Rolando Torres, Jr. was re-appointed as Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Personnel by Governor Jon S. Corzine. Initially nominated on November 22, 2004, by Acting Governor Richard J. Codey, the nomination was confirmed by the NJ State Senate March 14, 2005. Previously, he served as the Special Deputy Commissioner in the Office of Legal, Policy and Legislative Affairs at the Department of Human Services.

Commissioner Rolando Torres, an attorney, brings some 20 years of experience as a public servant to this cabinet post. Additionally, he brings a special expertise in consensus building and reconciling diverse interests on public policy issues in the public and corporate settings.

As Special Deputy Commissioner for Human Services, he was responsible for overseeing the Department’s legal, legislative, and regulatory matters, including the Child Welfare Reform Plan.

Commissioner Rolando Torres served in the Governor’s Office as Deputy Chief of Management and Operations under Governor James E. McGreevey. Prior to this, he served as Special Deputy Commissioner in the Department of Banking and Insurance. During his tenure at Banking and Insurance, Commissioner Rolando Torres was instrumental in negotiating the legislative agreements which ultimately became New Jersey’s Auto Reform Act of 2003.

From 1999 to 2002, Commissioner Rolando Torres worked at Prudential Insurance Company of American in Newark as Vice President and Corporate Counsel. While at Prudential, he handled discrimination matters for the company and implemented the company’s “Roads to Resolution” program, an employee dispute resolution program.

In 1995, Commissioner Rolando Torres served as Director of the Division on Civil Rights for the New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety, where he was credited with implementing management reforms to reduce the agency’s significant case backlog.  He also was an assistant director of enforcement at the Department of Law and Public Safety, where he supervised state-wide investigations in employment, housing and public accommodations discrimination. 

During his career, Commissioner Rolando Torres has worked as the Special Assistant to the Commissioner for the New Jersey Department of the Public Advocate.  He served as Assistant Deputy Public Defender with the New Jersey Office of the Public Defender, where he was a criminal defense attorney for the Hudson region. Commissioner Rolando Torres also served as a law assistant for the Criminal Court of the State of New York.

A resident of Lawrenceville, Commissioner Rolando Torres received his law degree from Rutgers University School of Law in Newark, New Jersey in 1982.  He is also a graduate of Herbert H. Lehman College in Bronx, New York.