Joseph V. Doria, Jr. 

Joseph V. Doria Jr., the fourteenth Commissioner of the DCA, was appointed by Governor Jon Corzine in 2007.

At the time of his appointment, Commissioner Doria was serving as state Senator for the 31st Legislative District and Mayor of Bayonne, a position he had held since July 1998. Before entering the state Senate, Commissioner Doria spent a long career in the state General Assembly, serving from 1980 to 2004. During his time in the Assembly he served in various leadership capacities, including as Speaker of the General Assembly from 1990 to 1991.

Doria was elected to the Bayonne Board of Education in 1975 and served as board president from 1976 until 1979. He also was president of the Hudson County School Boards Association from 1978 to 1979.

Doria has a long history with Saint Peter’s University in Jersey City, serving as its director of educational services and urban coordinator from 1972 to 1980, and then as director of human resources and personnel from 1980 to 1998. He returned to Saint Peter’s in 2012 and became Dean of the School of Education. In 2015, Doria joined the New Jersey Charter Schools Association’s Board of Trustees.

Doria received a bachelor’s degree in history from Saint Peter’s University in 1968, and went on to obtain a master’s degree in American Studies from Boston College and a doctorate degree in  Education from Teacher’s College, Columbia University.