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Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

U.S. state official

Field	Value
post	Secretary
body	the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
insignia	Seal of the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.svg
insigniacaption	Seal of the secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
image	Al Schmidt.jpg
incumbent	Al Schmidt
incumbentsince	June 29, 2023
appointer	Governor
formation	1777
inaugural	Timothy Matlack
website

The secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is the head of the Pennsylvania Department of State, a cabinet-level agency. The secretary of the commonwealth (equivalent to "secretary of state") is appointed by the governor, subject to confirmation by the State Senate. The current secretary is Republican Al Schmidt, who was appointed by governor Josh Shapiro.

Responsibilities

The Pennsylvania Department of State protects the public's health, safety, and welfare by licensing more than one million business, health, and real estate professionals; maintaining registration and financial information for thousands of charities soliciting contributions from Pennsylvanians; overseeing Pennsylvania's electoral process; maintaining corporate filings; and sanctioning professional boxing, kick–boxing and wrestling in the commonwealth.

The secretary is the keeper of the Great Seal of the Commonwealth and authenticates government documents through the seal's use. The secretary is also the commonwealth's chief election official.

Structure of the Department of State

The Pennsylvania Department of State consists of six bureaus:

Bureau of Corporations and Charitable Organizations
Bureau of Finance and Operations
Bureau of Enforcement and Investigation
Bureau of Professional and Occupational Affairs
Bureau of Commissions, Elections, and Legislation
State Athletic Commission

Boards and commissions

Chairman of the Pennsylvania Election Reform Task Force
Chairman of the Navigation Commission for the Delaware River and Its Navigable Tributaries
The Board of Finance and Revenue
The Board of Property
The Pennsylvania Municipal Retirement Board
The State Athletic Commission
The Interbranch Commission for Gender, Racial and Ethnic Fairness
The Lobbying Disclosure Regulations Committee

