Governor Brown today announced the appointment of Christine Baker as Director of the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR). Ms. Baker has been serving as the acting director and chief deputy director of the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) since April 2011, and has an extensive background and a keen understanding of California workers’ compensation, having served as the Chief of the Division of Labor Statistics and Research, the Deputy Director for the Division of Workers’ Compensation, and as the Executive Officer of the California Commission on Health and Safety and Workers’ Compensation from its inception in 1994 until April of this year. She also serves on the Executive Committee of the International Association of Accident Boards and Commissions (IAIABC), the Board of Directors of the National Academy of Social Insurance, the Insurance Commissioner’s Fraud Task Force, and she has chaired the Commissioner’s Workers’ Compensation Fraud Focus Group and the Advisory Committee of the International Forum on Disability Management for 2010.

Ms. Baker holds a Masters Degree from the University of California, Berkeley School of Education. Her appointment as DIR Director requires Senate confirmation.