“Drew Skinner is a first-rate prosecutor, leader, and trusted advisor who excelled in one of the toughest, most vital jobs in state government. Drew’s principled leadership has laid the foundation for our Department’s continued emphasis on prosecuting corruption. I thank him for his exemplary public service,” said Attorney General Platkin. “I am excited that Eric Gibson, a longtime career corruption prosecutor at the state and federal level, will take over OPIA’s leadership. Eric has shown he will lead with the independence, fortitude, and discipline necessary to tackle corruption in New Jersey and to continue the office’s growth.”

Skinner, who served for nearly nine years as a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, became OPIA’s second Executive Director in May 2024. Before that, he served as Senior Counsel to Attorney General Platkin. During his tenure at OPIA, the office substantially increased its ranks of experienced, career prosecutors in supervisory and line positions, and established new policies and systems to improve its operations. Skinner oversaw multiple successful, significant cases, including: the trial conviction of a police chief for sexual assault and abuse of office; the conviction of multiple government officials for accepting bribes; the conviction of a sitting mayor for abusing taxpayer resources; the conviction of a former mayor for unlawfully taking state benefits; and the convictions and charging of multiple other defendants for public corruption offenses.

“Every day the career public servants at OPIA come to work with one goal: not to win, but to do the right thing—to do justice. It was an honor to serve alongside them to promote good government and the functioning of our democracy in New Jersey,” said Drew Skinner, outgoing Executive Director of OPIA. “I thank Attorney General Platkin and First Assistant Attorney General Lyndsay V. Ruotolo for their leadership and congratulate Eric Gibson on his well-deserved new role.”

Gibson, who joined OPIA approximately one year ago and has been serving as Corruption Bureau Co-Director, has been named to the Office’s top job effective September 19, 2025. In the new role, he will be supervising attorneys and law enforcement officers who investigate and prosecute public corruption crimes. Gibson will also be overseeing OPIA’s Fatal Police Encounters Unit, its Conviction Review and Cold Case Unit, and its Special Investigations Bureau that handles police internal affairs investigations statewide.

“I will miss Drew’s steady hand and his leadership. I am humbled to pick up his baton and honored to be entrusted with leading OPIA’s essential work and continuing its mission of ensuring that public resources are used properly, that government officials abide by the law, and that the best interests of the people of New Jersey are served by those in positions of power. OPIA stands at the very intersection where the trust and confidence of the people is built or broken by the conduct of their public servants. Our work is a priority for the Attorney General and we will continue to execute our duties vigorously without concern for fear or favor, applying the law to the facts as we find them,” said incoming OPIA Executive Director Eric Gibson.

Immediately prior to joining OPIA, Gibson led the white-collar practice group at the Philadelphia-based law firm Post & Schell P.C. Prior to that, Gibson was a state and federal prosecutor who handled a variety of complicated, sensitive public corruption investigations and trials centered around racketeering, fraud, money laundering, extortion, and other state and federal offenses.

Gibson worked for almost two decades in the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”), most recently in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania from December 2016 to January 2023, and served as deputy chief of the Corruption and Civil Rights Section, supervising a unit of elite prosecutors that investigated and prosecuted officials suspected of corruption and misconduct. Earlier, Gibson served in the DOJ in Washington, D.C., as a trial attorney in both the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section and the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division. He also did a stint as the Acting Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division’s Special Operations Unit. He has led federal investigations into public corruption, election crimes, and national security matters.

During his 30 years of public service, Gibson successfully prosecuted a United States congressman, the congressman’s son, a former deputy mayor for the City of Philadelphia, a former United States congressman, a nationally recognized political consultant, Ohio’s former deputy treasurer who later served as the comptroller for the City of Chicago, a significant donor to the campaigns of a United States senator and presidential candidate, and a Mississippi member of the Ku Klux Klan in a Civil Rights era cold case involving the brutal torture and murder of two African American teens in 1964. Gibson also prosecuted a former Pennsylvania pastor of a nondenominational church who was convicted for manufacturing images of his sexual abuse and exploitation of his minor family members and his collection of more than 10,000 images of child sexual abuse. Gibson obtained a total sentence of 200 years’ incarceration in that case. He was part of the federal team that examined the 2006 fatal police encounter in the Borough of Queens in New York City involving victim Sean Bell and members of the NYPD.

In his career with the DOJ, he served under and was decorated by administrations from both sides of the political aisle. Gibson received the Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Service, the Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service, the Criminal Division’s Assistant Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Service, and a Special Commendation from the Civil Rights Division.

For over 25 years, Gibson has trained prosecutors and law enforcement agents at the local, state and federal level across the country and around the world, including northern African, eastern Europe, and most recently the Seychelles. He has presented at the FBI Academy in Quantico and repeatedly at the National Advocacy Center in South Carolina on complex prosecutions, public corruption, racketeering, election crimes, trial advocacy and civil rights prosecutions.

Gibson began his career the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office, where he served in a variety of roles, including as a supervisor, for over 10 years.

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