Bruce H. Bergen, Chairman
Bruce H. Bergen is the Chairman of the Raritan Valley Coalition and was a Union County County Commissioner (previously known as Freeholder) from 2013 until 2018. He is a lifelong resident of Union County and lives in Springfield. He is associated with the Cranford law firm of Krevsky, Silber & Bergen, and has been a practicing attorney for more than 40 years. He currently serves as the Union County Counsel.
Appointed twice as a member of the New Jersey Supreme Court’s District XII Attorney Ethics Committee, Bergen served as Chairman in 2009-2010. He is a long-time member of the Rotary Club of Cranford and has been named a Paul Harris Fellow of Rotary International.
Bergen serves as a Trustee of the Board of Directors of the New Jersey Institute of Local Government Attorneys, the state municipal attorney organization affiliated with the New Jersey League of Municipalities and as Associate Editor of the Institute’s Local Government Law Review. In 2005, Bergen was designated a Diplomate in New Jersey Local Government Law. Throughout the years, he has been honored for his legal and public affairs accomplishments by various organizations.
Peter S. Palmer, Immediate Past Chairman
Peter S. Palmer is the Immediate Past Chairman of Raritan Valley Coalition and a former Somerset County Commissioner. He is a lifelong resident of Somerset County and Bernardsville. He served in the US Army Signal Corps and earned an Honorable Discharge as a 1st Lieutenant and he acquired his Bachelor’s Degree at Cornell University and received his Master of Science Degree at Princeton University.
Palmer also completed courses for NJ State accreditation as a Certified County and Municipal Finance Officer and while in office as chairman has participated in various service activities. He has also received various awards like the NJ Association of the Counties Freeholder of the Year in 2011 and the NJ Conference of Mayors Leadership Award in 2007. He also managed award winning construction of his own landmark commercial building in Bernardsville from 1991-1993.
Sara Sooy
Sara Sooy is the Commissioner Deputy Director from Somerset County and has served on the Board since 2019. She is a lifelong resident of Somerset County.
She previously served on the Somerset Hills School District Board of Education.
She hold an MBA in Real Estate Development from Rutgers University, Newark, NJ and graduated from Saint Francis College with a Major in Economics and a Minor in International Economics.
Thomas C. Jardim, Vice-Chairman
Tom Jardim is an attorney with the firm Jardim, Meisner & Susser, P.C. Tom’s practice areas include construction-related advice and litigation, and complex commercial and insurance litigation.
Jardim was elected mayor of the Town of Westfield in 1996, and was reelected to that position in 1998. He was the first Democrat elected mayor of Westfield since 1909. In 2001, Mr. Jardim was a candidate for the New Jersey State Assembly from the 21st Legislative District.
He is a founding member and current vice-president of the Raritan Valley Line Rail Coalition.
Jardim is a 1988 graduate of the University of Richmond and received a law degree and a Masters in foreign affairs, magna cum laude, from the American University in 1993.
Kimberly Palmieri-Mouded
Commissioner Palmieri-Mouded was elected to the board in November of 2018 to serve her first three-year term. In 2021, Palmieri-Mouded was re-elected to her second term.
From a very young age, Palmieri-Mouded has been drawn to public service, and actively participated in various groups within her community and church, tirelessly supporting local education initiatives and programs.
In 2021, Palmieri-Mouded served as Chair of the Open Space Recreational & Historic Preservation Trust Board. During that time, the Open Space/Trust Fund Board awarded $1.455 million in matching grants for Kids Recreation, Greening and Preserve initiatives. She also served on the Fiscal Committee as well as the Public Works & Facilities Committee.
Throughout 2021, Palmieri-Mouded was also the Commissioner Liaison to various Advisory Boards, including: the Union County Performing Arts Center Board of Trustees, the Youth Services Commission, the Homeless Trust Fund Advisory Board, the Advisory Board on the Disabled, the Commission on the Status of Women and the Union County College Board of School Estimates.
Palmieri-Mouded believes in the practice of being a servant leader. Whether serving as a volunteer in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina and as a Caritas Volunteer in Rome, Italy, or simply volunteering at her local senior center, she is aware of the responsibility that comes with leading and serving others. Prior to her election, she enjoyed taking an active role in her local community, serving as an Executive Board Member of the Newcomers Club of Westfield and as a class parent at her children’s school.
Commissioner Palmieri-Mouded obtained a B.A. in English and a M.P.S. in Criminal Justice Leadership from St. John’s University in Staten Island, NY. After completing her undergraduate degree, she worked for the University’s Division of Student Affairs as the Assistant to the Dean before becoming Associate Dean for Student Life. In addition to teaching courses and managing a large financial budget, Palmieri-Mouded supervised many projects, events, activities, and programs. She oversaw all student organizations and planned and organized various experiences and off-campus community service projects for the school and the local community.
After the premature birth of her twin boys, Palmieri-Mouded made the decision to put her career on hold and stay home to take care of her children.
A lifelong resident of Union County, Palmieri-Mouded was born and raised in Elizabeth, NJ, and now lives in Westfield with her husband George and their five children including four young boys – twins Matthew and Christopher, Nicholas, and Ryan; and their daughter, Adeline.
Bette Jane Kowalski, Alternate
Bette Jane Kowalski is a Commissioner from Union County. A lifelong resident of Cranford, she has a Master’s degree in Journalism from New York University, and a Bachelor of Arts from Hunter College, graduating summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa.
She has promoted shared county-local services and has worked to add hundreds of acres of land to the Union County parks system. She was recently honored by the Union County Women’s Political Caucus as a Notable Woman in Politics, and by the United Way of Greater Union County with the 2013 Dell Raudelunas Spirit of Caring Award.
She has served on numerous boards and committees including the Human Services Advisory Council, the Economic Development Committee, the Cultural and Heritage Programs Advisory Board, and the Policy and Administrative Code Committee.
Matthew Holt
Matthew Holt is a Commissioner from Hunterdon County. His duties involve being a Public Information Officer, and Alternate Member of the Planning Board, and a member of the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority, serving as the 2012/13 Chairman.
He spent his high school years at North Hunterdon Regional High School and attended college at Susquehanna University. In government, he serves on the Hunterdon County Board of Chosen Freeholders.
He was also a Public School Board Member in Clinton in 1993, a Clinton Council Member from 1995-2003, and the Town of Clinton’s Mayor from 2004-2005.
George Ververides
Mr. George Ververides was the Director of County Planning for Middlesex County. He started working for the County Planning Board in November 1961 and has been Director since May 1986.
George holds a Professional Planner’s (PP.) license in New Jersey and is a member of both the American Planners’ Association (A.P.A.), national and New Jersey chapters, and the American Institute of Certified Planners (A.l.C.P.); a member of the New Jersey County Planners’ Association of which he served as President in 1969-1970; and a member of the Association of American Geographers. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the New Jersey Planning Officials.
Robert Fazen
Robert Fazen is a Trustee from Bound Brook where he served as President of the Planning Board for Bound Brook Borough for over 15 years and is currently serving as the Mayor. He has commuted to New York Penn Station on the Raritan Valley Line providing real estate services in New York City for over 28 years, President of the Fazen Organization and a licensed NY State Real Estate Broker, his company manages commercial and residential properties and coordinates construction management and historic preservation projects.
He was responsible for the restoration of the Bound Brook Theater in 2007, nominating the Theatre for landmark status in the National Historic Register.
He graduated from West Point with a Bachelor of Science degree, serving in the U.S. Army for 20 years and retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel. He earned a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech and a Master of Business Administration from Auburn University.