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Tyler named Maryland commissioner
Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley named attorney and long-time advisor Ralph S. Tyler to be the state’s insurance commissioner responsible for overseeing the regulation of Maryland’s $26 billion insurance industry.
Tyler had been serving as chief legal counsel for the O’Malley-Brown Administration.
Tyler will replace Peggy Watson, who served as interim commissioner after Steven Orr left.
“I am looking forward to serving the people of Maryland in a new capacity,” stated Tyler. “The Maryland Insurance Administration’s primary purpose is to protect Maryland consumers, and I look forward to working under Governor O’Malley to protect the working families of our state.”
Tyler, 60, is an attorney with over 30 years of experience as a lawyer including more than 20 years practicing law in Baltimore City and Maryland. Tyler led the effort to reconstitute Maryland’s Public Service Commission with independent and professional regulators. He served as the state’s deputy attorney general from 1991 to 1996, before becoming a partner at the Baltimore office of Hogan & Hartson.
The MIA began in 1872 as the insurance department under the Comptroller of the Treasury. In 1970, it moved to the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation and was renamed the Insurance Division. The agency was reorganized again in 1993. It has a budget of $22 million.