List of secretaries of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

Image	Name	Term	Appointed by
[[File:Timothy Matlack.jpg	60px]]	Timothy Matlack	1777–1783	Thomas Wharton Jr.
[[File:John Armstrong Jr Rembrandt Peale.jpg	60px]]	John Armstrong, Jr.	1783–1787	John Dickinson
[[File:Charles Biddle. Vice Pres't of the Supreme Exece. Counl. of Pennsylvania - DMS (monogram). LCCN2016649133.jpg	60px]]	Charles Biddle	1787–1791	Benjamin Franklin
[[File:Alexander James Dallas (1791–1844).png	60px]]	Alexander J. Dallas	1791–1801	Thomas Mifflin
	Thomas McKean Thompson	1801–1808	Thomas McKean
	Nathaniel B. Boileau	1808–1817	Simon Snyder
	Thomas Sergeant	1817–1819	William Findlay
[[File:SIng.jpg	60px]]	Samuel D. Ingham	1819–1820
[[File:AndrewGregg.jpg	60px]]	Andrew Gregg	1820–1823	Joseph Hiester
	Molton C. Rogers	1823–1826	John Andrew Shulze
[[File:Isaac Barnard.jpg	60px]]	Isaac D. Barnard	1826–1827
	Calvin Blythe	1827–1829
[[File:SamuelMcKean.jpg	60px]]	Samuel McKean	1829–1833	George Wolf
	James Findley	1833–1835
[[File:Thomas Henry Burrowes.jpg	60px]]	Thomas Henry Burrowes	1835–1839	Joseph Ritner
[[File:FrancisShunk.jpg	60px]]	Francis R. Shunk	1839–1842	David R. Porter
	Anson V. Parsons	1842–1843
	Charles McClure	1843–1845
	Jesse Miller	1845–1848	Francis R. Shunk
[[File:Townsend Haines (1899) (cropped).jpg	60px]]	Townsend Haines	1848–1850	William F. Johnston
	Alexander L. Russel	1850–1852
	Francis W. Hughes	1852–1853	William Bigler
	Charles A Black	1853–1855
[[File:Abraham Lincoln (1897) (14591313577).jpg	60px]]	Andrew Gregg Curtin	1855–1858	James Pollock
	William M. Heister	1858–1861	William F. Packer
	Eli Slifer	1861–1867	Andrew Gregg Curtin
	Francis Jordan	1867–1873	John W. Geary
[[File:MatthewQuay.jpg	60px]]	Matthew S. Quay	1873–1878	John F. Hartranft
	John Blair Linn	1878–1879
[[File:MatthewQuay.jpg	60px]]	Matthew S. Quay	1879–1882	Henry M. Hoyt
	Francis Jordan	1882–1883
[[File:William Stenger - Brady-Handy.jpg	60px]]	William S. Stenger	1883–1887	Robert E. Pattison
[[File:CharlesWarrenStone.jpg	60px]]	Charles Warren Stone	1887–1890	James A. Beaver
	Jacob H. Longnecker	1890–1891
60px	William F. Harrity	1891–1895	Robert E. Pattison
	Frank Reeder	1895–1897	Daniel H. Hastings
	David Martin	1897–1899
[[File:William W. Griest (Pennsylvania Congressman).jpg	60px]]	William Walton Griest	1899–1903	William A. Stone
	Frank M. Fuller	1903–1905	Samuel W. Pennypacker
	Robert B. McAfee	1905–1915
[[File:Cyrus Woods 2.jpg	60px]]	Cyrus Woods	1915–1921	Martin Grove Brumbaugh
	Bernard J. Myers	1921–1923	William Cameron Sproul
	Clyde L. King	1923–1926	Gifford Pinchot
	E. H. Conarroe	1926–1927
	Charles Johnson	1927–1929	John Stuchell Fisher
	Robert R. Lewis	1929–1930
	James Walker	1930–1931
	Richard J. Beamish	1931–1934	Gifford Pinchot
	John J. Owen	1934–1935
[[File:David L. Lawrence (1).jpg	60px]]	David L. Lawrence	1935–1939	George Earle
	Sophia O'Hara	1939–1943	Arthur James
	Charles M. Morrison	1943–1949	Edward Martin
	Gene D. Smith	1949–1955	James H. Duff
	James A. Finnegan	1955	Edward Martin
	Henry Harner	1955–1956	George M. Leader
	James A. Finnegan	1956–1958
[[File:John S Rice (1964).jpg	60px]]	John S. Rice	1958–1961
	E. James Trimarchi	1961–1963	David L. Lawrence
	George I. Bloom	1963–1965	William Scranton
	W. Stuart Helm	1965–1967
	Craig Truax	1967–1968	Raymond P. Shafer
	Joseph J. Kelley	1968–1971
[[File:C. Delores Tucker.jpg	60px]]	C. Delores Tucker	1971–1977	Milton Shapp
	James D. Golden (acting)	1977
	Barton Fields	1977–1979
	Ethel D. Allen	1979	Dick Thornburgh
	William R. Davis	1979–1985
	Richard E. Anderson	1985
[[File:Robert Gleason Commerce Committee Hearing.png	60px]]	Robert A Gleason, Jr.	1985–1987
	James J. Haggerty	1987–1989	Bob Casey Sr.
	Christopher A. Lewis	1989–1991
	Brenda K. Mitchell	1992–1994
	Robert N. Grant	1994–1995
	Yvette Kane	1995–1998	Tom Ridge
	Kim Pizzingrilli	1999–2002
	C. Michael Weaver	2002–2003	Mark Schweiker
[[File:Cortes-nass.jpg	60px]]	Pedro Cortés	2003–2010	Ed Rendell
	Basil L. Merenda	2010–2011
	Carol Aichele	2011–2015	Tom Corbett
[[File:Cortes-nass.jpg	60px]]	Pedro Cortés	2015–2017	Tom Wolf
	Robert Torres	2017–2019
[[File:Wolf Administration Holds Evening Election Update Press Conference (50569909631) (cropped).jpg	60px]]	Kathy Boockvar	2019–2021
	Veronica Degraffenreid (acting)	2021–2022
[[File:Gov. Wolf Expands Voter Registration Access for Eligible Pennsylvanians (52342202250) (cropped).jpg	60px]]	Leigh M. Chapman (acting)	2022–2023
[[File:Al Schmidt 2021 (cropped).jpg	60px]]	Al Schmidt	2023–present	Josh Shapiro

Notes

References

"About Us".
. (2023-06-29). ["Governor Shapiro's Nominees for Secretary at Departments of Human Services, Revenue, and State Take Office"](https://www.governor.pa.gov/newsroom/governor-shapiros-nominees-for-secretary-at-departments-of-human-services-revenue-and-state-assume-positions/). *Governor Josh Shapiro*.
"PA Department of State History".

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