SC Gov. McMaster’s chief of staff to depart office to start consulting firm
Trey Walker, the chief of staff for Gov. Henry McMaster, is leaving the office at the end of the week. He’s been McMaster’s chief of staff for nine years.
Deputy Chief of Staff Mark Plowden will take over Walker’s role in the office.
“As the Governor’s historic tenure comes to an end, we all have to prepare for the next chapter in our lives,” Walker wrote in an email to the governor’s staff on Tuesday. “Exciting professional and entrepreneurial opportunities require that this be my last week working in the governor’s office.”
Walker is starting Walker Chief Strategies, and will still be an advisor to McMaster, but just from outside the office.
“We got enormous capacity, a lot of talent, a lot of people who can do different things,” McMaster told reporters. “So we won’t miss a beat. We will miss Trey, but we won’t miss a beat.”
With McMaster, who is the state’s longest serving governor, set to leave office in January of next year, he has seen several staffers leave for new jobs. Spokesman Brandon Charochak left last month to join the South Carolina Manufacturers and Commerce. Attorney Thomas Limehouse left in October 2025 to start his own law office.
Cody Simpson, who served as McMaster’s chief executive assistant and agriculture advisor, left in May 2025 to become the state director of the USDA. Simpson has since left that job in order to run for commissioner of agriculture.
