HELENA - Gov. Brian Schweitzer on Monday appointed his chief troubleshooter, Vivian Hammill, as his new chief of staff.

Hammill will replace Bruce Nelson, who resigned after being appointed by President Barack Obama to head the federal Farm Service Agency in Montana.

Hammill's new salary is $99,869 a year.

"I am honored to have Viv on board as my chief of staff," Schweitzer said in a statement. "She is uniquely qualified and will be a tremendous asset to me and the people of Montana."

Nelson was Schweitzer's chief of staff from the start of this administration in January 2005.

He will be returning to Bozeman to head the Farm Service Agency in Montana, the same federal job he held during the Clinton administration. It was there Nelson met Schweitzer, then a political neophyte who served on the agency's state board.

Nelson has been living in Helena weekdays and commuting on weekends to Bozeman, where his family lives.

"Bruce has been an excellent chief of staff and a longtime friend," Schweitzer said. "He will be missed by myself and the entire administration. We all wish him the very best in his new endeavor."

Hammill, 54, has been chief legal counsel for the state Department of Labor and Industry but also has served as an attorney for Schweitzer at times since 2005 and during his transition to governor in late 2004.

At times, Schweitzer summoned her to serve as his troubleshooter on particularly delicate or messy state government personnel issues and investigations.

Hammill previously worked as associate legal counsel for the state Department of Administration from 1983 to 1993. She was a partner in a San Francisco law firm from 1983 to 1993 and was a commissioner for the City and County of San Francisco Rent Stabilization and Arbitration Board for five years.

She has guest-lectured widely on employment law at Stanford University law school, University of California law school at the Boalt Hall and Hasting campuses and at more than 35 continuing-legal-education courses on labor and employment law.

Hammill graduated from the University of Vermont in 1977 with a bachelor's degree in political science and received her law degree from Southwestern University law school in Los Angeles.

Nelson, meanwhile, farmed for years in the Fort Benton area and served as chairman of the Montana Democratic Party.

Before joining the Schweitzer administration, he was development project management for Zoot Enterprises in Bozeman. He previously was chief of staff to former U.S. Rep. Pat Williams, D-Mont., and an aide to former Gov. Thomas L. Judge. Nelson has a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Montana.