Wheeler Named Insurance Director for New Jersey

The New Jersey Senate has confirmed Douglas A. Wheeler as director of the Division of Insurance..

Wheeler had been nominated by Governor Jon Corzine in May. He will replace longtime division Director Donald Bryan, who retires today.

Wheeler, an attorney who formerly served as the department’s chief of staff and assistant commissioner for Legislative and Regulatory Affairs, has been serving in an acting capacity since March. He has also served previously as an attorney with two law firm: Schwartz Simon Edelstein Celso & Kessler, of Florham Park, and Meyner and Landis, in Newark, before joining the New Jersey Senate as staff counsel in 2002.

He was named assistant commissioner, Legislative and Regulatory Affairs at DOBI in 2002 and was appointed chief of staff in 2005. He held both posts until 2006 when he joined National Atlantic Holdings Corporation and the Proformance Insurance Co. of Freehold, where he served as vice president and then general counsel.

Source: New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance