Commissioner Bob Gordon

Bob Gordon was nominated to serve as a Commissioner of the Board of Public Utilities by Governor Philip D. Murphy on April 5, 2018, and was confirmed by the New Jersey Senate on April 12, 2018. In 2020, he also became a board member of N.J. Transit. At the time of his BPU nomination, he had served more than 14 years in the Legislature, ten of those in the Senate where he attained the positions of Majority Conference Leader, and Chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, the Legislative Manufacturing Caucus and the Senate Legislative Oversight Committee. During his tenure as chairman of the latter, he conducted extensive investigatory hearings on deficiencies at New Jersey Transit and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. As a result of these investigations, Senator Gordon advanced legislation that led to major reforms in the transparency and accountability of these organizations. He also led a bipartisan effort that secured a $3.5 billion appropriation for a new Port Authority Bus Terminal. Other legislation he sponsored improved access to mental health services, streamlined the cleanup of hazardous waste sites and reformed the governance of community associations.

Mr. Gordon’s career has spanned the public and private sectors. In his public career, he has served at every level of government. He was drawn to public affairs by a life-long interest in environmental issues, and his first job was at the President’s Council on Environmental Quality. During his early career in Washington he worked on the economics staff of the Brookings Institution, a public policy research institution, and later, at the inception of the Congressional Budget Office, joined that agency as an analyst focusing on natural resource programs. At the state and local levels, Mr. Gordon served as an aide to Governor Jim Florio and spent ten years as Mayor and Council Member of the Borough of Fair Lawn. He is the author of Governing New Jersey, a 300-page book describing the skill requirements of key executive branch positions.

Mr. Gordon’s business career is equally diverse. Much of his private sector work was with large management consulting firms, where he led engagements of a strategic nature. He conducted marketing strategy assignments for Fortune 1000 clients in the U.S. and Europe, and later, worked with the nation’s largest hospital consulting firm facilitating the merger of provider organizations. He managed the family textile factory in Paterson, New Jersey, and most recently, worked as a broker with one of the largest commercial real estate organizations in the world.

Mr. Gordon earned his undergraduate degree in political economy and environmental studies from Williams College, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude. He also has a Master of Public Policy degree from the University of California at Berkeley and an MBA in finance and health care management from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Gordon resides in Fair Lawn with his wife Gail, an attorney.