New Leaders Council – New Jersey Holds 13^th Commencement Ceremony

Commencement Speaker and Special Guest Mayor Mohamed Khairullah To Address Graduating Class of 2023 Fellows

Trenton, NJ – On Saturday, June 24, the 13th class of New Leaders Council – New Jersey (NLC-NJ) will hold its Commencement ceremony at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ).  The 2023 class of 18 progressive leaders will complete their intensive six-month leadership training program and will be awarded with graduation certificates.

The Commencement ceremony will begin at 4p.m. where the graduates will receive certificates from United States Senator Robert Menendez. The ceremony will include an honorary award presentation to Prospect Park Mayor Mohamed T. Khairullah, who will serve as the Commencement speaker.  Mayor Khairullah will speak about the importance of bold leadership and speaking truth to power.

Presenting the graduates with their certificates will be Mayrose Wegmann, Statewide Director of NLC-NJ and Northwest Region Director at NJEA and Rob Matos-Moran, Deputy Director of NLC-NJ and Aide to Governor Phil Murphy.  Special recognition will be given to NLC-NJ Institute Co-chairs, Elena Sauceda Peeples, Ph.D. candidate at Teachers College, Columbia University and Marleina Ubel, Policy Analyst at New Jersey Policy Perspective.

NLC-NJ was founded in 2011 by Justin Braz, Chief of Staff and Assistant Commissioner for Transportation Policy at New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) and Jackie Cornell, Executive Director of Planned Parenthood Action Fund of New Jersey. This class will join the statewide chapter of more than 240 alumni and a nationwide alumni network of more than 10,000 trained progressive leaders.

The NLC-NJ Class of 2023 Fellows include:

Sakura Ando – PhD candidate at Rutgers School of Nursing and Rutgers Dean’s Dissertation Fellow

Ralph Betancourt – Cannabis Consultant at Longview Strategic

Eloy Delgado – Political Organizer and Lobbyist at New Jersey Education Association (NJEA)

Julianna Heck – Field Representative and Constituent Advocate for U.S. Congressman Andy Kim

Madelaine Hicks, Esq. – Labor/employment attorney and social justice advocate

Lauren Lalicon – Policy Director to First Lady of New Jersey Tammy Murphy

Joe Marchica – Chair at Our Revolution Trenton-Mercer and Civilian Materials Engineer and Team Lead at U.S. Department of the Navy

Antoinette Miles – Political Director at New Jersey Working Families Party

A’Dorian Murray-Thomas – Founder & CEO of SHE Wins, Inc.

Rosemary Nivar – Assistant Engineer at New Jersey Turnpike Authority

Madina P. Ouedraogo – Government Affairs Manager at Council on American-Islamic Relations, New Jersey Chapter (CAIR-NJ)

Samir Kamat – Medical student at Icahn School of Medicine and United States Navy Officer

James Rolle, Esq. – General Counsel, Trenton Board of Education

Shelja Touri – Chair and founder of Diversity, Equal Opportunity Network (DEON)

Larry Traylor – Aide to Mercer County Commissioner Samuel T. Frisby, Sr.

Dave Pilmenstein – Owner and President of Activate Media

Ivan Wei – Vice President of Sustainability at The Wei, LLC.

Yannick Wood – Director of Criminal Justice Reform Program at New Jersey Institute for Social Justice

Full bios of 2023 Fellows are available at https://www.newleaderscouncil.org/chapter/new-jersey/

The NLC-NJ Board of Directors includes:

Mayrose Wegmann, Statewide Director

Rob Matos-Moran, Statewide Deputy Director

Intashan Chowdhury

Anthony Covington

Ruth Delgado

Jaime Ding

Brittany Hale

Fatima Heyward

Renee Kraus

Kaylee McGuire

David Nelson

Hector Oseguera

Samantha Parker

Victoria Pacheco

Elena Sauceda Peeples

Anne Songcayauon

Marleina Ubel

William Wang

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New Leaders Council is a 501c3 and is the leading training program for rising generation progressive leaders. NLC equips its leaders with the skills to run for office, manage campaigns, create startups and networks of thought leaders. NLC leaders take their activism back into their communities and workplaces to impact progressive change. To learn more, please visit www.newleaderscouncil.org.