John Connolly

John Connolly serves as temporary commissioner and state Medicaid director for the Department of Human Services. Prior to his appointment to temporary commissioner in 2026, he served as deputy commissioner, overseeing the DHS policy administrations of Aging and Disability Services; Behavioral Health; Health Care; and Homelessness, Housing, and Support Services; and supporting program coordination with the Resettlement Programs Office. Medical Assistance, Minnesota's Medicaid program, and MinnesotaCare together provide coverage for services that span across these administrations and support roughly 1 in 4 Minnesotans. 

Connolly previously served as assistant commissioner for the Health Care Administration within DHS. Prior to joining the Department, he served as chief strategist for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, where he focused on advancement of Medicaid-funded services and programs, regulation of health facilities, homelessness and emergency response. 

Before that, he spent several years working in behavioral health in both state and county government, serving as deputy secretary for behavioral health for the California Health and Human Services Agency and director of the Substance Abuse Prevention and Control Division of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. Connolly also served as deputy director of Insure the Uninsured Project, a nonprofit organization focused on expanding and improving health coverage in California, and as a senior policy analyst at KFF. He began his career as a public middle school teacher. 

Connolly holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Chicago, a master’s degree in education from Bank Street College of Education and doctorate in health policy from Harvard University.