Camden County commissioner takes on role as Rowan-Rutgers board CEO

Jeffrey Nash, a longtime Camden County commissioner and vice chairman of the Delaware River Port Authority, has been selected as the new president and CEO of the Rowan University/Rutgers-Camden Joint Board of Governors.

The board, created in 2012 by the New Jersey Medical and Health Sciences Education Restructuring Act, is part of Camden's medicine and education presence, supporting research, education and growth at South Jersey's two biggest institutes of higher learning.

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Nash, a lawyer with a general practice firm in Camden, was a senior partner and shareholder at Cozen O'Connor, a Philadelphia firm where he specialized in civil litigation and government relations. He worked as a public defender early in his legal career and is chairman of the Volunteer UP Legal Clinic, which provides pro bono legal services to people in need throughout Camden, Burlington and Gloucester counties.

He replaces interim CEO Dean D'Astuto, who took over when former Camden Mayor Dana Redd left the board. Redd is now CEO of Camden Community Partnership, a community development nonprofit; D'Astuto will return to his previous role as the Joint Board's chief operating officer.

A county commissioner since 1991, Nash oversaw several successful county and regional initiatives, including creation of the Child Immunization Program; Tech 2000, in which the county and its school districts added a computer in every classroom by the year 2000; preservation of 2,000 acres of open space and farmland; the Parks Alive 2025 initiative and rebuilding of several parks within the City of Camden; the Sustainable Camden County program; and the launch of the Camden County Police Department Metro Division.

Nash said the board "has done a great job of bringing Rutgers-Camden and Rowan University together at the Joint Sciences Building and creating a spirit of cooperation between the two universities."

Plans are in the works for the expansion of the Broadway campus and for an expansive overhaul of the Walter Rand Transportation Center, as well as a $2 billion expansion of Cooper University Hospital, Nash noted. He pointed to the need to include residents in the planning process and neighborhood revitalization efforts.

"It's a very exciting time to be at the Joint Board and in Camden as it undergoes this revitalization," he said. "And I feel blessed to have been given this opportunity."

Nash "has eliminated a state prison from the Camden waterfront while preserving more than 2,000 acres of greenspace in the city and the county," said David Mayer, the board's chairman. "Nevertheless, while his portfolio is long on achievements his most important quality is his passion for the city of Camden and making it a better place by enhancing the social determinants of health for the residents.”

“I’m honored to accept the position; it will be a privilege to work with the board and the three institutions of higher learning operating under one roof for the betterment of our community,” Nash said. “This new position gives me the opportunity to roll up my sleeves and improve the quality of life of the residents of the region and the city.”

Phaedra Trethan has been a reporter and editor in South Jersey since 2007 and has covered Camden and surrounding areas since 2015, concentrating on issues relating to quality of life and social justice for the Courier-Post, Burlington County Times and The Daily Journal. She's called South Jersey home since 1971. Contact her with feedback, news tips or questions at ptrethan@gannettnj.com, on Twitter @wordsbyPhaedra, or by phone at 856.486-2417.

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This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Jeff Nash named to lead Rowan-Rutgers Camden Board of Governors