Robert A. Nixon is the Director of Government Affairs for the New Jersey State Policemen’s Benevolent Association, New Jersey’s largest law enforcement organization. Mr. Nixon is also the Founder and President of the government affairs firm State House Strategies. He has been a government affairs professional in New Jersey since 1995 with a specialty in the legislative process.

Mr. Nixon was nominated to serve on the SDA Board by Governor Corzine and since 2010 has served as a Member and Chairman of the SDA Audit Committee, Vice Chairman

of the Board and Acting Chairman of the Board. He was formally named Chairman of the Board by Governor Murphy in December of 2018.

He received a Masters of Governmental Administration from the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. in Politics from Saint Joseph’s University. Mr. Nixon is an Adjunct Professor at the Fels Institute of Government at the University of Pennsylvania where he teaches the graduate level course on Government Relations. He was named “Teacher of the Year” at Fels in 2013 and 2016.

Daniel Gumble is the Business Manager of I.B.E.W. Local 164. Mr. Gumble’s Local Union, which represents over 3,000 skilled and highly trained workers, serves the Bergen, Essex, and Hudson Counties of New Jersey, providing indispensable craftsmanship.

Mr. Gumble is a proud third generation electrician who began working his way up the ranks in both his Union and industry. He began his career as an apprentice electrician in 1979 and has worked his way up the ranks from an Apprentice, Journeyman, Shop Steward, Forman and General Forman.

Before serving as Business Manager for IBEW Local 164, he has also held various positions such as Executive Board Member of the Union for nine years, Recording Secretary and Organizer for four years, Business Agent for eight years and is now serving his second Three year term as Business Manager of 164 as well as a trustee for the Local Unions various funds. Aside from his dedication to his Union he has also served at the Treasurer of the Hudson County Building Trades for five years and Executive Board Member for the Hudson County Central Labor Council for nine years, Commissioner of Bergen County Board of Utilities for three years and has sat on the Board of Bergen County Workforce Development Board for the past year.

Under Mr. Gumble’s administrations at Local 164, hundreds of members have devoted their skills and own time to many charitable and community service projects such as Toys for Tots, Helmets to Hard Hats, Christmas in April, Project Grandma and Re-building Together. As a 40 year member he continues to humbly represent the Union and the Trades.

Richard Elbert serves as General Counsel for the Bjarke Ingels Group (“BIG”), an internationally renowned architecture design firm located in Copenhagen, New York City, and London, operating within the fields of architecture, urbanism, interior design, landscape design, product design, research and development. He is instrumental in developing BIG’s New York legal department and coordinating with its European counterpart, providing counsel to a thriving and growing design firm for business operations, contract review, preparation and negotiations, and matters covering

all legal aspects that impact a design firm. This includes developing risk management policies for risk avoidance and emerging litigation, claims, and dispute resolution, and compliance with international, federal and state regulations.

Prior to his career at BIG, Rich worked for major law firms in New York and New Jersey before establishing his own construction law practice, and has prepared construction contracts for architects, engineers, contractors, and housing developers, and actively litigated various construction-related matters for design professionals, owners, developers, and contractors and their insurers, focusing on contract disputes, errors and omissions, construction defect claims, delay claims and insurance coverage disputes.

Rich holds a law degree from Seton Hall University, a Master of Architecture degree from Virginia Tech, and a Bachelor of Science of Architecture degree from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. Beginning his career as a licensed architect, Rich worked for an international business company where was the site architect for a 5 million square foot facility, before working as a design architect for a large New York and New Jersey A/E firm. He participated in all phases of architectural practice, including the design of commercial, residential and industrial structures. Rich is admitted to the New Jersey and New York bars, holds an active architectural license and a Certification from the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards, and is a member of the American Bar Association Forum on the Construction Industry, American Institute of Architects, and the Association of Corporate Counsel.

Rich is an active member of his community, serving continuously in many civic and social organizations as a volunteer, appointed member or trustee on private, civic, and governmental boards, including Town planning and architectural review boards, historical societies, and philanthropic organizations, and as a former elected Town Council representative. Rich resides in Westfield with his wife and two children.

Loren graduated from Columbia University with an MBA in Finance. She also holds a degree in Accounting from Queens College. She started her career in a not for profit organization and sold real estate for Merrill Lynch Realty. She worked at Revlon’s Corporate Headquarters in Finance for 4 years in a newly developed rotational program for MBA’s before joining Johnson & Johnson. Loren retired from Johnson &Johnson after 22 years of service in 2007.

She started as a Cost Accounting Supervisor at Personal Products Company in the Consumer Group. After progressing through 11 financial positions (Senior Brand Analyst, Financial Reporting Manager, Cost Accounting Manager, Operations Controller, Financial Controller to name a few) and 4 operating companies (Personal Products, McNeil Pharmaceutical, Ortho McNeil Pharmaceutical (OMP) and Corporate), Her experiences and contributions have been varied, from implementing Activity Based Costing at McNeil Pharmaceutical to implementing new processes and systems at OMP and Corporate to being the Champion of the Corporate Finance Mentoring Program. She was part of the management team for the Financial Leadership Development Group (FLDG). Loren was J&J's Program Champion and Finance University Team Leader for Hampton University She was on the African American Leadership Council Board having initial responsibility for developing chapters throughout J&J.(16 chapters were formed under her leadership). Loren is also a certified empowerment/executive coach.

