State of New Jersey


	Frank Vespa-Papaleo, Esq., *Chair* EX-OFFICIO MEMBER - DIVISION ON CIVIL RIGHTS New Jersey Division on Civil Rights 31 Clinton Street, 3rd Floor - Newark, New Jersey 07102

J. Frank Vespa-Papaleo serves as Director of the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights, and as such, is the state's lead anti-discrimination officer responsible for ensuring diversity and equal opportunity. The Division, with nearly 85 employees, administers and enforces the New Jersey Family Leave Act and the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, guaranteeing equal opportunities in employment, housing and places of public accommodation without regard to race, creed, color, national origin, nationality, ancestry, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, or marital, familial, domestic partnership or civil union status, or other characteristics. The New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, which was the nation's first statewide civil rights enforcement statute, is widely considered the strongest of its kind in the nation. Director Vespa-Papaleo is recognized for issuing a groundbreaking legal decision involving student peer harassment (L.W. v. Toms River Regional Schools), developing the nation's first Disabilities & Public Accommodations Investigations Unit, which has dramatically enhanced accessibility for persons with hearing loss, vision loss, or mobility disabilities, and for utilizing the Division's broad powers to protect the rights of children of racial minorities (Director v. Le Terrace Swim Club), a class of female victims of sexual harassment (Director v. City Coffee and Ronald Ford, Jr.) and racial minorities who were victims of predatory lending (Attorney General v. NPG, et al.). Additionally, he has established cutting-edge community dialogue and staff leadership opportunities through the establishment of a Civil Rights Employer Advisory Council and the DCR Ambassadors Program. Civil Rights Employer Advisory Council and the DCR Ambassadors Program.

	Steven Goldstein, Vice Chair PUBLIC MEMBER - ASSEMBLY SPEAKER DESIGNEE Garden State Equality 67 Church Street - Montclair, NJ 07042

Steven Goldstein is chair of Garden State Equality, the state's largest LGBT civil rights organization. From the time he founded Garden State Equality in 2004, New Jersey has enacted 153 laws at the statewide, county and municipal levels advancing the civil rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community -- more LGBT civil rights laws in less time than in any other U.S. state. Steven has held senior positions in the news media, campaign politics and government service. He was co-campaign manager in Jon Corzine's successful 2000 campaign for the U.S. Senate; communications director for Eliot Spitzer in his successful 1998 campaign for New York Attorney General; and communications director for U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg and the Senate Budget Committee Democrats on Capitol Hill. As a lawyer on the staff of U.S. House Judiciary Committee in the early 1990s, working for then-Rep. Chuck Schumer, Steven helped to write and pass nine federal civil rights laws. As a television news producer, Steven has won 17 television awards, including 10 Emmy Awards. Steven and his partner Daniel Gross, together since 1992, made history in September 2002 when they became the first same-sex couple in the wedding announcements of The New York Times. Their religious wedding in Montreal, and civil union the next day in nearby Vermont, was covered around the world. In 2007, they were the first couple to get a civil union in New Jersey. Fulfilling a lifelong dream at age 45, Steven is studying to become a rabbi at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. He is currently on leave in order to lead Garden State Equality full-time, for which he declines a salary.

	Stephen J. Hyland, Esq., Secretary PUBLIC MEMBER

	Barbara G. Allen, Esq. EX-OFFICIO MEMBER - DEPT. OF HUMAN SERVICES DESIGNEE Office of Legal and Regulatory Affairs - Department of Human Services P.O. Box 700 - Trenton, NJ 08625

Barbara Allen, Esq. is the Director of the Office of Legal and Regulatory Affairs at the Department of Human Services where she has worked for the last 23 years. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice from Trenton State College, with minors in Psychology and Sociology. She also obtained a Juris Doctorate degree from Pace University School of Law in White Plains, New York. She is admitted to practice law in New Jersey. She serves as the Department's Ethics Liaison Officer, DHS ADA Coordinator and is the DHS representative on the Governor's Advisory Council on AIDS. As a member of the Advisory Council she was instrumental in assisting with the drafting of the Stand By Guardianship Law. Her areas of expertise include mental health and disability law, employment law issues such as the Law Against Discrimination, (LAD), the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

