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Navjeet Bal heads Massachusetts Revenue Dept Posted: Monday, February 18, 2008, 02:41 pm EST New York: Indian-American Navjeet K. Bal has become the first non-white to become Commissioner of the Department of Revenue, Massachusetts.
Bal, who served as the deputy commissioner since September, took charge of her new post February 4 from Henry Dogmatizer, who resigned to become the Chief Financial Officer of Free Flow Power Corp.
"I am honored by the appointment and thrilled to have the opportunity to work with the many talented people at DOR," Bal said after her appointment was announced by the Secretary for Administration and Finance Leslie Kirwan last month.
A graduate of Williams College, Bal 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.
In 1990 Bal founded Mintz Levin’s Domestic Violence Project. She is a board member and former chairperson of the Legal Advocacy and Resource Center in Boston.
From 2003 to 2005 she served 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.
"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," said Secretary Kirwan.
Her appointment has been welcomed by the Great Boston chapter of the South Asian Bar Association or SABA.
"These appointments mark historic times in Massachusetts government. As South Asians rise in the ranks of our Government, Massachusetts shows itself to be a leader in making its government more representative of the community at large,” said SABA Greater Boston President Samia Kirmani, Esq.
Kirmani was also referring to the appointment of Sunila Thomas -George as Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination late last year. Both women are the first South Asians to hold Commissioner positions for the Commonwealth and they are the highest ranking South Asians in the executive branch of Massachusetts State government.
Thomas-George is a graduate of Wheaton College and the Western New England College School of Law. She has served in a number of capacities at the MCAD since 1997 and has received a number of awards, including the 2001 Manuel Carballo Governor’s Award for Excellence in Public Service and the 2004 Executive Branch Award for Excellence in Government Legal Services, for her unflagging dedication to civil rights.
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