Long committed to promoting intergroup relations, she served as chair of the New Jersey State Human Relations Council, an advisory body to the Governor and State Legislature; and as chair of the Bergen County Human Relations Commission, the Jewish Community Relations Council of the UJA/Federation, and the Bergen-Passaic Chapter of the American Conference on Diversity. She is secretary of the Teaneck Historical Society and an appointed member of the Fort Lee Historic Preservation Commission.
Prior to joining AARP NJ, Ms. Newman has had an extensive career in healthcare, particularly in the long term care sector. She has worked as both a Licensed Social Worker and Executive Director/LNHA of several nursing homes, assisted livings, and sub-acute centers across NJ.
Ms. Newman attended Rutgers University in New Brunswick for both her undergraduate and graduate education; receiving her MSW from the Rutgers School of Social work in 2008. Her areas of academic focus included: Gerontology and Non-profit Public Management; and she was a 2007-2008 Hartford Foundation Gerontology Fellow.
She has been a senior leader at EOEA since 2015, serving as Acting Secretary for the agency from January to June 2019. Prior to that she served as Chief of Staff and Chief Strategy Officer.
Robin is a seasoned healthcare executive with 40 years’ experience working extensively at the intersection of healthcare strategy, policy and implementation. She has held leadership roles in the public, not-for-profit, and private sectors, including Deputy Director of the Massachusetts Medicaid Program, and later becoming the first-ever Vice President of Strategic Planning for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of MA. In addition, Ms. Lipson has worked as Managing Director at SBV Consulting (a subsidiary of a cutting edge eldercare company), Vice President for Partnership Development at Rise Health and as an Executive-in-Residence at AVIA, an innovation accelerator focused on
helping providers deliver better care at greater value and lower cost. She has also applied her experience as a private consultant for health care and other not-for-profit organizations on their strategic, planning, organizational, and business development needs. She worked with the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation on Roadmap to Coverage, a report widely recognized as an early catalyst for health reform and passage of Massachusetts’ first-in-the-nation health care reform law.
Robin has a BA from Connecticut College and a MBA in Health Care Management from Boston University.
Ms. Alexander is an instructor and course developer for the National Transit Institute, and is a frequent guest lecturer in graduate Social Work, Planning, and Rehabilitation courses. She led the 2017 Coordinated Human Services Transportation Plan update for the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority and authored, “How Can We Help Older Residents of Montclair Age in Place?” which led to the implementation of Lifelong Montclair, a WHO-AARP recognized Age-Friendly Community.
Ms. Alexander received her BA from UCLA and her MPA from Columbia University. She is a Certified Assisted Living Administrator and currently serves on the NJ State Rehabilitation Council.
Westwood for All Ages has co-sponsored the municipality's 125th Anniversary event in 2019 where helpful resources and educational materials were distributed to residents. More recently, Lisa established a pop-up food pantry in collaboration with a local church and non-profit food rescue organization in order to respond to emergency needs of its residents during the Covid crisis. Since it’s inception in April, they have provided food for an average of 175 people each week, at least a quarter of whom are older residents.
Lisa holds a Master's Degree in Communication and previously worked for 20 years as an organizational training and development professional in a variety of industries.
Laura Sostak
Prior to joining AARP NJ, Ms. Newman has had an extensive career in healthcare, particularly in the long term care sector. She has worked as both a Licensed Social Worker and Executive Director/LNHA of several nursing homes, assisted livings, and sub-acute centers across NJ.
Ms. Newman attended Rutgers University in New Brunswick for both her undergraduate and graduate education; receiving her MSW from the Rutgers School of Social work in 2008. Her areas of academic focus included: Gerontology and Non-profit Public Management; and she was a 2007-2008 Hartford Foundation Gerontology Fellow.
Lifelong Elizabeth is a community led, city-endorsed coalition that is making our city an age-friendly community that is a great place to grow up and grow older.
Professionally, Sheena is the Executive Director of the American Planning Association - New Jersey Chapter, a statewide planning organization whose mission is to help build stronger communities and provide more choices for how people work and live while meeting the challenges of both growth and change. In her role, Sheena works regularly with local and state officials, professional and nonprofit organizations, and state and federal agencies on a
range of public policy issues affecting New Jersey’s municipalities. Sheena is a proud alumnus of Seton Hall University, where she graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration with a concentration in public policy.
Prior to returning to his native New York City as Parks Commissioner, he served as the Chief Planning & Development Officer and Planning Director for Raleigh, NC. His career has included roles as a policy and planning director for New York City’s Department of Planning, a town manager in New Jersey, and deputy planning director in Washington, DC.
Commissioner Silver holds many honors, including recognition as one of the top 100 City Innovators in the world and one of the top international thought leaders of the built environment. As president of APA, he led an international effort to elevate the value and rebirth of planning in the 21st century. His work has been featured in Time Magazine, The New York Times, The Guardian (U.K.), Philadelphia Inquirer, Huffington Post, Associated Press, Planning Magazine, the News & Observer, BBC World News and National Public Radio (NPR).
Commissioner Silver has taught graduate planning courses at Hunter College, Brooklyn College, Pratt Institute and North Carolina State University. He is the Dunlop Lecturer in Housing and Urbanization at Harvard University. Mitchell Silver was born in Brooklyn and grew up near Prospect Park. He received a Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture from Pratt Institute and a Master’s Degree in Urban Planning from Hunter College. He is certified by the American Institute of Certified Planners and is a licensed Professional Planner in the State of New Jersey. He lives in Brooklyn with his family.
Prior to her work with LLE, Jill had 15 year career as a foreign currency trader in Manhattan and Bermuda. Since moving to Westfield, NJ 18 years ago she has volunteered extensively in her community.
Before joining JCF, Renie served as the Impact and Evaluation Program Officer at Health Care Foundation of NJ, adjunct faculty member at Seton Hall University and healthcare planning and marketing consultant throughout the mid-Atlantic region.
Renie received her bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania and her master’s degree in business from The Wharton School. She serves on the board of the Wharton NJ Club.
Julia has a B.A. degree in Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and a M.S. degree in Psychology, with a focus on Developmental Psychobiology, from Virginia Polytechnic [Institute and State] University [in Blacksburg, VA]. She has three adult children and resides in New Providence, NJ.
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