Our Team

Current Staff & Students

The Heldrich Center currently has a team of nearly 40 managers, researchers, faculty, visiting fellows, professional staff, and graduate research interns as shown on the list below.

• Ronald Quincy, Senior Fellow for Diversity Studies and Professor
• Marjory Palius, Research Project Manager
• William M. Rodgers III, Chief Economist and Professor
• CeciliaSalazar, Graduate Research Intern
• Hal Salzman, Senior Faculty Fellow and Professor
• Robb C. Sewell, Communications Manager
• Benjamin Shen, Systems Administrator
• Jessika Sherman, Graduate Research Intern
• Sahar Khan Sherwani, Graduate Research Intern
• Bernardina Smiley, Accounting Coordinator
• Jessica Starace, Research Associate
• Muazzam Toshmatova, Postdoctoral Fellow
• Eric Tuvel, Graphic Designer
• Carl Van Horn, Director and Distinguished Professor of Public Policy
• Liana Volpe, Research Project Coordinator
• Stephanie Walsh, Assistant Director of Research
• Renee Williams, Senior Project Coordinator
• Ahmad Salman Zafar, Research Project Assistant

Former Staff

To date, the Heldrich Center has employed over 100 full- and part-time staff, including those who were starting their careers as well as those with well-established careers. Provided below is information on selected former Heldrich Center staff, including their current job title and employer.

• Madia Logan, Founder and Chief Branding Officer, Logan PR
• William Mabe, Chief Data Scientist, Practical Data Lab
• Michele Martin, President and CEO, The Bamboo Project
• Jade McClain, Public Affairs Officer, New York University
• Scott Powell, Chief Data Officer, Michigan Department of Technology, Management, and Budget
• Neil P. Ridley, Office of Policy Development and Research, Employment and Training Administration, U.S. Department of Labor
• Alex Ruder, Director, Community and Economic Development, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
• Herb Schaffner, Founder, Big Fish Media
• Qianqi Shen, Software Engineer, Machine Learning, LinkedIn
• Pritesh Sheth, Senior Associate, Nomura
• Sean Simone, Branch Chief, Longitudinal Surveys Branch, National Center for Education Statistics
• Greg Skelley, Executive Director, Center for Personal and Professional Development, Felician University
• Sara Spear, Assistant Director, Center for Organizational Leadership, Rutgers University
• Jeff Stoller, President, Stoller Strategies
• Duke Storen, Director, Client Relations, ZAIS Group, LLC
• Gail Sylvester-Johnson, Administrative Assistant, Office of the Ombudsperson for Students, Rutgers University
• Nidhi Tandon, National Association of State Workforce Agencies
• Michelle Van Noy, Director & Associate Research Professor, Education and Employment Research Center, School of Management and Labor Relations, Rutgers University
• Seetha Vaidyanathan, Research Economist and Data Scientist, New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development
• Charyl Staci Yarbrough, Assistant Commissioner, Employment Accessibility Services, New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development
• Lan Xu, Senior Manager, Statistical Programming, AbbVie

Students

An important goal of the Heldrich Center has been educating a new generation of professionals in workforce development, education, policy, and research Approximately 60 undergraduate and graduate students have worked on Heldrich Center projects and are now pursuing careers as executives, researchers, educators, managers, administrators, and more. The following list highlights some of the students who have worked at the Heldrich Center as well as their current job title and employer.

• Hassad Khurshid, Energy Engineer, DNV
• Sayan Kundu, Behavioral Economist, The World Bank
• Steven Malick, Researcher, Mathematica
• Emily Manz, Senior Vice President of Business Development, Invest Newark; and Co-founder, Have You Met Newark Tours
• Grace Maruska, Research Project Assistant, Heldrich Center for Workforce Development
• Ian Myre, Associate Director, Global Oncology Value Access & PricingAssociate Director, Global Oncology Value Access & Pricing Daiichi Sankyo, Inc.
• Kellie Palomba, Program Coordinator, Hackensack Meridian Health
• Lauren Rava, Senior Manager, Knowledge Management, Johnson & Johnson
• Mathilde Roux, Policy Analyst, Women’s Bureau, U.S. Department of Labor
• Nancy Santucci, Senior Analyst, U.S. Government Accountability Office
• Nathan Satish, Housing Development Officer, City of Boston
• Max Emanuel Schwartz, Capital Improvement Program Manager, City of Austin
• Daniel Silva, Associate Professor of Luso-Hispanic Studies, Middlebury College
• Charley Stone, Engagement Manager, Trinity Life Sciences
• Jared Sussman, Health Analyst, Congressional Research Service
• Mark Szeltner, Senior Director, UHG/Optum Corporate Strategy
• Alexis Ulaj, Director of Advocacy and Community Engagement, New Jersey Charter Schools Association
• Marie Virella, Co-Founder, Recovery First

National Advisory Board

The Heldrich Center’s national advisory board is comprised of respected and influential researchers, policymakers, and practitioners. The following are lists of the individuals who have served on the board since the center’s inception. The first list covers those presently on the advisory while the second list highlights former board members.