Governor-elect Mikie Sherrill announced an ambitious and collaborative initiative to chart a bold course for New Jersey’s future and ensure the Governor-elect’s commitment to hit the ground running on Day One priorities. The first phase of this initiative is comprised of ten Action Teams to be led by New Jersey and national experts. They include members with diverse and distinguished experience and were developed with input from experts in the state and across the country.
Carl Van Horn, Distinguished Professor of Public Policy at the Bloustein School and Director of the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development and Christiana R. Foglio, MCRP ’86, Founder & CEO of Community Investment Strategies, Inc. were named to two of governor-elect Sherrill’s transition teams.
A widely recognized expert on workforce, human resources, and employment policy issues with extensive experience in public and private sector policymaking, Carl Van Horn was named co-chair of the Jobs, Opportunity, and Prosperity For All transition team. Van Horn is the founding director of the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development, one of the nation’s leading academic centers on workforce policy and practice and an elected Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. Since 2013, he has been a Visiting, Non-Resident, Scholar with the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. He is also Senior Advisor for Strategy and Planning in the Office of New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy.
At Rutgers, Van Horn is a member of the university’s graduate faculties of planning and public policy, education, management and labor relations, and political science.
Van Horn is the author or editor of 18 books and over 150 scholarly articles and reports on American public policy and the American labor market, including Working Scared (Or not at All, (2014); Transforming U.S. Workforce Development Policies for the 21st Century (2015); and Investing in America’s Workforce (2018). He is frequently sought by national media for his views on labor, workforce, and economic issues.
Van Horn has held several senior-level policymaking positions in government and universities, including Chair of the Board of Directors of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, Director of Policy for the State of New Jersey, and Senior Economist at the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress. He was appointed by President Clinton to a Presidential Emergency Board that mediated a contract between labor and management in the railroad industry. Van Horn has advised and consulted with numerous public and private organizations on human resources, training, education, and management issues, including the U.S. Departments of Labor and Education and the National Science Foundation.
Additional public service appointments include membership on the New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology, the New Jersey Transit Board, and the Amtrak Reform Commission of the U.S. House of Representatives. He also chaired the New Jersey Property Tax Convention Task Force and was Vice- Chair of New Jersey Governor-elect Jon S. Corzine’s transition.
Alumnus Christiana R. Foglio, MCRP ’86, was named to the Lowering Housing Costs and Expanding Homeownership team. Foglio, a Bloustein Dean’s Advisory Board Member emeritus and the recipient of the school’s alumni Career Achievement Award, spearheads and oversees all of Community Investment Strategies (CIS), Inc.’s fully-integrated real estate activities including multi-family housing, mixed-use redevelopment, market-rate, and affordable housing. An industry veteran with more than 30 years experience in the private and public sectors, she specializes in real estate developments and affordable housing initiatives that reflect each community’s vision, needs and character.
Foglio previously served on behalf of two governors as executive director of the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency, where she was responsible for over $1 billion of multi-family bond financing and is credited with creating the state’s housing policy as well as national awards for innovative state housing initiatives. She also was appointed by Governors Florio and Whitman to serve as chair of the New Jersey Council on Affordable Housing.
She also chaired the New Jersey Council on Affordable Housing. As the former president of the not-for-profit New Brunswick Development Corporation, Chris is credited with launching that city’s economic rebirth by implementing $300 million worth of urban renewal projects.
A licensed planner in the State of New Jersey, she is a highly sought-after guest speaker who has garnered numerous business and industry awards, including the PlanSmart NJ Van Zandt Community Involvement Award; Urban Land Institute’s Edward J. Bloustein Award for Exemplary Achievement in Civic Leadership; New Jersey Business of the Year; Top Woman-Owned Business in New Jersey; and among the Top Women in Business.