Meet Our Trustees
Board of Members
Michael R. DuPont
President
Mr. DuPont is a Partner in the law firm McKenna, DuPont, Higgins & Stone and is President of the Garden State Arts Foundation.
He served on the transition teams of former Governors John S. Corzine and James E. McGreevey.
Mr. DuPont has a B.A. in political science and business administration from Loyola University and a J.D. from the John Marshall School of Law.
He resides in Red Bank, Monmouth County.
Ronald R. Gravino
Vice President
Mr. Gravino is Senior Vice President Finance and Human Resources at INVIDI Technologies Corp. in Princeton, which he joined after many years as a financial/turnaround consultant.
He served as Chairman of the Newark Liberty International Airport Board for over 11 years. He also serves on the Garden State Arts Foundation. Previously a Commissioner / Vice Chairman / Chairman of the former New Jersey Highway Authority, he is currently the Chairman of the New Jersey Turnpike Authority Audit Committee.
Mr. Gravino lives in Edison, Middlesex County.
Ulises E. Diaz
Secretary
Mr. Diaz is employed at Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey as Director of Enterprise Government Affairs.
Mr. Diaz previously worked for Verizon Communications Inc., where he was responsible for the development of the company’s government affairs activities and its legislative program for New Jersey. He also worked for United Water New Jersey, where he was responsible for external affairs activities, including government and public affairs, communications and business development.
Mr. Diaz has a B.A. in business administration from Rutgers University.
He is a resident of Rutherford, Bergen County.
Francis K. O'Connor
Member
Francis (Fran) O’Connor was nominated to serve as Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Transportation by Governor Murphy in January 2024. He currently is awaiting New Jersey Senate approval and is serving as Acting Commissioner.
Fran returns to New Jersey State service with over 40 years of public and private sector transportation experience. He began his public service career at the New Jersey Turnpike Authority as a toll collector and rose to be the Deputy Director of the NJTA’s Electronic Toll Collection Program. In that role he launched the Authority’s first electronic toll collection installation.
While in the private sector, Fran advised transportation agencies across the country on the development and execution of critical projects with a strategic focus on toll roads. In this work, Fran has overseen hundreds of employees at a time, implemented large-scale customer service centers, and engaged with regulatory entities at all levels of government.
He graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s in accounting from St. Peter’s University.
Raphael Salermo
Member
Mr. Salermo is Managing Partner of MAR Acquisition Group LLC, a real estate services company in Elizabeth.
He has held leadership positions in several civic and community organizations, including the Greater Elizabeth Chamber of Commerce, the Elizabeth Development Corp., the YMCA of Eastern Union County, the Elizabeth Avenue Partnership, and the Union County Workforce Investment Board.
Mr. Salermo attended Elizabeth High School and Union County College.
He resides in Warren Township, Somerset County.
Francisco Maldonado-Ramirez
Member
Mr. Maldonado-Ramírez is the Senior Counsel for Policy and External Affairs at the New Jersey Laborers-Employers Cooperative and Education Trust (New Jersey LECET).
Previously, he held senior staff positions in the Majority offices of the New Jersey Senate and Assembly, served in policy roles on the campaign of former Gov. Jon Corzine and the transition team of Gov. Phil Murphy, practiced voting rights law for the non-profit Advancement Project, and served as a law clerk in the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico.
Mr. Maldonado-Ramírez, a native of San Juan, is a graduate of Yale University and the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
He lives in Highland Park, Middlesex County, with his wife and two sons.
John S. Wisniewski
Member
Mr. Wisniewski is the managing member of Wisniewski & Associates, LLC, a general practice law firm in Sayreville.
He served from 1996 to 2018 in the New Jersey Assembly, holding the posts of Deputy Speaker and Chair of the Transportation & Independent Authorities Committee. He was also co-chair of the New Jersey Legislature’s Joint Select Committee on Investigation and led the legislature’s investigation into the lane closures on the George Washington Bridge. He served from 2010 to 2013 as Chairman of the New Jersey Democratic State Committee and was a member of the Democratic National Committee. He is member of the New Jersey Fire Safety Commission and a member of the New Jersey Small Business Development Centers Advisory Board.
He is a graduate of Rutgers University and Seton Hall University School of Law. Mr. Wisniewski resides in Sayreville.
Officers
Carolyn Santiago
Executive Director
Karen Yeung
Assistant Treasurer
Mariann Zach, Esq.
Assistant Secretary