Director hired for Arkansas high court operation

The Arkansas Supreme Court announced Monday that Marty Sullivan was hired to permanently head the Administrative Office of the Courts, after serving several months as a temporary director of the office.

Sullivan, who has worked with the Administrative Office of the Courts since 2003, became its interim director in March, replacing longtime director J.D. Gingerich.

In a news release, Chief Justice Dan Kemp said Sullivan would assume the role permanently. The position oversees the administrative business of the judicial branch of government.

Kemp said in a March news release that a nationwide search would be conducted to find a permanent director for the office. Reached Monday, Kemp said the job opening was posted to the National Center for State Courts' website, and that "some" out-of-state candidates applied, but he declined to give a specific number.

What set Sullivan apart from the other candidates was his familiarity with Arkansas' courts, Kemp said.

Kemp said the court had yet to establish Sullivan's new salary as permanent head of the department. Gingerich, who assumed the title of director in 1988, made $114,866 a year, according to an Arkansas Democrat-Gazette database of public employee salaries.

State law requires that the director of the Administrative Office of the Courts be nominated by the chief justice and approved by the Supreme Court and Judicial Council. The director serves at the pleasure of the high court.

"We observed his efforts to provide efficient service not only to this court, but to all courts and court personnel in Arkansas," Kemp's statement read. "Marty is very knowledgeable of the needs of the courts, and has displayed a passion to fulfill the duties of director to maintain a court system that all Arkansans can view with pride."

Sullivan previously served as the office's Judicial Branch Education Division director and was a fellow at the National Center for State Courts Institute for Court Management, according to Kemp's news release. Sullivan is a lifelong Little Rock resident, according to the release, and has degrees from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and Michigan State University.

Sullivan did not return a phone message left Monday afternoon.

Since taking over, Sullivan has assisted Kemp in forming a panel to develop a long-term strategic plan for the judiciary.

Gingerich, the previous director the department, announced his resignation in February, about a month after Kemp took office, in order to lead a newly created partnership between the National Center for State Courts and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock's W.H. Bowen School of Law.

Metro on 10/10/2017

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