Yada, yada, yada — and then Kellie Doucette became state’s first chief operating officer

Seinfeld, Parks and Recreation, Veep … even the Sopranos.

Kellie Doucette, the chief operating officer of the State of New Jersey gave plenty of insights into her personality — and her career path — during the keynote address at the BINJE’s Best: Top Women in Business event Wednesday morning.

Doucette, speaking before an overflow crowd of more than 350 at the APA Hotel in Woodbridge, said life in politics can feel like a TV show, just not necessarily the one she would pick.

“I was a little shell shocked being thrust into a world that I really wanted to feel like Parks and Recreation but, admittedly, felt a little more like Veep and, on some days, like the Sopranos,” she said.

That mix of humor and blunt realism set the tone for her remarks at the Women’s History Month event honoring top women in New Jersey’s business community. It was a room she said represents exactly the kind of leadership the state needs.

Doucette began by framing the moment.

“During women’s history month, I think it’s especially important for us to stop and acknowledge the strength and the grit that women bring to our organizations,” she said. “I really appreciate that this event is focused on just that.

“It’s important for us to think about how we, as leaders, can widen the pipeline to job opportunities and leadership positions so that we capture the best talent for our teams, regardless of gender. Because we all know when this happens, it doesn’t just benefit women.”

She then dropped in a little humor.

“Expanding the talent pool only strengthens our workplaces,” she said. “Teams become more resilient, institutions become more thoughtful. New innovative ideas surface and the more that women see themselves represented in key roles, say, for example, governor, this momentum builds on itself and only helps us bring out the best in our organizations.”

Doucette’s own story is proof that careers don’t have to follow a straight line.

Born to a mother from England and a father from India, she immigrated to the United States at age 5. For nearly two decades after college, she followed what looked like a conventional corporate path, spending two decades doing actuarial work.

Steady, predictable, but …

“I went from a career as an actuary, universally considered one of the most predictable and introverted jobs, to a completely polar opposite role,” she said. “Suddenly, the only predictable thing about my day was its unpredictability.”

That all changed in 2016, when Doucette had her Seinfeld moment.

“I was unhappy with the trajectory of national politics, so I took a leap to get involved and volunteer on campaigns for local government office in Chatham Township, where I lived,” she started. “This led to me managing a local campaign, and in the process, meeting a newly launched congressional candidate named Mikey Sherrill, one thing led to another, a little bit like Seinfeld — “yada, yada, yada” — one thing led to another, and in May 2018, at the age of 48, I was hired into my first paid political job on the senior staff of her initial congressional campaign.

“To say that this was an unexpected twist in my life is a huge understatement.”

What began as a late‑career experiment quickly became a calling.

“I found a career I felt passionate about,” she said. “I was given the opportunity to work towards something positive with people that I admired, and eventually I went on to take the role district director in the 11th Congressional district, doing that work for almost six years, and learning along the way that I really preferred the governing part of this work.”

It’s that passion that fuels her as the state’s first chief operating officer, a role created by Sherrill to increase the state’s operational focus and accountability — and one she had just 76 days to help stand up during the transition.

Doucette said that speed to completion taught her a valuable lesson about the available talent pool in the state as the administration was able to tap into the talent. She called it a process designed to simply find the best people to do the job.

That’s where her philosophy of leadership — and especially women’s leadership — comes in.

Doucette said the key is to be open: To new voices, unconventional résumés and the often‑overlooked skills women build outside of traditional corporate roles.

She credits much of her trajectory to people who she said saw potential in her before she fully saw it in herself.

Doucette summed it up with a line that could have come straight out of the Apprentice.

“Readiness, I’ve learned, is a moving target,” she said. “Sometimes the most important thing you can do is simply decide to receive the confidence someone else is already offering up to you.”

BINJE held the event in partnership with the N.J. Business & Industry Association, with gold-level sponsor support from eight companies and organizations: RWJBarnabas Health, PSEG, DEVCO‑Helix, United Airlines, ELEC 825, Prudential Financial, Prager Metis and Spectrum Works.