Loren has been active in her community, participating in many local organizations including becoming an elected official as the local school board president for the township of Hillsborough. She was also a football referee and initiated a local scholarship to benefit African American high school students.

In her retirement, Loren continues to serve the community. She volunteers on special projects and works part time as a certified Foreclosure Intervention Counselor for Faith Fellowship Community Development Corporation (FFCDC) assisting families in Union, Middlesex, Monmouth, Somerset and Essex counties. She is the Deputy Treasurer for the Norwescap board , a non- profit community action partnership serving Morris, Somerset, Hunterdon, Passaic, Warren and Sussex counties and is a past co-chair of the Somerset County Circles Initiative. Loren was also a member of the scholarship committee for the Audrey West Foundation in Newark, NJ.

In 2007, Loren received the Corporate Community Service Award from the New Brunswick Area Branch of the NAACP. In 2008, she received a Distinguished Service Award from HONOR, the oldest affinity group at Johnson & Johnson.

She is an elder at Faith Fellowship Ministries World Outreach Center. She and her husband, Zack reside in Hillsborough, New Jersey. They have seven children and four grandchildren.

Mr. Mario S. Vargas is the Vice Chairperson and a public member of the New Jersey Schools Development Authority. He has served since his appointment in 2009.

Currently Mr. Vargas is the Founding Principal/Owner of Senior Health Navigators where he assists Medicare recipients with their health insurance needs. In addition, Mr. Vargas is the Owner/Agent of the Vargas Group Insurance

Agency providing protection to individuals and families through coverages on auto, home, life and business. In addition, Prior to building his own insurance business, Mr. Vargas had a lengthy and successful career in the nonprofit sector. Notably, Mr. Vargas served as the Executive Director of the Puerto Rican Action Board (PRAB) where he grew the organization’s budget from $5.7 million to $15.1 million within a 3 year period, and its workforce from 82 to 240 employees during his tenure. PRAB is a nonprofit organization that provides services to improve the quality of life of the low income population of central New Jersey in a bilingual and bicultural setting, and continues its historic role an advocate for the Latino community.

Prior to joining PRAB, Mr. Vargas was employed by New Brunswick Tomorrow as the Director of Operations and Communications, a non-profit organization established over 45 years ago to foster public/private networks of agencies, institutions, and organizations to help improve the quality of life for the people in the City of New Brunswick. In addition, Mr. Vargas was employed by INROADS/Central New Jersey, Inc., an international career development organization that places talented minority college students in the business industry.

Prior to that, Mr. Vargas was employed by Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital as a Patient Representative. Mr. Vargas graduated from Rutgers University with a Bachelor of Arts, and was conferred a Master’s Degree in Public Affairs and Politics from the Edward J. Bloustein School of Public Policy and Planning.

Mr. Vargas also served as the Chairperson of the Hispanic Director’s Association of New Jersey. The association’s mission is to further the progress of New Jersey's Hispanic Community through cooperation among its members and collaboration with other organizations. In addition, Mr. Vargas was a co-founder of the Rutgers Latino Student Council and the University’s Center for Latino Arts and Culture. He also served on the Board of Directors of Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (now RWJ Barnabas) leading various committees including becoming secretary of the board. He is alum of the Center for Hispanic Policy, Research and Development at the Department of Community Affairs.

Mr. Vargas is an ordained Elder and the Vice President of the Consistory (Board Chair) at Suydam Street Reformed Church located in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He also serves as the Vice President of the New Brunswick Classis for the Reformed Church of America. Mr. Vargas resides in Highland Park, New Jersey with his wife Iris.

Mr. Capo graduated high school in 1983 and became a cement finisher apprentice June 1984 in BAC Local #2, Paterson. While serving his apprenticeship, he attended college, graduating with a bachelor’s degree from Kean University. He worked as a journeyman cement finisher until becoming a field representative in July of 1999 for BAC Local #4. In June of 2000, Mr. Capo became Secretary-Treasurer of BAC Local 4, while remaining a field rep until the creation of the Administrative District Council in 2006 where he was appointed Secretary-Treasurer.

Mr. Capo ran for Director after the retirement of Richard Tolson. He ran unopposed and was sworn in as Director on June 1st, 2020.

In addition to being Director, Mr. Capo is a Trustee/Co-Chair on the NJ State Health Fund, NJ State Annuity Fund, Local 4 Pension Fund, Local 5 Pension Fund, NJ State Apprentice Fund, and NJBAC Labor/Management Fund. For the past 16 years he has been Vice President of the Passaic County Building Trades and had the privilege of being appointed to the International Union Executive Council as the Cement Craft Committee Vice President in 2010.

Mr. Capo was also elected Councilman in Totowa, NJ in 2016. He was reelected in 2019 for another 3-year term.

A dedicated advocate for labor rights, Nicole Vecchione currently serves as Director of Research for the Laborers' Eastern Region Organizing Fund (LEROF). With a remarkable career spanning 17-years in the labor movement, Nicole has demonstrated unwavering commitment and leadership to advance the interests of workers.

As the Director of Research at LEROF, Nicole drives impactful initiatives, leveraging her expertise, experience, and steadfast determination to empower workers. Nicole's significant work includes the passage of two landmark pieces of legislation in New York City. The first enhances

transparency in public subsidized housing projects; the second tightens regulations and penalties for construction labor brokers. Her work on organizing campaigns have returned millions of dollars to underpaid workers.

She holds a Bachelor's degree from Dickinson College and a Master's in Public Administration from NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.