Management Moves
New Jersey Policy Perspective, Box 22766, Trenton 08607. 609-393-1145. www.njpp.org.
Nicole Rodriguez has been named as the new president of New Jersey Policy Perspective (NJPP), a Trenton-based think tank that drives policy change to advance economic, social, and racial justice.
Rodriguez, who is currently NJPP’s research director, has guided the think tank’s policy agenda and supervised its research staff since 2019. She will succeed Brandon McKoy, who joined the leadership team of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities last fall. Rodriguez starts in her new role on June 1.
“This is an exciting time for NJPP and the broader progressive movement,” said Marcia Marley, NJPP board chair and head of the board’s search committee, in a statement. “Nicole lives and breathes the values that have guided NJPP’s mission since our founding 25 years ago. No other candidate matched her knowledge, commitment, and dedication to the work NJPP does.”
Since joining NJPP, Rodriguez has led the think tank’s analysts to policy wins that: made the state’s tax code fairer through the “millionaires’ tax”; opened a pathway for all residents to obtain drivers’ and professional licenses regardless of immigration status; and established a state fund to provide relief for workers and families who had been excluded from other forms of pandemic assistance.
“I’m honored to take on the role of president of NJPP, an organization with a legacy of not only getting things done but doing so in a way that puts people first in the policy-making process,” Rodriguez said. “With democratic institutions and basic freedoms under attack in our nation’s halls of power, the need for community-driven policy has never been greater. We have a lot of work to do in building a state and economy that works for everyone, and I know that with this team we can get it done.”
A Boston native, Rodriguez quickly rose through the ranks at the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, starting as a Center on Budget and Policy Priorities fellow — the same program that brought Brandon McKoy to NJPP. Her research was critical to successful campaigns to raise Massachusetts’ minimum wage to $15 an hour and enact paid family and sick leave. Immediately before joining NJPP, Rodriguez was a senior researcher at Community Labor United.
Rodriguez holds a master of public policy from the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University and a bachelor’s degree in political science from Villanova University. She is a first-generation American raised by a single mother from Cuba.
Deaths
Beatrice S. Tylutki, 86, on April 28. She served as a judge in New Jersey and was a member of the New Jersey Bar Association, Mercer County Bar Association, and Polish American Congress: Kosciuszko Foundation.
Gilda L. Losch, 100. She was manager of Curtis Bowling Lanes for 50 years and was the first female bowling alley manager in the state of New Jersey.
Charlotte Johnson Pierce, 80, on April 26. She was an environmental activist and worked for the NJ Governor’s Office on the disabled. In the 1990s she studied art at Mercer County Community College and was a set designer and scenic artist at Rider College, Princeton Theological Seminary, Westminster Choir College, and other venues in the area and in New York City. She was also a potter and visual artist in a variety of mediums.
Robert A. Altman, 79, on May 15. He worked as a vice president at Educational Testing Service from 1980 and 1995 and was a past member of the boards of trustees of The College of New Jersey, Mercer County Community College, and Montclair State University.
Randall N. Hanson, 52, on May 7. He was a retired detective with the Trenton Police Department where he was employed for 25 years and was a member of the honor guard.
Robert S. Reali, 71, on May 6. Prior to employment with the county, he was a self-employed contractor with Salvatore Contracting. He is a retiree of Mercer County, where he was employed as a Maintenance Supervisor of the Mercer County Library System.
