Gov. Phil Murphy speaks Tuesday, April 28, during his daily briefing on the state’s efforts to combat the coronavirus pandemic and provide relief to those impacted by the crisis. — Photo by Edwin Torres/Governor’s Office
By Joshua Burd
Gov. Phil Murphy has tapped more than three dozen development executives, labor leaders and other industry professionals as part of a new council to help restart New Jersey’s economy.
The governor on Friday announced the formation of a statewide council to advise the administration in reopening business and recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic. The group includes nine subcommittees spanning industry and government, including one dubbed facilities and construction that includes many of the state’s top developers and trade association leaders.
“As we begin the difficult task of restarting New Jersey’s economy and recovering from the damaging effects of COVID-19, this advisory council brings together leaders from all walks of New Jersey life,” Murphy said. “This group will not only help us gather the local intelligence we need to get our economy running again, but also will help us create the framework for coping with our new long-term economic realities.”
Many of the commercial real estate leaders on the council have advised the Murphy administration throughout the pandemic. To that end, they’ve provided key input on issues such as the shutdown of all non-essential construction and the moratorium on evictions for apartment renters.
The full facilities and construction subcommittee includes:
- Marlene Asselta, Southern New Jersey Development Council
- David Barry, Ironstate Development Co.
- Joe Baumann, McManimon, Scotland, & Baumann LLC
- Staci Berger, Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey
- Wasseem Boraie, Boraie Development LLC
- David Brogan, New Jersey Apartment Association
- Sarah Clarke, New Brunswick Development Corp.
- Tom Considine, McElroy, Deutsch, Mulvaney & Carpenter LLP
- Bill Colgan, Community Healthcare Associates
- Jeff Crum, Community Asset Preservation Corporation
- Morris Davis, Rutgers Center for Real Estate
- Eileen Della Volle, KS Engineers
- Mike DeMarco, Mack-Cali Realty Corp.
- Joe DeMark, Sheet Metal Workers
- Jeremy Farrell, LeFrak Organization
- Christiana Foglio, Community Investment Strategies Inc.
- Stephen Fluhr, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield
- Carl Goldberg, Canoe Brook Management LLC
- Lori Grifa, Archer & Greiner PC
- Derrick Griggs, Affordable Housing Alliance
- Michael Hanrahan, American Institute of Architects New Jersey
- Joe Jingoli, Joseph Jingoli & Son Inc.
- Lisa John-Basta, Chiesa Shahinian & Giantomasi PC
- Vincent Lane, IUPAT DC 711
- Michael Maloney, UA Local 9
- Nevins McCann, Connell Foley LLP
- Michael McGuinness, NAIOP New Jersey
- Gil Medina, CBRE
- Bill Mullen, New Jersey State Building & Construction Trades Council
- Wendy Neu, Hugo Neu Corp.
- Darwin Roman, NAHREP South Jersey
- John Saraceno, Onyx Equities LLC
- Carol Ann Short, New Jersey Builders Association
- David Simon, Simon Property Group
- Ron Simoncini, Axiom Communications
- William Sproule, Keystone Mountain Lakes Regional Council of Carpenters
- Elizabeth Tice, K. Hovnanian Homes
- Richard Tolson, Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers
- Jerry Zaro, Sills Cummis & Gross PC
The advisory council subcommittees will begin virtual meetings this week, according to a news release. Besides focusing on issues surrounding the short-term restarting of New Jersey’s economy, the council also will begin the task of positioning the economy and creating a framework for the long-term recovery.
The other eight subcommittees in the Governor’s Restart and Recovery Advisory Council are government, health care, Main Street, manufacturing and supply chain, professional services, social services and faith, tourism and entertainment and transportation and infrastructure. The council will work in conjunction with the commission named in late April and will be co-chaired by New Jersey Secretary of Higher Education Zakiya Smith Ellis, Economic Development Authority CEO Tim Sullivan and Choose New Jersey CEO and President Jose Lozano.
“COVID-19 is first and foremost a public health crisis, but it’s also an economic crisis on a scale that outpaces anything in recent memory,” Sullivan said. “Restarting and then driving a recovery of our economy will require comprehensive input from a wide spectrum of economic and community stakeholders, and Governor Murphy has assembled an extraordinary group of New Jerseyans to help guide these efforts via this council. I’m honored to join Zakiya, Jose and the Governor’s Office to help lead this effort to build a stronger, fairer and more resilient economic future for New Jersey.”
The full list of facilities and construction subcommittee members is available here.
