RCSG Welcomes Janellen Duffy
River Crossing Strategy Group has announced that Janellen Duffy has joined the firm and will lead the firm's education practice and will co-lead the firm’s non-profit practice along with Stephanie Albanese.
Janellen has over 20 years of experience in government, non-profit, and philanthropic sectors as an advisor to top policymakers and other state leaders. She worked for the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and as the Education Policy Advisor and Director of Policy for Governor Corzine. She has also held leadership positions at the Newark Charter School Fund and as the founding Executive Director of JerseyCAN, the board of which is co-chaired by Governor Kean. In these roles, Janellen has led major policy initiatives such as the creation of the NJ school funding formula (2008), a NJ school construction funding initiative (2009), and several other policy accomplishments related to education standards, funding, and promoting high quality school options.
Janellen has served on the board of the NJ SDA, NJ EOF, Camden Prep (part of the Uncommon Schools Network), and as a member of Governor Murphy’s education transition team. She is a graduate of Bucknell University and holds a Masters in Public Affairs from Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs.
Murphy Creates NJ Green Fund
Governor Murphy has announced that he plans to leverage federal dollars, state money and private capital to create a “Green Fund” that could potentially finance hundreds of millions of dollars in climate action projects over the next decade.
The initiative, announced with few details by the Governor in his fiscal year 2024 budget plan last week, would start with $40 million and seek to capitalize on the billions of dollars expected to be made available to states, communities and nonprofits as result of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. The law allocates $370 billion nationwide to a wide range of programs to address climate change.
With the Murphy administration recently setting a new target for a 100% clean-energy economy by 2035, reaching the goal will require much more significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in both the transportation and the building sectors and a more rapid shift to renewable energy.
Among other programs, the new federal law allocates around $35 billion to $37 billion nationwide to support such programs, as well as money for energy retrofits for buildings, energy efficiency projects and grid-scale and community solar, according to Tim Sullivan, CEO of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, which will oversee the Green Fund.
Murphy Makes Appointments to BPU
Governor Murphy is seeking to remake the Board of Public Utilities by replacing three of its five commissioners as his administration enters its final years and as he looks to establish his environmental legacy.
On Monday, Murphy nominated two new commissioners to replace former state Sen. Bob Gordon, who has been on the board since 2018, and Dianne Solomon, who former Gov. Chris Christie nominated to the board a decade ago.
Murphy is looking to replace Solomon’s spot with Marian Abdou, an attorney for the energy company NRG. Murphy had to withdraw his previous pick to replace Solomon, former Republican state lawmaker Maria Rodriguez-Gregg.
Murphy’s replacement for Gordon, is Christine Guhl Sadovy, a former BPU chief of staff who is now the liaison between the governor and his cabinet.
“Any of the nominees going forward have very basic questions that need to be answered and that is: What is the energy master plan going to cost? In this particular case, there is a nominee who was on staff at the Board of Public Utilities and is one of the architects of that policy,” said Mike Makarski, a spokesperson for Affordable Energy for New Jersey.
Murphy is also looking to replace Mary-Anna Holden, a Christie pick who Murphy reappointed to the board in 2018.
Albanese recognized by ROI-NJ
Please join us in congratulating RCSG’s Stephanie Albanese for recently being recognized as an ROI-NJ Influencer: Women in Business 2023.
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