Members & Staff
Ex-Officio Members

As outlined in the Authority's by-laws, the Authority consists of seven members, three of whom are ex-officio (namely: the Commissioner of Health, the Commissioner of Human Services and the Commissioner of Banking and Insurance).

 

Dr. Kaitlan Baston, MD, MSc, DFASAM, Chairperson

Judith M. Peresichilli, R.N., B.S.N., M.A., Chairperson

(Serves during her term as Commissioner of the Department of Health)

New Jersey Health Commissioner Dr. Kaitlan Baston, MD, MSc, DFASAM, Chairperson

Dr. Kaitlan Baston, MD, MSc, DFASAM, was nominated by Governor Philip D. Murphy to begin serving as Commissioner of Health on July 25, 2023, and was confirmed on March 18, 2024.

Before becoming New Jersey’s Health Commissioner, Dr. Kaitlan Baston built and led the Cooper Center for Healing, an integrated pain, addiction, and behavioral health center, and was an Associate Professor of Medicine at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University.

Commissioner Baston began her career as a full-spectrum family physician focused on underserved populations. Before arriving in New Jersey, her work ranged from public health projects in Rwanda to public maternity and trauma hospitals in the Dominican Republic, providing full spectrum family planning services and working in a bilingual community health center in Seattle, Washington.

Her experiences in primary care highlighted that both patients and medical professionals suffer from the lack of addiction medicine training and integration into healthcare. Following her addiction medicine fellowship, she came to Camden in 2015, driven to improve community-centered health care delivery, population health, and behavioral health. 

In the following seven years, she built an inpatient addiction consult service, multiple interdisciplinary outpatient clinics, a wrap-around perinatal substance use disorder program, a harm reduction-based low-barrier walk-in clinic, and the first program for emergency medicine services (EMS) field initiation of medication for addiction treatment.

She led undergraduate and graduate addiction medical education and started a new addiction medicine fellowship. Her research team was responsible for bringing in and overseeing several million dollars in state and federal grant funding to support innovation and community-based care and to address social determinants of health.

This work expanded to state and federal-level health policy, and Commissioner Baston became the Medical Director of Government Relations at Cooper University Health Care in 2019. She is nationally recognized for her work in perinatal substance use disorders and EMS delivery of addiction treatment. 

She has spoken to Congress and the American Bar Association and is a national educator for Zero to Three. She has served on national-level committees, including the Infant Toddler Court Program Expert Advisory Group, the American Academy of Pediatrics Head Start National Expert Workgroup, the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives Opioid Task Force, and the American College of Obstetricians and the Gynecologists Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health Opioid Collaborative Workgroup. She has also served on the New Jersey DMHAS State Epidemiological Outcomes Workgroup, the New Jersey ATLAS State Advisory Committee, the Camden County Addiction Awareness Task Force, and the Camden County Opioid Settlement Funds Board. 

In 2011, she was awarded the Savacool Prize in Medical Ethics. She has been recognized as a New Jersey Top Doctor or Top Female Doctor every year from 2017 to 2023. She won the Golden Apple Teaching Award in 2021, the New Jersey Healthcare Innovation Hero Award in 2022, and the New Jersey Hospital Association Healthy New Jersey Award in 2023.

Currently, Commissioner Baston is focused on decreasing health disparities, improving maternal-child health outcomes, and enhancing integrated care for behavioral health and substance use disorders.

As Health Commissioner, she strives to ensure everyone has access to resources that can keep them healthy and compassionate, evidence-based medical care when needed. Commissioner Baston is proud to work with an interdisciplinary team of like-minded, driven individuals at the Department of Health who are dedicated to improving the equity and health of New Jersey.

Commissioner Baston is dual-boarded in Family Medicine and Addiction Medicine, obtained a master’s degree in Neuroscience from Kings College, London, and graduated from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, PA.

 

 

 

Sarah Adelman

Photo of Sarah Adelman Sarah Adelman (Serves during her term as Commissioner of the Department of Human Services)

Sarah Adelman was named Acting Commissioner for the Department of Human Services as of January 16, 2021. Ms. Adelman previously served as the Deputy Commissioner at the New Jersey Department of Human Services, overseeing the Division of Developmental Disabilities, Division of Aging Services, and the Division of Medical Assistance and Health Services, which operates the Medicaid/NJ FamilyCare program. Ms. Adelman also serves as the Commissioner’s designee on the Board of the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency.

Ms. Adelman has worked in Medicaid and health policy for more than a decade, previously serving as Vice President at the New Jersey Association of Health Plans and Chief of Staff at the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute. Ms. Adelman also previously served on the Board of Trustees for Samaritan Healthcare and Hospice, the Board of Directors for a statewide child abuse and neglect prevention program, and the Commerce and Industry Association of New Jersey's Healthcare Steering Committee. Ms. Adelman was named among “New Jersey’s Top 10 Healthcare Policy Analysts and Experts” by NJ Spotlight. Ms. Adelman received her Bachelor of Arts summa cum laude from Rowan University, a certificate in Advanced Healthcare Leadership from Seton Hall University, and was a fellow in the inaugural class of the New Jersey Healthcare Executives Leadership Academy.

