New Jersey United for Higher School Standards is a statewide alliance of more than 148 business, education and non-profit organizations leveraging their strengths to help parents and educational stakeholders hold informed discussions about New Jersey's Core Curriculum Content Standards.

New Jersey United's Co-Chairs:

Arthur F. Ryan is chairman and chief executive officer of Prudential Financial, Inc., one of the largest diversified financial institutions in the world.

Prior to joining Prudential in December 1994, Mr. Ryan had been president and chief operating officer of Chase Manhattan Bank since 1990. Mr. Ryan ran Chase's worldwide retail bank between 1984 and 1990.

Mr. Ryan was named Chairman of the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI) in October 2003. Mr. Ryan is also co-chair of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, on the boards of trustees of New York Presbyterian Hospital, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., co-chair of the board of Achieve, Inc., an organization created by U.S. governors and business leaders to drive high academic standards for public schools in the U.S., and the Committee to Encourage Corporate Philanthropy.

Mr. Ryan has a Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics from Providence College.

Alfred Cade

Edwina Lee has worked for the New Jersey School Boards Association (NJSBA) for more than 15 years. Serving currently as the Executive Director of the Association, she directs the Association services to boards of education in the areas of labor relations, governmental relations, school law, and boardsmanship. As the Association's chief lobbyist, she appears before numerous state legislative committees, as well as the leadership of both the New Jersey Senate and General Assembly. She also directs the Association's lobbying efforts at the federal level.

Ms. Lee comes to the Association with numerous years of school board experience, reaching leadership positions at the local, county and state levels. She has represented the issues and concerns of boards of education as she served on the Board of Trustees to the Governor's School for Gifted High School Students under Governor Kean, and as a member of the General Assembly's Task Force on the 21st Century under Speaker Hardwick. She has contributed to numerous coalitions over the years addressing such issues from (1) health/pension benefits for public employees, (2) adequate school funding, (3) urban reform, (4) early childhood initiatives, (5) school governance reform, (6) special education revisions to New Jersey law, and (7) business education partnerships.

In her current position as Executive Director, she manages the day-to-day operations of a 95 member staff with an annual operating budget of over $9 million, serving more than 4,800 school board members in 611 local school districts. Ms. Lee is also the chair of Leadership for Educational Excellence.

New Jersey United's Steering Committee Members:

Dana Egreczky is currently vice president of Workforce Development for the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce. In this capacity, Ms. Egreczky facilitates the work of The Business Coalition for Educational Excellence, a business-driven grassroots effort to establish policies and programs that supports the business agenda in educational reform.
Ms. Egreczky has a bachelor's degree in the biological sciences and a master's degree in adult learning and organizational development. Her experience includes 16 years as a public school teacher, five years as a corporate trainer, and 12 years working with chambers of commerce in establishing their school-based initiatives. Ms. Egreczky currently serves on the board for the Statewide Systemic Initiative in Science and Math, the New Jersey Mathematics Coalition and the New Jersey Association of Partners in Education. She is also a member of the Education and Employment Training Committee of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Additionally, Ms. Egreczky is a co-chair of New Jersey Reads and serves on several advisory committees to the Departments of Education and Labor.

Lee Ann Niles has served the New Jersey Parent Teacher Association (PTA) as President (1999-2001), Vice President of Education, Legislation Chairman, and Cultural Arts Chairman. She currently serves as Immediate Past President and Reflections Art Chairman. Both a New Jersey and National PTA Life Member, Ms. Niles began her PTA career at the Robert Gordon Elementary School in 1964 as a Legislation Chairman and Cultural Arts Chairman. Ms. Niles has served as PTA President of the Union County Council of PTAs, as well as at the elementary, middle school, and high school levels. Ms. Niles has also represented the PTA on many statewide committees and organizations such as the Juvenile Justice Department for Union County, the New Jersey Governor's Task Force on the Arts, Leadership for Educational Excellence (LEE), Ceasefire of New Jersey and the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Sal Catalfamo is currently dean of Enrollment Management at The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. In addition, Mr. Catalfamo serves as chairman of freshman and transfer scholarship programs at Stockton. Mr. Catalfamo was a member of the Hammonton Public Schools board of education for more than 12 years, and currently serves on a number of local, state, and national committees and boards.

Ray Ocasio has been the Executive Director of La Casa de Don Pedro, Inc., a Newark, New Jersey community based development organization since 1998. Mr. Ocasio is actively involved in local, citywide and state initiatives. Locally he is the Chair of Leadership Newark. In the housing and community development arena, Mr. Ocasio is engaged with the Newark Community Development Network, The Master Plan Working Group and the NJ Housing and Community Development Network. On children's issues, he is active with the Early Childhood Coalition of Newark, the Newark Advocates for Children Committee, United New Jersey and the Coalition for Our Children's Schools, in addition to others. He is also a Trustee of Ramapo College of New Jersey, an adviser to the Cornwall Institute of Rutgers University and a board member of NJ Citizen Action.

New Jersey United's Executive Director:

Mary O'Malley currently serves with Prudential as vice president, Local Initiatives in the Community Resources Department. In this position, she is responsible for directing and managing Prudential's public involvement efforts, including the company's annual Global Volunteer Day, a worldwide day of employee volunteerism. Prudential's efforts in the area have been recognized by President Clinton, the Points of Light Foundation, State of New Jersey Governor's Office of Volunteerism, and The Wall Street Journal/Employment Management Association.

O'Malley has been with Prudential for over 20 years and has held various positions in the corporate social responsibility, corporate communications, issues management and human resources departments.

In addition to her professional commitment, O'Malley serves as chair on the International Advisory Board Center for Corporate Citizenship, Boston College; chair, New Jersey Advisory Board for the National Executive Service Corps; chair, Executive Committee of the Business Coalition for Educational Excellence; vice chair, New Jersey Health Decisions and board member, New Jersey Shakespeare Festival.