Northern NJ Community Foundation Appoints New Members to the Board of Trustees and Environmental Advisory Board

(Hackensack, NJ; March 4, 2021) ─ The Northern New Jersey Community Foundation (NNJCF) announces the addition of four members to the Board of Trustees and the appointment of four members to the newly created Environmental Advisory Board.

These four members of the community were named to the NNJCF’s Board of Trustees:

·      Ilene Marcus, a financial professional from Woodcliff Lake with over 35 years of experience on the cutting edge of health insurance strategy, population health, analytics, risk management, government compliance and people leadership, was named Treasurer of the NNJCF.  Previously, she worked as the Regional Vice President of Financial Operations for Human’s Northeast Region.

·      Kenneth D. Bland, Jr., Assistant Vice President of Community Lending for Valley National Bank in Northern New Jersey, is a community banking professional, with over eight years of experience in lending and community development.  He resides in Edison, New Jersey.

·      Christopher Percopo, Director of Grants Information and Management at the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, oversees the lifecycle of Helmsley’s grantmaking.  Percopo works with other nonprofits to develop key performance indicators for social service programs, developing and executing strategic plans, and assisting with drafting bylaws and governance for board development.  He resides in Hoboken, New Jersey.

·      Melissa Reynolds, Director, Legal Counsel, Global Quality & Operations, at Stryker, is a corporate attorney specializing in commercial transactions and healthcare fraud and abuse risk.  Reynolds brings a 15-year career in the healthcare industry.  She resides in Morris County, New Jersey.

These new members were appointed to an initial one-year term on the community foundation’s Board of Trustees.  They join the foundation in celebrating 23 years, as a regional resource, carrying out a mission to improve community life through its work in education, public health, the arts, the environment, civic engagement, and philanthropy.  Central to the foundation’s success is fostering collaboration among local governments, school districts, businesses, non-profits, and community groups.

John Devol, a founding trustee, was named Trustee Emeritus.  Devol, a professional musician and licensed educator, founded in 1978 Arts Horizons, a nonprofit organization which has served over eight million children in ten states.  He served as Arts Horizons’ first executive director through 2010.

Environmental Advisory Board Members

The NNJCF’s Environmental Advisory Board members serve as lead technical advisors to design and implement research and programs to address Climate Action based upon science.  These educators, representing institutions of higher education from New Jersey, were named to this advisory board:

·      Dr. Serpil Guran, Director of EcoComplex “Clean Energy Innovation Center at Rutgers-The State University of New Jersey;

·      Dr. Wolfram Hoefer, Associate Professor at Rutgers-The State University of New Jersey Department of Landscape Architecture and Director of the Rutgers Center for Urban Environmental Sustainability (CUES);

·      Dr. Marion McClary, Chair of the Department of Biological Sciences at Fairleigh Dickinson University and Professor of Biology; and

·      Dr. Amy Tuininga, Director of Montclair State University’s PSEG Institute for Sustainability Studies.

“These new members of the Foundation’s Board of Trustees and the Environmental Advisory Board bring their expertise and extensive experience working with the nonprofit sector to carry out our mission.  They will guide the Foundation in our work and help us to address significant issues impacting the region,” said Michael Shannon, President, Northern NJ Community Foundation.

For further information about the NNJCF, call 201-568-5608 or send an e-mail to nnjcf@nnjcf.org.

About Northern New Jersey Community Foundation
Founded in 1998, the Northern New Jersey Community Foundation (NNJCF), a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization based in Hackensack, New Jersey, focuses primarily on civic engagement, education, public health, the environment, philanthropy, and the arts.  The NNJCF works with local governments, school districts, businesses, non-profit organizations, and citizen groups in northern New Jersey to improve community life.  The Foundation’s partners identify and resolve regional problems and opportunities by talking and learning from each other and sharing ideas, best practices, services, and resources.

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