NJPBA Board Elects Officers and Appoints New Members
Kent Manahan to Serve as Chair of the Board

Statewide – Kent Manahan, from Morris Township, was appointed chair at a meeting of the Board of Commissioners of the New Jersey Public Broadcasting Authority (NJPBA) held at the NJN Studio in Trenton on July 23rd.  In addition, other officers of the board were chosen as follows:  Dr. Steven Fiske, from West Orange, and senior physician of North Jersey Gastroenterology Associates as 1st vice chair; Phyllis Salowe-Kaye, from West Orange, and the executive director of New Jersey Citizen Action, as 2nd vice chair; and, Stephanie Hoopes Halpin, from Mountain Lakes, Halpin and an academic and community volunteer including chair of the Mountain Lakes Centennial Committee and board member of the United Way of Morris County, as treasurer. Dr. Fiske has been on the board for 12 years, Phyllis Salowe-Kaye has served for five years and Stephanie Hoopes Halpin for three years.

Stephanie Hoopes Halpin, who serves as treasurer, initially presided over the meeting where new board members Roger Bruce Jacobs, of West Orange, and managing partner at the law firm of Jacobs Rosenberg, LLC., and Marshall Jones III, of North Brunswick and executive director of the Crossroads Theatre Company and professor of theater arts at Rutgers University, were sworn-in by Kavin Mistry, Deputy Attorney General in the presence of family and friends.  Stephanie Hoopes Halpin and Phyllis Salowe-Kaye were reappointed along with Scott Kobler, from Essex Fells and a partner at the law firm of McCarter & English, LLP who has been on the board for nearly 16 years.

After the election of officers, Kent Manahan assumed the responsibility as chair for the meeting.  With this appointment as chair of NJPBA board, Kent Manahan steps into her third leadership role at NJN this year.  Ms. Manahan had been anchor of NJN News for three decades and on December 4, 2008, Manahan stepped down from her anchor chair and was appointed as the acting executive director of NJN and the acting president of the NJN Foundation. She served in that capacity through June 30, 2009, when Janice Selinger was appointed her successor as temporary acting executive director.  Selinger has been involved with NJN since 1979, where she has held the position of acting chief operating officer and deputy executive director for production as well as serving as executive producer of national and local documentaries for NJN. Selinger is the immediate past second vice chairman of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and teaches in the Communication Studies Department at The College of New Jersey.

“It has been my pleasure to work closely with Kent Manahan for the last seven months to focus on NJN’s core mission of news and public affairs. Kent’s joining the NJPBA Board as Chair and the addition of Roger Bruce Jacobs and Marshall Jones will only strengthen our strong, hard working and dedicated board,” said Janice Selinger.