	Rev. Charles Blustein Ortman PUBLIC MEMBER - SENATE PRESIDENT DESIGNEE

Born in Kankakee, Illinois, Commissioner Ortman received a B.A. with honors in Social Work from Western Illinois University in 1985, and Masters of Divinity from Meadville/Lombard Theological School (at the University of Chicago) in 1992. He was then ordained to the Unitarian Universalist ministry and served congregations in Iowa and Massachusetts before arriving at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Montclair in 1995. He has long been a social justice activist, and was recipient of the "Merit Award” from the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Montclair, 1998, and the “Spiritual and Religious Leader of the Year Award,” Gay and Lesbian Coalition of New Jersey, 2005.

	Robert Bresenhan, Jr. PUBLIC MEMBER - GUBERNATORIAL DESIGNEE

	Barbra Casbar Siperstein PUBLIC MEMBER - GUBERNATORIAL DESIGNEE

Elected President of NJ Stonewall Democrats, she is also Vice-Chair of Garden State Equality and Political Director of the Gender Rights Advocacy Association of NJ. Active nationally, she serves on the Executive Board of National Stonewall Democrats as Chair of the DNC Relations Committee. In 2004 she was a recipient NJ Personal Liberty Fund’s Honors Award, and was a voting delegate to the 2004 Democratic National Convention and its first transgender delegate. In 2005-2006, she served on Governor - elect Corzine’s Labor and Workforce Development Transition Advisory Board. In 2006 she received the Trenton Gay and Lesbian Civic Association Triangle Award. She has served on the Edison Township Municipal Alliance since its inception. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from Rutgers and an MBA from Pace University. Widowed in 2001, she takes one day at a time, enjoys spoiling her grandchildren and wishes they can enjoy a life where people learn to communicate, take responsibility for their actions or inactions, and have respect for each other!

	Mellisa H. Raksa, AAG EX-OFFICIO MEMBER - ATTORNEY GENERAL DESIGNEE

Melissa Raksa is currently an Assistant Attorney General in the Appellate Unit of the Division of Law within the Department of Law & Public Safety. Previously, she was the Section Chief of the Health & Human Services Section, providing legal counsel to the Departments of Health and Senior Services, Human Services, Children and Families and Military and Veterans Affairs in a variety of appellate, litigation and regulatory matters. During her State service, she has also represented the Department of Banking & Insurance and the Office of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor. Ms. Raksa has worked in private practice as well and was a law clerk in the Appellate Division to the Honorable Mary Catherine Cuff, JAD. She earned a J.D. from Villanova School of Law and a B.A. from Cornell University.

	Linda Schwimmer EX-OFFICIO MEMBER - DEPT. OF BANKING & INSURANCE DESIGNEE Department of Banking and Insurance 20 West State Street, P.O. Box 325 - Trenton, NJ 08629

On April 21, 2008, Linda Schwimmer became Director of Legislation & Policy for the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance. Prior to joining the Department, Linda worked at the Senate Democratic Office staffing the Senate Commerce Committee and Senate Judiciary Committee. An attorney, Schwimmer is a member of the New Jersey State Bar Association. She earned her Bachelor of Arts (with honors) from University of California, Berkeley in Berkeley, Ca. and her Juris Doctorate from Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, D.C. Schwimmer’s 15-year legal career spans public and private service. She has achieved many accomplishments including founding the Lawrenceville law firm, Markowitz, Gravelle & Schwimmer, LLP; arguing cases before the Supreme Court of New Jersey, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, U.S. District Court and Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey. Schwimmer’s community service includes the Jewish Center of Princeton, YMCA fund-raising volunteer and lecturer for the New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education. She lives with her family in the Princeton area.

