Sheila Oliver

Lt. Governor Sheila Oliver, a native of Newark, NJ, attended the Newark Public School System, graduating from Weequahic High School.

She entered Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, and earned a Bachelor's Degree, cum laude in Sociology, then obtained a Master of Science Degree from Columbia University in New York in Community Organization, Planning and Administration.

She began her career working in municipal government, serving as the Director of the Office of Youth Services and Special Projects for the City of Newark, within the Mayor's Office of Employment and Training. She was responsible for developing strategic plans to prepare youth 14 - 21 for entry into post-secondary education and entry into the workforce, developing Requests for Proposals and funding employment and training organizations to deliver program services.

A decade later, Oliver became the Development Director for The Newark Literacy Campaign, while working at Caldwell College as the Coordinator of Career Guidance within the Educational Opportunity Fund Program. For several years, she worked on several college campuses, teaching classes in Achievement Motivation, Non-Profit Management, and Pre-College Preparation. During this time, Oliver served as a consultant to a variety of non-profit organizations to provide training in board and program development; grantsmanship and financial management, and spent several years as the Director of the Essex County Division of Community Action, an anti-poverty initiative established by the federal government.

In 1996, Oliver became an Essex County Freeholder, and served on the Board of Chosen Freeholders until 1999.

Assemblywoman Oliver has spent a significant number of years serving on the boards of voluntary non-profit organizations, including but not limited to East Orange General Hospital Board of Trustees; the United Way; the Newark Coalition for Neighborhoods; the East Orange Board of Education; the Newark Collaboration Group; the Rutgers-Newark Educational Opportunity Fund Advisory Council; the Global Women's Leadership Collaborative of NJ; the Essex County and East Orange Committees on the Status of Women; Programs for Parents; and a number of other community-based entities. She has held membership in the Women's Political Caucus of NJ, the NAACP and the Urban League.