The prime minister has designated Joseph Scicluna as secretary to the cabinet with effect from June 9 following the retirement of Alfred Fiorini Lowell.
Mr Scicluna is a career civil servant, having joined the civil service in 1970 in the grade of higher executive officer.
He has spent most of his career in the Office of the Prime Minister, where he has served in the various divisions of the ministry.
During the past 10 years, Mr Scicluna has occupied a number of senior positions in the public service, including those of director general at the Management and Personnel Office, permanent secretary in the Ministry for Social Policy and, lately, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Finance.
Mr Scicluna was one of the first directors of Malta Freeport Corporation Ltd and, for the past few years, has been a member of the board of the Malta Development Corporation. He has also represented the Ministry of Finance on the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development.
Mr Scicluna, 57, is married and has two adult children.