Navjeet
K. Bal Appointed Commissioner of the
Department of Revenue
WSN Bureau
New York:
Navjeet K. Bal, an Indian-American has been appointed as
commissioner of the Department of Revenue (DOR) in Massachusetts,
becoming the first person belonging to the minorities to occupy this
position in the USA. Secretary for administration and finance Leslie
Kirwan appointed Bal to the post, succeeding Henry Dormitzer, who
quit the department to become the chief financial officer at Free
Flow Power Corporation.
Bal has served
as senior deputy commissioner since September. Dormitzer had served
as commissioner since June 2007. His resignation takes effect at the
end of January.
Ms Bal, 44, a
native of India, is a graduate of Williams College and received her
law degree from Northeastern University in 1989. She worked for the
law firm of Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo from
September 1989 until April 2007, where she had extensive experience
in public finance, state disclosure issues, state and federal tax
law and structured financial transactions. .
Ms
Bal whose department manages a budget of 20 billion dollars, employs
2,200 people, managing all taxes (income, corporate and sales) in
the state. The Indian-American is the second woman to hold the post.
The last time a woman held the commissioner of DOR was during
1978-1982.
She was born in
Kenya
in a Punjabi family, which migrated to the African nation in the
1940s, coming to the United States as a child later.
Bal founded
Mintz Levin’s Domestic Violence Project in 1990, is a board member
and former chairperson of the Legal Advocacy and Resource Center in
Boston, and served from 2003-2005 on the executive committee for the
statewide planning committee on delivery of legal services chaired
by retired Chief Justice Herbert Wilkins, a group which worked to
reorganize the delivery of legal services in Massachusetts.
“While I am
sorry to see Henry leave, and thank him for his hard work, I am
delighted to appoint Navjeet Bal as DOR Commissioner. She is a
talented administrator and a terrific leader, and I am pleased to
promote her,” Secretary Kirwan said.
“The
opportunity to join an exciting new business venture poised to make
a real impact in developing clean, renewable energy resources is an
exciting opportunity that I cannot pass up. I know the Department
will be in good hands under Navjeet’s leadership” Dormitzer said,
describing his decision to leave DOR “as one that was not easy to
make.”
Dormitzer has spent virtually all of his working life in the private
sector. He worked 14 years for UBS Investment Bank, Municipal
Securities Group, rising to become Managing Director and Manager of
the Boston office before his appointment in January 2007 to become
A&F undersecretary and chief of staff, posts he held until he was
appointed Revenue Commissioner in July.
27
February 2008
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