Biography of Matthew Denn
Lieutenant Governor Matt Denn took office in January, 2009. His office is dedicated to advocacy for Delaware's children. He also chairs the state's Criminal Justice Council, and works with the Governor on expanding employment opportunities for Delawareans.
Matt's agenda as Lieutenant Governor includes: improving the state's schools, including getting more funding to the classroom, recruiting great teachers, and expanding parental involvement in schools; securing health coverage for Delaware kids; reducing environmental hazards faced by children; protecting abused and neglected children; and improving services to children with disabilities.
As the state's elected Insurance Commissioner from 2005 to 2009, Matt turned the Delaware Insurance Commissioner's Office into a vehicle for protecting and informing insurance consumers. He led the charge to pass laws restricting credit scoring and unfair cancellation of homeowners insurance, and fought to limit increases in Delawareans' insurance rates. During his term, workers compensation insurance rates were cut by 45 percent, saving tens of millions of dollars for Delaware businesses. And Matt personally took on the cases of hundreds of Delawareans who were being treated unfairly by their insurance companies.
Matt grew up in New Castle County, the son of Morton and Marilyn Denn, attending Yorklyn Elementary and H.B. du Pont Middle School before his family moved to California. He graduated from the University of California at Berkeley and Yale Law School.
Matt returned to Delaware after Yale and sought out Delaware Volunteer Legal Services for his first job, providing free legal advice and representation to people who couldn't afford it. In 1998, after he had entered private legal practice, Matt was asked by then-Governor Tom Carper to chair a commission charged with fixing state government's child protection system after a series of tragic child deaths. From 2001 to 2003, Matt served as chief legal counsel to the governor, writing legislation including the Patient's Bill of Rights and the Emergency Health Powers Act.
Matt and his wife Michele live near Newark with twin sons Adam and Zach and their pug Lenny.
