New York Gov. David Paterson Thursday made two high-level personnel announcements naming Robert Megna as state budget director and announcing Eric Dinallo’s resignation as insurance superintendent.
Megna, appointed effective June 15, replaces Laura Anglin, who announced her resignation last month and who will continue to serve as an adviser until July 15.
Megna, 53, has served as commissioner of the Department of Taxation and Finance since January 2008, a position he was appointed to by former Gov. Eliot Spitzer.
“I am pleased to announce Bob Megna’s appointment and am confident that he will ably guide the division and state through these difficult economic times,” Paterson said in a press release.
The appointment does not require Senate confirmation and marks a return for Megna to the Division of Budget, where he previously headed the revenue forecasting unit.
Megna has also served as Virginia’s assistant commissioner for tax policy, deputy director of fiscal studies for the New York Assembly Ways and Means Committee, and as an economist for AT&T.
Megna holds a master’s degree in public policy from Fordham University and one in economics from the London School of Economics.
Dinallo, who has had a major role in reorganizing bond insurers since the start of the economic crisis, will step down effective July 3 and take a position as the Henry Kaufman visiting professor of finance at New York University’s Stern School of Business.
“I appreciate the opportunity to have worked with Gov. Paterson for the betterment of our state and our economy, and to have helped foster an insurance system that works fairly for all,” Dinallo said in a statement. “Our efforts aimed at financial fairness and economic protection for policyholders of all kinds, from new homeowners to the largest employers, are vitally important to New York’s future.”
Dinallo was mentioned in news reports this week as a potential candidate to succeed Andrew Cuomo as New York State attorney general.
Jack Herman contributed to this story.
