For that reason, Legreide took on the daunting task of leading the embattled New Jersey Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV), last April. At that time, Legreide was slated to head the Casino Control Commission, on which she had served since 1994. She was persuaded, however, to take over as director by former Department of Transportation Commissioner James P. Fox, who currently serves as chief of staff to Gov. James E. McGreevey. Legreide had previously worked with Fox, then assistant to Senate president John F. Russo, while serving as deputy executive director of the New Jersey State Senate Democratic Caucus.

Throughout her career, which has also included serving as commissioner of the Ocean County Board of Elections and as a legislative aide for Russo and Assemblymen John Paul Doyle and Dan Newman, Legreide gained a reputation for knowing how to get the job done. "It’s about knowing when you need to go fight in the governor’s office or the legislature for something and knowing how to do it that brings a lot to this position," she said. "My political involvement has given me that background. You become a player. Otherwise, I would be sitting here and saying I need this but not knowing how to get it done."

Legreide knew that she would be relied upon for this understanding at the DMV, as she was well aware that many things were not working there. "It was not hard to figure out that Motor Vehicles was not functioning the way it should in providing customer service," said Legreide.

Nonetheless, when Fox and McGreevey called on Legreide to lead the agency, she didn’t hesitate. "Diane Legreide provides the DMV with a wealth of experience in successfully managing one of the state's most complex industries," said McGreevey. "She is working tirelessly to provide reliable customer service to every driver in New Jersey as well as to bring long overdue improvements to the way DMV delivers registrations, inspections and licenses."

Presently, this means supervising more than 1,200 state employees and overseeing four regional service centers, 45 privately run motor vehicle agencies and 34 state inspection stations run by the private California firm of Parsons, Infrastructure and Technology.

This often entails dealing with what Legreide refers to as "crisis management." At any moment, her already-full schedule could be thrown off by a telephone call notifying her of a new problem. For instance, "Two people were arrested this morning in a facility; or the State Police need to see me, because they figured out a new scam of how to get a driver’s license; or there is a bomb scare in a south Jersey facility," she said. In each case, she needs to implement a plan and alert each agency as to what happened.

Despite this constant stream of surprises, Legreide works diligently each day to meet the challenge of "balancing customer service, which the people in New Jersey deserve, against security," she explained.

This temperamental balance was challenged even more following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Now, there is increased focus on security measures, such as guarding against the obtainment of fake IDs. Background checks will be administered on all clerks at local motor vehicle agencies and all DMV employees handling documents. These measures will eliminate internal security problems, such as the eight former DMV workers indicted last summer, as well as the agent and entire staff of the Newark office fired in February, for taking part in rings selling fake licenses.

"The problem is that you just can’t change things overnight," she said. "It’s almost like everybody is under this panicked deadline, because you don’t want anything to happen. And yet you just can’t go from here to there."

Legreide admits having felt overwhelmed by the prospect of a New Jersey driver’s license winding up in the wrong hands. "For the first month I was here, I was awake at 3 a.m. each morning worrying about terrorists driving a truck into something, with a driver’s license that I gave them," Legreide recalled. More recently, the men accused of terrorizing the Washington, D.C.-area in the sniper shootings were found to be driving in an uninsured car that bore New Jersey plates.

Currently, New Jersey and Vermont are the only states that still use paper licenses, making them more vulnerable to fraud; the rest have all gone digital. To offset this danger, Legreide is working with the Counterterrorism Taskforce, the Department of Treasury and the governor’s office on a proposal for a plan to digitize IDs.

To accommodate the technology of the new licenses, as well as the constant interaction with other vital agencies throughout the state, DMV must also update its antiquated computer system, which is now 22 years old. Legreide added, "The more efficiently our system works, the better we are able to put new programs in place, for example, one that will deter or detect insurance fraud."

It is her ultimate goal that the agency "serves the public in a manner they deserve."

Once she feels comfortable that the DMV is moving in that direction, Legreide plans on retiring. "I certainly have enough state service that I could have retired before this job," said Legreide. "Who knows? I say that now. I don’t know what I’ll say next year, or the year after."