Tom Bracken
CEO
New Jersey Chamber of Commerce
He’s one of the top supporters of energy, construction and infrastructure. Really, anything that has people working and the state growing. Bracken, who has led the Chamber since 2011, has been involved with the group for more than 40 years, serving as chair from 2005-07 – a position later held by JCP&L leader Jim Fakult. A Bucknell graduate and 2014 inductee into the New Jersey Business Hall of Fame, he also chairs the New Jersey Alliance for Action Foundation.
Wayne DeAngelo
Deputy Speaker
N.J. General Assembly
DeAngelo has represented the 14th Legislative District in parts of Mercer and Middlesex counties since 2008 and has served as Deputy Speaker since 2015. He chairs the Assembly Telecommunications and Utilities Committee, putting him at the center of energy and utility legislation in Trenton. A union electrician, he became a journeyman in 1991 and has been President and Assistant Business Manager of IBEW Local 269 since 1999. He is a former Hamilton Township Council president.
Eric DeGesero
Executive Vice President
Fuel Merchants Association of N.J.
DeGesero is Executive Vice President of the Fuel Merchants Association of New Jersey, which represents retail heating fuel dealers and HVAC contractors, many of them small, family-run businesses. He also speaks for the New Jersey Propane Gas Association. One of the state’s most outspoken critics of electrification mandates, he is now leading the fight against S-4214, which would write the federal greenhouse gas “endangerment finding” into state law.
Dennis Hart
Executive Director
Chemistry Council of N.J.
Hart has been Executive Director of the Chemistry Council of New Jersey since 2016, representing the state’s chemical manufacturers and the businesses that serve them. He spent 23 years at the state Department of Environmental Protection, rising to Assistant Commissioner for Environmental Regulation and serving as State Drought Coordinator. He later led the New Jersey Environmental Infrastructure Trust and was Director of Utility Operations for the Utility and Transportation Contractors Association.
Rich Henning
CEO
N.J. Utilities Association
Henning has been CEO of the New Jersey Utilities Association since January 2023, representing the state’s investor-owned water, wastewater, electric, natural gas and telecommunications utilities. He brings more than three decades of utility experience in communications, marketing and government relations, most recently as a Senior Vice President at Veolia North America. NJUA, which dates to 1915, is BINJIE’s partner for this year’s event.
Ben Hertz-Shargel
President
N.J. Board of Public Utilities
Gov. Mikie Sherrill tapped Hertz-Shargel in June to lead the state Board of Public Utilities, and he now serves as its President. A grid-modernization expert, he came from Wood Mackenzie, where he was Global Head of Grid Edge, after data science and grid-services roles at Rhythm and EnergyHub. He also co-chairs the governor’s Nuclear Task Force. He holds a Ph.D. in mathematics from UCLA.
Jerry Keenan
President
N.J. Alliance for Action
Keenan is President of the New Jersey Alliance for Action, the nonpartisan coalition of business, labor, government and professional members that has pushed for infrastructure and capital construction since 1974. He spent about two decades as Executive Vice President before succeeding longtime President Phil Beachem, becoming only the third president in the group’s history. He also hosts the Alliance’s “Under Construction” podcast.
Brian Lipman
Director
Division of Rate Counsel
Lipman has been Director of the state Division of Rate Counsel since November 2021, representing ratepayers in electric, gas, water, telecommunications and cable matters. He joined Rate Counsel in 2013 after a decade as a Deputy Attorney General, where he finished as Assistant Section Chief of the Public Utility Section. He holds a political science degree from American University and a law degree from Rutgers Law School-Camden.
Elizabeth Noll
Senior Strategist for Energy, Office of the Governor
State of New Jersey
Noll is Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s Senior Strategist for Energy and co-chairs the governor’s Nuclear Task Force, created in April when Sherrill signed legislation lifting the state’s longstanding barrier to new nuclear power. She brings more than a decade of energy policy work, including serving as Deputy Assistant Secretary for House Congressional Affairs at the U.S. Department of Energy and working on clean energy policy at the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Ed Potosnak
Commissioner
N.J. Department of Environmental Protection
Potosnak was sworn in as Commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Protection in September, after serving as Acting Commissioner since January. He spent 14 years as Executive Director of the New Jersey League of Conservation Voters. A former high school chemistry teacher with two Rutgers degrees, he has made faster permitting a priority, including speedier reviews of clean energy projects.
Christina Renna
CEO
Chamber of Commerce Southern New Jersey
Renna has been CEO of the Chamber of Commerce Southern New Jersey since January 2020. The chamber represents more than 1,200 member companies, most of them small businesses, along with nonprofits and anchor institutions such as casinos, hospitals and universities, according to the chamber. She previously served in Gov. Chris Christie’s administration, including as Director of Intergovernmental Affairs.
Michele Siekerka
CEO
N.J. Business & Industry Association
Siekerka has led the New Jersey Business & Industry Association since October 2014, the 11th president in its history. Before that, she was Deputy Commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Protection and CEO of the Mercer Regional Chamber of Commerce. An attorney with a Temple law degree, she sits on Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s Nuclear Task Force.
