November 9, 2026
Brian Daniels, director of Rhode Island’s Office of Management and Budget, speaks with reporters at the Powers Building in Providence on Jan. 15, 2026. (Photo by Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current)
After shaping a dozen state budgets across three administrations of different political parties, Rhode Island Management and Budget Director Brian Daniels is hanging up his purple tie.
Daniels, who goes by the handle @PurpleTieRI on X, is leaving his post on Dec. 11, according to an Oct. 30 resignation letter sent to Gov. Dan MCKee’s office and shared with Rhode Island Current. Daniels’ resignation was first reported by Ted Nesi at WPRI-TV 12.
“Serving as OMB Director has been an inspiring and rewarding experience, but it is not a role that I can perform indefinitely,” Daniels wrote. “Having contributed to twelve budgets under three Governors, I now plan to take some time off to enjoy a quiet holiday season with loved ones and then explore new frontiers.”
His resignation from the $222,000-a-year job leaves another vacancy for Governor-elect Helena Buonanno Foulkes to fill once she takes office. It’s not uncommon for cabinet members and gubernatorial staffers to leave their positions ahead of a change in administration, but Daniels has endured through multiple election cycles and changes in the governor’s seat.
A Rhode Island native with more than two decades of experience in local, state and federal government, Daniels arrived on Smith Hill in 2010 as policy director for then-Gov. Lincoln Chafee, a former Republican who turned independent.
His career in the state budget office began in 2012 as director of performance management, a position he held through the 2014 election that brought in Gov. Gina Raimondo. Daniels took a five-year reprieve from state budget work from 2017 to 2021 to head the Rhode Island League of Cities and Towns, but returned under the McKee administration in November 2021 as director of the management and budget office.
In his resignation letter, Daniels cited the creation of a state supplemental rainy day fund created with the fiscal 2024 budget, and use of federal COVID relief funds for capital projects and debt retirement, as accomplishments of the budget office.
“This discipline has been hailed by bond rating agencies and ultimately led Fitch to upgrade the State’s general obligation bond rating from AA to AA+,” Daniels wrote.
Other measures implemented under Daniels’ watch include standardized performance measures and quarterly progress tracking for state agencies; data analytics tools to identify and prevent waste and abuse in benefit programs; and oversight of $1 billion in federal pandemic aid.
Rhode Island Health and Human Services Secretary Richard Charest also resigned to lead Roger Williams Medical Center and Our Lady of Fatima Hospital.
Even before winning the election, Foulkes has been outspoken about her plans to hire a new state transportation director who has no connections to state government — an indirect jab at former Rhode Island Department of Transportation Director Peter Alviti Jr., whose political career — and absence of infrastructure expertise — came under scrutiny in the wake of the Washington Bridge closure. Alviti retired in February.
But Foulkes has not commented publicly on her plans for other cabinet directors, including someone to help craft her first budget proposal as governor, which will be unveiled in January.
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Courtesy of Rhode Island Current