 

Justin Zimmerman

Photo of Justin Zimmerman

Justin Zimmerman was appointed to lead the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance by Governor Philip D. Murphy in June 2023.

 

As Acting Commissioner, Zimmerman serves as the chief regulator of New Jersey’s insurance industry, one of the nation’s largest. Zimmerman oversees all state-chartered banks, credit unions, and consumer finance licensees and leads Get Covered New Jersey, the state’s official health insurance marketplace.

 

Zimmerman joined the department in January 2018, serving as chief of staff, overseeing the executive management team, and managing all aspects of the department’s policy implementation under the commissioner’s direction.

 

During his tenure as chief of staff, the department developed and implemented numerous consumer protections and programs impacting countless New Jerseyans, including New Jersey’s out-of-network law, student loan protections, mortgage servicers licensing, expanding access to reproductive health care, and Get Covered New Jersey.

 

Since its inception in 2020, Get Covered New Jersey has transformed New Jersey’s health insurance landscape for consumers in the individual market, ensuring that more New Jerseyans have greater access to quality, affordable health insurance. New Jersey was the first in the nation to open its marketplace with enhanced state subsidies that lower premiums for most enrollees.

Zimmerman also coordinated the department’s COVID-19 response, working with regulated entities across all sectors to provide relief to New Jersey’s residents during the pandemic, from insurance premium relief and mortgage forbearance to student loan relief and expanding telemedicine without cost sharing.

 

Acting Commissioner Zimmerman built an extensive career in public service. Before joining Governor Murphy’s administration, Zimmerman served as chief of policy and legislation to the New Jersey State Senate president pro tempore, where he focused on expanding access to quality and affordable healthcare for New Jerseyans and expanding voting rights and civil rights.

Mr. Zimmerman began his service to the public as a briefing aide to Governor Jon Corzine. Then, he became director of legislative and intergovernmental affairs for the New Jersey Department of State.

 

Before joining government service, he was an organizer in Morris County, New Jersey, and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

 

Acting Commissioner Zimmerman was born and raised in New Jersey and spent most of his childhood in Essex and Union Counties. He received his Bachelor of Arts from Mary Washington College. He resides in Verona with his wife, Laura, and their two children.

 

Public Members
David G. Brown II

David G. Brown II

David G. Brown II, Public Member, Vice Chair

(Mr. Brown’s term expires 4/30/2024)

Governor Philip D. Murphy nominated David G. Brown II as a New Jersey Health Care Facilities Financing Authority member on August 8, 2020. He was confirmed on October 29 of the same year.

Mr. Brown is currently the manager of Ocean Township, New Jersey. He previously served as the borough administrator for Bradley Beach, New Jersey, executive director of the Linden-Roselle Sewerage Authority, and administrator of the Borough of Roselle. Before that, Mr. Brown held several municipal leadership positions, including director of Newark’s Urban Enterprise Zone and director of Public Works and Urban Development for Plainfield, NJ.

A native of Long Branch, Mr. Brown served in the New Jersey National Guard and has a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Master’s in Public Administration from Kean University.

 

 

Thomas J. Sullivan , Jr.

Photo of Thomas J. Sullivan, Jr.

Thomas J. Sullivan, Jr., Public Member,  Secretary (term of office expires April 30, 2025)

Thomas J. Sullivan, Jr. was approved by the New Jersey Senate on March 25, 2021. He is a lifelong Bergen County resident. Mr. Sullivan has served on the Bergen County Board of County Commissioners since January of 2015. As a Commissioner, he has served on the Board’s committees for: Social Services, Shared Services, Labor and Personnel, Law and Public Safety, Transportation, Public Works, Community Development, and Planning and Economic Development. He was elected to serve as Vice-Chairman of the Board in 2017 and as Chairman of the Board in 2018.

Mr. Sullivan has had a long professional career in Local 164 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW). Starting out as an Apprentice Electrician, Mr. Sullivan learned the value of hard work and the opportunities it brings. Through many years of innovation and commitment to his career, he became a Journeyman Electrician, and was subsequently elected Vice President of Local 164 in 2010, and President in 2013, a position he currently holds today.

Mr. Sullivan’s previously served on Bergenfield’s Borough Council from 1998 until 2002, and Montvale’s Borough Council from 2005 until 2008. He also has an impressive history of community volunteerism.

Mr. Sullivan and his family currently reside in Montvale.

 

Bridget Devane, MSW

Photo of Bridget Devane

The Authority welcomes a new Public Member to its governing body: Bridget Devane, MSW received the advice and consent of the Senate on June 20, 2022. She was nominated by Governor Murphy to fill the term of former Authority Member Suzette Rodriguez. That term is currently set to expire on April 30, 2025. Ms. Devane’s first meeting as an Authority Member was on July 28, 2022.

