Meet Julie Doran, SO Resident and New Maplewood Village Manager

When Julie Doran and her family were looking for a new home in New Jersey in 1994, Maplewood Village helped seal the deal for Maplewood. "It's a really special place," said Doran, "It's the reason we moved here in the first place."

Now, Doran will be a part of shaping the future of Maplewood Village. Yesterday, the Maplewood Village Alliance announced that Doran will be its new manager as of November 1.

The Village Alliance is a special improvement district that gets the bulk of its budget from an assessment on the commercial properties in Maplewood Village. That budget is used for capital improvement, facades, business recruitment and special events and marketing for the Village.

The founding director was Allison Ziefert. Ziefert was followed by Virginia Lamb Falconer and Amy Koehler, who is leaving the position to pursue a career in social networking.

Doran will be bringing years of experience as a marketing communications professional to the job. Doran worked at Ogilvie, the New York advertising agency, and then another ad agency in Jersey City until three years ago. Then, as a freelancer, she worked with a number of diverse clients including casinos, a Web development firm in San Francisco, and a search marketing firm.

But, said Doran, she was getting restless. "I've been looking for something I could do with my skills that I could be more passionate about. I was looking for a way to transfer into non-profit work or public sector work."

The Maplewood Village Alliance position seemed tailor-made.

"When I read the job description I thought, 'This is perfect.' It required all of my skill sets. I was a project manager so I have organizational skills, interpersonal skills, consensus building, budgeting and scheduling." Not to mention Doran's communication skills.

Now a South Orange resident, Doran has been in the area long enough to have seen the changes in Maplewood Village, on Springfield Avenue and in downtown South Orange. "I've watched the transitions and seen how complex those transitions are."

Doran is also an avid local shopper and supports the Village's efforts to encourage residents to "shop local." Starting next week, Doran will be working with Amy Koehler to transition herself into the position.

What does Doran see for the future of Maplewood Village?

"My personal goal is to further the mission of the Alliance, to continue the revitalization and to continue the efforts started by Allison, Virginia and Amy."

Doran has a head start as a local shopper: "I know some of the merchants already!"