	Joseph Komosinski EX-OFFICIO MEMBER - DEPT. OF HEALTH DESIGNEE Registrar of Vital Statistics P.O. Box 370 - Trenton, NJ 08625

Joseph A. Komosinski is in his 23rd year of service as a state employee. The last ten years have been within the Department of Health and Senior Services’ Bureau of Vital Statistics and Registration, serving the last 5 years as the State Registrar. He is a member of the National Association of Public Health Statistics and Information Systems (NAPHSIS) and has served as a member of the organization’s Communication Committee and the Interstate Jurisdictional Exchange Committee. Mr. Komosinski currently serves a member of the Technical Advisory Boards for the New Jersey Violent Death Reporting System and the Help America Vote Act, as well as serving as the New Jersey Vital Statistics Cooperative Program Director. He was honored for his work in the field of advancement of vital statistics as the lead technical advisor for the New Jersey Voluntary Electronic Death Registration System and received accommodation for the application being deemed one of the top five applications designed in the field of government in 2001. He has successful implemented the Certificate of Birth Resulting in Stillbirth, the Domestic Partnership and Civil Union legislation.

	Erin O’Leary, Esq. EX-OFFICIO MEMBER - DEPT. OF FAMILIES & CHILDREN DESIGNEE Department of Families and Children 222 South Warren Street - P.O. Box 729– 3rd Floor - Trenton, NJ 08625

Erin O’Leary is the Director of Legal Affairs for the Department of Children and Families. In addition to her duties as liaison to the Administrative Office of the Courts and the Office of the Attorney General, Ms. O’Leary oversees the following units: Office of Legal & Regulatory Liaison, the Administrative Hearings Unit, the HIPAA/OPRA Unit, Child Care and Youth Residential Licensing and the Interstate Services Unit. Before coming to DYFS, Ms. O’Leary was a Deputy Attorney General initially assigned to represent DYFS, and the Department of Health and Senior Services and Division of Medical Assistance and Health Services, which included several administrative, civil and appellate matters. After graduating from Rutgers School of Law – Camden, Ms. O’Leary clerked for the Honorable Stephen Skillman during the court year of 1998-1999. She is a member of the New Jersey and Pennsylvania Bars.

	Elder Kevin E. Taylor PUBLIC MEMBER - GUBERNATORIAL DESIGNEE Elder Kevin E. Taylor pastors Unity Fellowship Church-New Brunswick.

He has been highly active in the NJ Marriage Equality struggle through his affiliation with Garden State Equality, as well as other civil and community work with Gay Men of African Descent and other organizations. A Washington, DC native, Taylor comes to NJ politics after working with The DC Coalition of Black Lesbians, Gay Men, Bisexuals and Transgenders, which he co-chaired from 1990 to 1992; the Whitman-Walker Clinic, where he was a peer counselor; and leadership work with the National Gay and Lesbian Leadership Task Force and the Leadership Forum. Taylor's recent elevation to Elder with the Unity Fellowship Church Movement, Inc. places him over media outreach and communications for the 14 churches of UFCM, Inc. around the country from California to Charlotte, NC. Taylor is an award-winning television producer, having worked with Black Entertainment Television from 1991 until 2002, when he left to pursue the pastorate full-time. He still does freelance television programming through his video production company TM3 (TaylorMadeMusicMomentos). Taylor is also an author with two books available (UNCLUTTER, a self-help book with particular emphasis on LBGT struggles and JADED, a Black gay romance novel). Taylor is also a proud single father of Ga'Vel Qwame and grandfather of Jai'Dyn Dominique.

	AnnLynne Benson PUBLIC MEMBER

AnnLynne Benson is a civil rights activist and former business owner employed with Baxter Healthcare, the principal domestic operating subsidiary of Baxter International (NYSE: BAX), a leader in biotechnology and major international manufacturer of medical devices and pharmaceuticals used to treat cancer, hemophilia, immune disorders, kidney disease and trauma. A published author and member of Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society, Ms. Benson is President of the Delaware Valley Earth Science Society, a Lay Speaker at Centenary United Methodist Church in Berlin and co-leader of her legislative district for Garden State Equality. She was founder of the South Jersey chapter of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), Director of Gloucester County Right To Life, a shelter home parent for a crisis pregnancy center, foster parent for the NJ Division of Youth and Family Services, a flight leader with the Civil Air Patrol, and was lead speaker for the Fall lecture series at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1991. Ms. Benson has four natural children, a foster daughter, an adopted daughter, and several grandchildren and resides in Clementon, NJ with partner Mil LeCompte.