The Northeast Regional Council of Carpenters (NRCC) announced today that Lizette Delgado-Polanco has been elevated to Political Director of the Council.

 Vice chair of the Democratic State Committee, Delgado-Polanco joined NRCC as the New Jersey Deputy Political Director position in January 2017. In her new role as Political Director, she will be responsible for driving a progressive, inclusive agenda ensuring that the worker rights are protected in State Legislatures and communities throughout New Jersey, Delaware and parts of Pennsylvania, New York and Maryland.

“Lizette has decades of experience fighting for the rights of hardworking men and women throughout the East Coast and Mid-Atlantic,” said John Ballantyne, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the NRCC. “She is well known and respected and has a distinguished career in government and labor relations, policy development, public affairs, and business and community development.”

Delgado-Polanco was elected Vice-Chair of the New Jersey State Democratic Committee in June 2013, re-elected in November 2015 and is expected to be re-elected again to a two-year term on June 15^th, 2017.

“Local unions are made up of local people and Lizette knows more than anyone else that our union must adjust with the changing makeup of communities in the areas we serve,” Ballantyne said. “She has worked her entire life as an effective and compassionate advocate for the underrepresented, particularly the working poor and middle class, and we are pleased that she will be our new Political Director.”

Prior to starting at the NRCC in January 2017, Delgado-Polanco served as the Executive Director of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) New Jersey State Council since 2010. SEIU represents the interests of more than 40,000 members across New Jersey in four major industries, including health and long-term care, property services, municipal workers, and resident physicians.

“My dedication first and foremost is in helping our Council to preserve labor rights and represent our members in the communities that they work, in the places that they live and in State Legislatures in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland,” she said. “Our Council will be vigilant in fighting to: preserve Collective Bargaining Agreements and Project Labor Agreements that provide good wages and benefits to workers; against right-to-work legislation that reduces their rights and allows companies to exploit workers; and against changes to the prevailing wage on public infrastructure projects that takes money out of the pockets of hardworking Americans.”

Prior to working at SEIU, Delgado-Polanco was the principal for D‐Solutions, a government relations and business development firm. In 2002, she was named New Jersey’s Assistant Secretary of State – the first Hispanic ever in that position – where she managed a $41 million budget and directed the day­-to-day operations of 11 divisions.

In 2001, she spearheaded then-Governor James E. McGreevey’s Statewide Latino Base Voter Program, resulting in the largest percentage of Latino votes ever cast for a gubernatorial candidate in New Jersey.