SACRAMENTO – Gov. Gavin Newsom has tasked California Government Operations Agency Secretary Marybel Batjer, one of the most accomplished management experts in state government, to lead a comprehensive modernization and reinvention of the troubled California Department of Motor Vehicles.

Batjer also is to make recommendations for new long-term leadership and reform at DMV – with an emphasis on transparency, worker performance, speed of service and overall consumer satisfaction.

In that capacity, she will serve as chair of a new DMV Reinvention Strike Team for six months.

In addition, Gov. Newsom ordered an accelerated review of early findings within 30 days of the independent audit of DMV initiated by Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr., which is being managed by the Department of Finance.

“By any metric, California DMV has been chronically mismanaged and failed in its fundamental mission to the state customers it serves and the state workers it employs,” said Gov. Newsom. “It’s time for a reinvention and I’m grateful to Secretary Batjer for agreeing to take on this tremendous responsibility on behalf of California taxpayers.”

Batjer is the first-ever secretary of the California Government Operations Agency, appointed by Governor Brown in June 2013 after his government restructuring and creation of that agency.

She has overseen the overhaul of numerous state operations, including procurement, real estate and human resources. During her leadership of the strike team, she will remain as secretary of the California Government Operations Agency.

Prior to her appointment, she served as vice president of public policy and corporate social responsibility for Caesars Entertainment Inc., the world’s largest gaming-entertainment company. Before that, she was cabinet secretary to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, chief of staff to Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn, undersecretary of the California Business, Transportation and Housing Agency and chief deputy director of the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing.