Gov. Ned Lamont on Thursday named Sibongile “Bongi” Magubane, a former information-technology executive at Aetna, as the commissioner of motor vehicles, the department that Lamont once described as a metaphor for what is wrong with government bureaucracy.
“For many residents, the DMV is the face of state government – it is an office that virtually every adult needs to interact with and for far too long it has been overly bureaucratic, arduous, and – quite frankly – operating in the 21st century while relying on 20th century processes,” Lamont said.
In addition to Aetna, Magubane worked as a consultant for the information technology company, Keane, between 1998 to 2000 and at Cigna from 1994 to 1998, where the administration says her duties included “maintaining and enhancing capabilities across the company’s billing, banking, and eligibility shared service functions.”
Three years ago, computer malfunctions and widespread complaints prompted Gov. Dannel P. Malloy to hire Judeen Wrinn, a retired Aetna corporate executive with experience fixing customer service systems, as a trouble-shooter at the DMV. The department has made progress, but the DMV was an issue during the 2018 gubernatorial campaign, with Republicans calling for its privatization.
Lamont took his own shots at the department while campaigning: “You walk into DMV a Democrat, you leave a Republican.”
On Thursday, he said in a statement that Magubane would bring a new approach.
“We need a fresh approach with this agency – one that prioritizes convenience, ease, and reliability for customers, while also delivering efficiency and cost effectiveness for its administrative needs,” Lamont said. “Bongi has earned a reputation for doing exactly those things for some of our nation’s leading private sector companies. She’s a sharp, solutions-oriented thinker with a strong business acumen who will bring to state government an innovative approach that works to cut red tape and brings to the DMV the solutions that so many residents of our state are demanding.”
