Faculty/Staff

Jane M. Kenny

Kenny is the managing partner and a founder of The Whitman Strategy Group, LLC, an all-women firm specializing in sustainability issues, including energy and environmental policy and the marketing of innovative environmental technologies. Kenny's experience includes high-level management positions in the private sector and in several complex and diverse government agencies.

Prior to her current position, she was the regional administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), where she oversaw the federal agency's work in New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. Kenny managed a billion dollar budget and nearly 1,000 EPA engineers, lawyers, chemists, biologists, and public outreach specialists. During her EPA tenure, Kenny signed the historic decision to remediate the Hudson River, negotiated an agreement with GE to design the river's clean up, and directed a highly successful community outreach plan involving key stakeholders of the Hudson River community.

Kenny was appointed by New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman as her first chief of policy and planning and then as commissioner for the Department of Community Affairs. She is credited with devising and implementing key urban economic and neighborhood development programs.

Kenny is the recipient of numerous national awards, including the Woman in Government Award from the Ford Foundation and Good Housekeeping Magazine, the National Public Service Award; the Epiphany House Community Partnership Award; "Outstanding Achievement" award for accomplishments in urban revitalization from City News; the Excellence in Leadership Fellowship from Women Executives in State Government; the Oliphant Award for Distinguished Leadership in Historic Preservation; and the YWCA Tribute to Women in Industry. She was also was named Governing magazine's Public Official of the Year. Governor Chris Christie selected Kenny to serve as an advisor on his transition team. She serves as a trustee for New Jersey Future and for the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice. She is a member of the board of New Jersey Resources Corporation.