Matt Walsh is expected to be named River Forest’s interim village administrator at the Jan. 23 village board meeting, temporarily filling the vacancy created by the resignation of Brian Murphy.
The resignation of Murphy, who has served as village administrator since December 2021, was announced at the Jan. 9 village board meeting. He replaced Eric Palm, who left River Forest in February 2021 after 10 years to accept a similar position in Hoffman Estates.
Walsh has served as assistant to the village manager since April. Prior to his hiring at River Forest, Walsh served the village of Homer Glen for over three years, including a year as interim village manager.
He also served as commissioner of the Park District of Forest Park for eight years.
Walsh graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2015. He also received a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2017.
When announcing Murphy’s resignation Jan. 9, village President Cathy Adduci said he was leaving “for personal reasons” effective Jan. 27. An email newsletter from the village Jan. 12 added “health reasons” as a cause for his resignation.
In the email newsletter, Adduci said she is “confident Matt will do a remarkable job.”
Murphy served as Plainfield’s village administrator prior to his hiring in River Forest in December 2021.
Following Palm’s resignation, village officials used GovHR of Northbrook, a public management consulting firm, to conduct a search for his replacement. The firm, which serves local government clients and other public-sector entities across the country, had been used by River Forest previously, most recently to fill the village finance director position.
