Foy, O’Malley and Summers Announce Job Switches

Massachusetts Chief of Commonwealth Development Doug Foy, Archbishop Sean O’Malley, and Harvard University President Larry Summers announced today that the three of them were all switching jobs with each other.

Foy, who Tuesday resigned his position, will become President of Harvard, while Summers, who also quit his post on Tuesday, will become Archbishop of Boston. O’Malley, who Wednesday was named Cardinal-elect, said he would simultaneously be assuming Foy’s duties in state government.

Although Foy has never run an institution as large as Harvard, it was thought that his strong environmental credentials would appeal to a largely left-wing, anti-capitalist faculty that never felt comfortable with a man whose signature appeared on the dollar bill.  Meanwhile, Summers’s secretive and brusque management style was expected to be a good fit with the culture of the Archdiocese, which rarely seeks outside opinion when making decisions. And it appears O’Malley’s religious background should serve him well within an administration that does not allow its senior officials much lattitude “Clearly, his ability to call down God’s wrath will help him get his way at Cabinet meetings,” said one political analyst.

The job switches pose some challenges, especially for Summers, who will have to convert to Catholicism. Still, employment counselors called the moves smart. “Here you have a number of high-profile men who suddenly found themselves ‘pursuing other opportunities,’” said one head-hunter. “Turns out, those ‘other opportunities’ were each other’s careers.”