Richard Henning
President & CEO
Richard Henning is a graduate of Rutgers University and after having worked a number of years for Panasonic, RCA and GE in New Jersey, joined Hackensack Water in February 1989. He continued to progress through various roles of increasing responsibility at Hackensack Water/United Water/Suez North America/Veolia to become Senior Vice President, Communications, Marketing & Government Affairs in 2015. Rich recently retired from Veolia at the end of last year, but his enthusiasm and love of our industry is the reason he wanted to continue to serve us, and we couldn’t be happier to have Rich help lead NJUA into the future.
Christina Gordillo Farrell
Vice President
Before being promoted to Vice President, Christina Gordillo Farrell served as the Director of Government and Public Affairs for NJUA from January 2020 to November 2022. She attended Rutgers University-New Brunswick and received her Bachelor of Science in Environmental Policy, Institutions and Behavior, along with a Minor in Political Science. She has completed numerous leadership training courses, including with Dale Carnegie Leadership Training and the Executive Leadership Academy in NYC. While in college, Christina worked for the then City Attorney of New Brunswick and former Speaker of the New Jersey General Assembly in the 1977 session. Christina began her Trenton career working as a committee aide for the Senate Republican Office on the Senate Environment and Energy Committee where she worked on complex energy issues and developed strong working relationships with staff and legislators on both sides of the aisle. She then worked for nearly seven years lobbying for the NJ Realtors, serving as the Legislative and PAC Manager. Christina lobbied on local, state, and federal issues for the trade association. Christina’s well-rounded experience landed her a role as an associate director for Monmouth University working on strategic partnerships and outreach. While she began her career as partisan staff in the Senate, Christina has established herself as a nonpartisan lobbyist and business professional.
Christina sits on the Board of Trustees for CASA of New Jersey, where she is a member of the Executive Committee and is Co-chair of the Resource Development Committee. She is also a Governing Member of the Women’s Political Caucus of NJ.
Joseph M. Gurrentz, Ph.D.
Director of External Affairs
A self-described “civic-minded scientist,” Gurrentz is widely known in Trenton as a vocal advocate for affordable, sustainable, reliable and secure utility service in New Jersey.
Gurrentz, of Haddonfield, served over the past three years as a policy analyst for the New Jersey Senate Majority Office, while also working as a post-doctorate science and politics fellow at Rutgers University’s Eagleton Institute of Politics. He earned his Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry at the University of Texas in Austin.
As part of his work for the Senate Majority Office, Gurrentz managed the development, stakeholder engagement and passage of energy, environmental, and labor-focused legislation. His work required significant collaboration between state legislators, regulators, stakeholders, and staff to reach consensus.
Moreover, Gurrentz monitored regulatory actions and developed policy positions for the Senate majority, which is ideal experience for his enhanced role with the NJUA as it sets its aggressive legislative agenda for the remainder of 2024, Henning said.
As a scientist, Gurrentz also worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, for three summers, studying proton radiography. In his unique role, he installed and maintained fiberoptic and vacuum pump systems for scientists investigating material behaviors under high explosive conditions for national security. At the University of Michigan, where he earned his undergraduate degree, Gurrentz researched earth-abundant energy materials for affordable, scalable solar-powered chemical fuels production.