Bernards Township Committee Candidate: Joseph Esposito

BASKING RIDGE, NJ —Republican Joseph Esposito is one of the four candidates running for township committee in the contested Bernards Township election being held on Tuesday, Nov. 6.

There are four candidates vying for two three-year seats on the township committee including: Democrats Robert J. Mascia and Joan B. Harris and Republicans John Surano and Joseph Esposito.

Joseph Esposito

Description:

I am a 20-year resident of Bernards Township. Like many of our residents, my wife, Debra, and I were drawn to Bernards for its quaint charm and beauty as the place to raise our three children. I have been involved in our community through volunteering at my children’s swim meets, coaching recreational league softball, and assisting organizations in fundraising. As the parent of a daughter with special needs, I am a member of the Somerset Hills YMCA Special Needs Parents Committee where I support and advocate for individuals with special needs. Additionally, my entire family is supportive of and active participants in many programs for both children and adults with special needs. I earned a Juris Doctor from the New York University School of Law and I hold a Bachelor of Science cum laude, in Computer Science from St. John’s University, New York.

Why are you running?

Running for office wasn’t on my radar until last year when I became an active member of the township citizen’s group, Stop the Quarry Plan (STQP). Working together with fellow residents and neighbors, galvanizing our community, and seeing the groundswell of resident involvement with STQP was incredibly energizing. Despite the positive outcome, it was clear that the governing process and level of communication between the Township Committee and the residents needs to improve. I want the chance to make our local government even better, by encouraging our residents to remain engaged and establish a more inclusive and open dialogue.

As a catalyst to greater community involvement, in 2017 I participated in our County’s Leadership Somerset program, a year-long leadership program with the goal of producing leaders who are dedicated to their communities. Through Leadership Somerset, I was introduced to and now serve on the board of trustees of EmPoWER Somerset, a non-profit agency whose mission is to foster healthy, drug-free communities. EmPoWER was recently awarded a $125,000 Mental Health Training Grant that allows them to provide Mental Health First Aid training in Somerset County and has long been a supporter of our town’s Municipal Alliance and other local community groups.

I am invested in our community and want it to succeed on many levels.

What experience do you have that would help you serve?

My professional experience which includes 30 years of directing teams at both large institutional organizations and entrepreneurial ventures is an asset that I bring to the table.

For 13 years, I served as the General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Goldman Sachs’ Hedge Fund Unit, negotiating numerous multi-national complex transactions. After Goldman, I spent time with the firm Blenheim Capital Management, LLC., a New Jersey based hedge fund manager, as co-chief operating officer and chief legal officer, where I spearheaded efforts to upgrade the firm’s infrastructure and operation while at the same time adding cost-saving efficiencies. I led its expansion from a firm managing less than $500 Million to a global organization with assets under management of $9.1 billion. Since February of 2016, I have been a partner in ManagementPlus (MPG), which is based in Luxembourg, and has representative offices in the United States. MPG is an international governance and management consulting services firm to the alternative investment industry.

Having served on boards in both the private and public sector, my legal and operations background, negotiation experience, project management experience, experience managing staff and budgets roughly the same size as Bernards’, and my connection to EmPoWER Somerset, an organization with County wide resources are unique and I believe will serve our community well.

What issues would you like to see addressed if elected?

As our Township grows and diversifies, its leaders owe it to all residents to adapt and recognize the shifting needs of the community. We must establish a framework that allows every Bernards citizen, young and old, from every culture and background, to feel the sense of a united community that we all want to share. Open discourse and collaboration with our residents are the first steps.

I want to restore civility to the dialogue in Bernards Township and beyond as well. One thing we must remember, we can have “healthy” disagreements, legitimately criticize the process or a decision, but only by working together will we reach optimal solutions. At the end of the day, we are neighbors and should be able to come together with a level of community and a tone that truly fosters compromise.

We attract residents and business to our community because of our town’s character and charm, and we need to manage its growth in a way that sustains our town for the future. Overdevelopment is threatening to overcrowd our community, decrease our property values, hurt our small businesses and overburden our infrastructure and schools. While our town is on its way to meeting its affordable housing obligation through the year 2025, now is the time for us to ask our State representatives to put the interests of the communities they represent above the interests of developers and work together to find sensible solutions.

— (If you are a candidate and would like to participate in the profile, please email alexis.tarrazi@patch.com)

(Image provided: Joseph Esposito)

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