Tom Dallessio is the Executive Director of Leadership New Jersey. He was formerly Vice President and New Jersey Director at Regional Plan Association, the nation's oldest independent planning organization. For five years he administered programs using research, planning and advocacy to protect the Highlands, produce affordable housing and public transit options, promote sustainable development, and improve the design of our cities and towns. Prior to that, Tom served as Senior Policy Advisor to Governors Whitman and DiFrancesco, with responsibility for open space, agriculture and state planning. There, he helped draft the bill to preserve a million acres, and chaired the Million Acre Task Force, an interagency team charged with implementing the program. Tom spent 17 years in State government, 10 in the Office of State Planning. In his spare time, Tom served for three terms as a Councilman in Hopewell Borough, Mercer County, completing his term as Council President, and ran for the 15th District Assembly in 2001. He served on the Rutgers University Board of Trustees and was a former President of the Rutgers Alumni Association and the Bloustein School Alumni Association. Tom is an adjunct professor at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, and a proud graduate of Leadership New Jersey, Class of 1998.