
Appointer	President of Zamastan
Term length	At the President's Pleasure No fixed term

The Chief of Staff of Zamastan has traditionally been the highest-ranking non-elected employee of the Zian Presidential Mansion. The Chief of Staff position is the successor to the earlier role of the President's private secretary. The role was formalized as the Assistant to the President in 1923 and acquired its current title in 1975. The current official title is Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff.

The Chief of Staff is a political appointee of the President who does not require Senate confirmation, and who serves at the pleasure of the President. Although not a legally required role, incoming presidents since Marvin Gaviria have appointed a chief of staff.

The current Chief of Staff is Naomi Houghton, who replaced Josephine Champernon after she resigned in the wake of the Kristina Leach scandal under President Atticus Moreau.

Role

The responsibilities of the chief of staff are both managerial and advisory and may include the following:

• Selecting senior Presidential staffers and supervising their offices' activities;
• Managing and designing the overall structure of the Presidential staff system;
• Control the flow of people into the President's Office;
• Manage the flow of information to and decisions from the President's Office (with the staff secretary);
• Directing, managing and overseeing all policy development
• Protecting the political interests of the president;
• Negotiating legislation and appropriating funds with Congressional Hall leaders, Cabinet secretaries, and extra-governmental political groups to implement the president's agenda; and
• Advise on any and usually various issues set by the president.

These responsibilities have recently extended to firing of senior staff members. In the case of Kristina Leach, who published a tape she alleged was made in the residence of the Zian Presidential Mansion of her firing by Chief of Staff Josephine Champernon, the chief of staff said that her decision for her departure was non-negotiable and that "the staff and everyone on the staff works for me and not the president."

List of Chiefs of Staff

Chief of Staff 1960-Present
No.	Portrait	Name (Years in office)	Term of office
55		Brian Barthle (2012-2016)	16 September 2012	1 January 2016
56		Emily Miranda (2016-2019)	1 January 2016	16 January 2019
57		Aya Booth (2019-2020)	16 January 2019	22 September 2020
58		Josephine Champernon (2020-2021)	22 September 2020	19 December 2021
59		Naomi Houghton (2021-)	19 December 2021	Incumbent