Ms. Devane is the Public Policy Director for the Health Professionals and Allied Employees (HPAE), New Jersey’s largest health care union representing registered nurses and health care professionals in acute-care, long term care, psychiatric, blood bank and medical laboratory facilities.

Since 2004, her work at HPAE has focused primarily on improving working conditions for healthcare professionals across New Jersey, while advocating for patient safety measures to ensure better patient outcomes. She oversees a department of staff who monitor the ongoing consolidation of healthcare providers, assess the financial state of healthcare operations in facilities across the state, and advocate for legislative and regulatory reforms to set standards for quality patient care and improve access to health care services.

Prior to her work at HPAE Ms. Devane worked at New Jersey Citizen Action, a statewide consumer advocacy organization, working with patients and advocates to protect the financial interests of health care consumers. She received her Bachelors of Social Work from Ramapo College of New Jersey and a Masters of Social Work from Hunter College.

 

 

Sam Maddali

Photo of Sam Maddali

The Authority welcomes a new Public Member to its governing body: Sam Maddali of Benardsville, New Jersey (term expired on April 30, 2023; Mr. Maddali will continue to serve until reappointed or replaced). 

Mr. Maddali was nominated by Governor Murphy to replace former Authority Member Dr. Munr Kazmir. He was confirmed by the Senate on March 20, 2023.  

Mr. Maddali is the Chairman and founder of United Pharmacy Network, a group purchasing organization for independent pharmacies. He has served on various boards including the Bouvé Strategic Advisory Council at Northeastern University, the Foundation for Morristown Medical Center and the Governor’s Council on Mental Health Stigma. Mr. Maddali was also awarded the NJ Pharmacist of the Year award by Senator Vin Gopal for his advocacy for the rights of independent, community pharmacies. 

Mr. Maddali is passionate about giving back, and has been an active member of Rotary International for nearly three decades. He serves on the board of directors for the Eye Foundation of America, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to eliminating avoidable blindness in underserved countries of the world, and is a trustee for Gift of Life, providing life-saving heart surgeries to children worldwide.

Mr. Maddali received his Bachelor of Pharmacy degree from Long Island University. Although a pharmacist by trade, Mr. Maddali’s business interests have expanded to include business development, entrepreneurism, and he is also a real estate professional.

 

 

 

Authority Staff

All Authority staff can be reached by telephone at (609) 292-8585 followed by the staff member's extension as listed below. To reach a staff member by facsimile, send the fax the individual's attention at (609) 633-7778.

Office of the Executive Director

Frank Troy
Executive Director
FTroy@njhcffa.com
609-789-5631

Cindy Kline
Executive Assistant/Office Manager
CKline@NJHCFFA.com
609-789-5622

Robin Piotrowski, PHR, SHRM-CP
Senior Human Resources Manager and Ethics Liaison Officer
RPiotrowski@NJHCFFA.com
609-789-5618

John Johnson
Network Administrator
JJohnson@NJHCFFA.com
609-789-5627

Jeff Solimando
Communications/Government Relations Specialist
JSolimando@NJHCFFA.com
609-789-5641

Division of Research, Investor Relations and Compliance

Taryn Rommell
Director of Research, Investor Relations and Compliance
TJauss@NJHCFFA.com
609-789-5642

Jose Lora
Assistant Director of Research, Investor Relations and Compliance
TLora@NJHCFFA.com
609-789-5643

Neetu Thukral
Compliance Manager
NThukral@NJHCFFA.com
609-789-5640

Nino McDonald
Database Analyst
NMcdonald@NJHCFFA.com
609-789-5625

Division of Project Management

William McLaughlin
Director, Project Management
BMcLaughlin@NJHCFFA.com
609-789-5616

Edwin Fuentes
Project Manager
EFuentes@NJHCFFA.com
609-789-5630

Tracey D. Cameron
Administrative Assistant
TCameron@NJHCFFA.com
609-789-5615

Division of Operations, Finance and Special Projects

Ronald S. Marmelstein
Director, Operations, Finance & Special Projects
RMarmelstein@NJHCFFA.com
609-789-5636

Alpa Patel
Controller
APatel@NJHCFFA.com
609-789-5626

Bill Lohman
Construction Compliance Officer
WLohman@NJHCFFA.com
609-789-5638

Jessica Waite
Senior Account Administrator
JLucas@NJHCFFA.com
609-789-5639

Michael Solidum
Account Administrator
MSolidum@NJHCFFA.com
609-789-5617

Diane Johnson
Senior Assistant Account Administrator
DJohnson@NJHCFFA.com
609-789-5628

Taryn Brzdek
Assistant Account Administrator & Custodian of the Record
TBrzdek@NJHCFFA.com
609-789-5635

Ankita Parikh
Accountant II
AParikh@njhcffa.com
609-789-5619

Jessica Rinderer
Administrative Assistant
JRinderer@njhcffa.com
609-789-5633