Jerry Fitzgerald English, former Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection and Legislative Counsel to Governor Brendan T. Byrne, was appointed to the Commission in January, 2004. Mrs. English was named Chair in July of that year and reappointed to a second term by Acting Governor Richard J. Codey. Mrs. English served as Chair from July 2005 to October 2010.

Long involved in service to the people of New Jersey, Mrs. English is a past Commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and a former State Senator.

Commissioner English, in addition to being a member of the New Jersey, American, and International Bar Associations, was a founding member of the Women’s Political Caucus, a former member of the Democratic National Committee, and an honorary trustee of the Passaic River Coalition.

Currently a partner in the law firm of Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook, & Cooper, P.C., Mrs. English is: a former member of the Board of Directors of the Regional Plan Association, Co-chair of the American Bar Association Litigation Subcommittee on Eminent Domain, on the Board of Visitors for the School of Science and Liberal Arts at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), a member of the Leadership Council of Harvard Law School, and a trustee of the New Jersey Federal Bar Association.

Mrs. English is an attorney specializing in environmental law. She has been an expert witness for the New Jersey courts for private clients in environmental cases and has published extensively in a variety of journals regarding environmental issues of great importance. Mrs. English currently is on the editorial board of the New Jersey Law Journal. She serves as a Master in The Justice Stewart G. Pollock Environmental Inn of Court.

A former candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives, Commissioner English shares her knowledge of government and environmental problem solving with students at NJIT as an adjunct instructor.

Mrs. English holds a B.A. in International Relations from Stanford University and a J.D. from Boston College Law School combined with studies at Harvard University Law School. Her husband, Dr. Alan English, and she reside in Summit, New Jersey.