New insurance commissioner appointed

BOSTON – Julianne Bowler, deputy insurance commissioner, has been tapped by Gov. Jane Swift to succeed Linda Ruthardt as the Massachusetts insurance commissioner, who announced her resignation after serving in the post for nine years. She will take another post, still unspecified, in state government, the Boston Globe reported. Bowler has been second in command at the agency since 1998. Ruthardt was appointed by Gov. William Weld in 1993.