Gov. Chris Sununu has nominated a former top aide, D.J. Bettencourt, to lead the New Hampshire Insurance Department.

Bettencourt, who lives in Salem, has served as deputy commissioner since 2020. If confirmed, he would succeed Christopher Nicolopoulos, of Bow, who resigned last month.

Bettencourt has long been active in New Hampshire politics. He won election to Salem’s Town Council earlier this year, also serving on the town’s budget committee and charter commission.

Before joining the Insurance Department in 2020, Bettencourt was a policy director for the governor’s office.

Bettencourt has also served in the Legislature. He resigned from his post as House Majority Leader in 2012 after falsifying records about coursework at the University of New Hampshire School of Law.

In May 2022, Bettencourt was placed on leave from the Insurance Department after being arrested on a domestic violence charge. He returned to the job the following month, after prosecutors dropped the charge.

If his nomination is approved by the Executive Council, Bettencourt would earn $133,648 a year as the state’s insurance commissioner.

This article is shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative.

]]>