2025 PCDO Executive Board
Please note that:
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Officers and At-Large Members are elected by the Membership.
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Committee Chairs are appointed by the incoming President upon recommendation of the Nominating Committee.
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Ex-Officio Members serve by virtue of their offices and are included here for information only.
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Biographies of all the nominated candidates are on the following pages.
Officers
President
1st VP
2nd VP
Treasurer
Assistant Treasurer
Corresponding Secretary
Recording Secretary
Jeffrey Oakman
Jane Manners
Dosier Hammond
Nick DiDomizio
Open
Christopher P. Johnson Jennifer Fearon
At-Large Members
At-Large 1
At-Large 2
At-Large 3
At-Large 4
At-Large 5
At-Large 6
At-Large 7
At-Large 8
At-Large 9
At-Large 10
At-Large 11
At-Large 12
Nat Bottigheimer
Liz Cohen
Rachel D. Grainger
Nate Howard
Akash Jim
Arifa Khandwalla
Keena Lipsitz
Lance Liverman
Amy J. Mayer
Eve Niedergang
Owen O’Donnell
Bland Whitley
Committee Chairs
Advocacy
Archives *
Elections
Logistics and Events *
Membership *
Nominating *
Programming *
Website/Publicity *
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* Standing Committees
Liz Cohen
Joanna Dougherty
Rachel Grainger
Open
Open
Jon Durbin
Jean Durbin
Ari Meisel
Current Ex-Officio Members
Mayor
Council President
Council
PMDC Chair
PMDC Vice Chair
Mark Freda
Mia Sacks
David Cohen
Leticia Fraga
Michelle Pirone Lambros
Leighton Newlin
Brian McDonald
Felicia Spitz
Samuel Weiss
Biographies
Listed Alphabetically by Last Name
Nat Bottigheimer
Nat Bottigheimer is an urban planner, Planning Board member, and aspiring poet (currently pursuing an MFA in Bennington's creative writing program). Nat has worked professionally and civically to promote walkable, bike-able, transit-friendly communities for more than 30 years, in California, the Washington, DC region and, since 2012 New Jersey. He currently works for NJEDA as Director of Real Estate Special Projects.
Liz Cohen – Advocacy Committee Chair
I have enjoyed participating in both campaign work and addressing important issues that impact our community. I support this unique joint focus of the PCDO and want to continue to help build community through these advocacy efforts on issues that are especially crucial in our current political climate. Our Advocacy Committee puts out regular action alerts on state and national issues, so that we can raise our voices for justice together.
As past chair of the PCDO Programming Committee, I worked with a dedicated team to educate PCDO members on a range of issues and guide us toward action. I was a past nominating committee chair, have helped run phone banks and canvassing over many elections, and have continued to participate actively in these edfforts with each election. I am a retired hospice social worker and serve on the Democratic Municipal Committee where I relish working to get out the vote in my district. I am on the leadership team for RAC-NJ, a state level advocacy group for the Jewish Reform movement, and serve on its national Commission for Social Action. I am the mother of three voting young adults, (and grandmother of soon to be 5 voting helpers) and enjoy sharing Democratic activities and values with my husband, Dave.
I affirm I will regularly attend both the Executive Board and monthly membership meetings.
Nick DiDomizio - Treasurer
I am excited to return as Treasurer for the PCDO. My involvement with the organization spans several leadership roles, including serving two terms as President (2023, 2024), one year as Treasurer (2022), and another as Assistant Treasurer (2021). As Treasurer, my focus is on driving reforms to ensure we deliver maximum value to our members and foster a strong sense of community among Democratic voters. The outcomes of 2024 highlighted the challenges of low turnout in traditionally blue states. This underscores the vital role organizations like PCDO must play in boosting voter engagement for the pivotal 2025 Governor’s and Assembly races in New Jersey. Voter outreach has always been my passion, particularly through direct engagement like door-knocking for Democratic candidates. Outside of my political work, I hold a Bachelor’s Degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Delaware (2013) and spent over a decade as a Project Manager in Pharmaceutical Manufacturing and Drug Discovery Research and Development.
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Joanna Dougherty – Archives Committee Chair
I am running for another term as Archives Chair. Through Barack Obama’s 2008 national campaign, I got connected to local PCDO efforts and participated primarily through organizing button making at the local HQ. It was an insane amount of work but also great fun. I played the same role in the 2012, 2016, 2020 and 2024 campaigns making buttons. In 2016 I became a PCDO member. I have previously been an at-large member of the Executive Board and Corresponding Secretary. I enjoy serving on the Executive Board because it keeps me more connected to ongoing local and state political efforts, and through our deliberations, I can help shape our decision making. I've volunteered for local Council campaigns and Andrew Zwicker's State Assembly race and find these local campaigns even more engaging. I like to think that PCDO's efforts encourage others to engage in political activity “beyond voting” in large part because opportunities are available. After 18 years of employment in a local law office, I am now retired.
Jean Y. Durbin – Programming Committee Chair
Jean Durbin is a long-time member of the PCDO and is a former past president and former vice president of the club. Under her leadership, the club conducted the first ever virtual endorsement meeting and the first ever endorsement meeting to use ranked choice voting. The club also made the decision to eliminate dues during her last year as president. She has served on every committee with significant contributions to programming (including the 2017 Gubernatorial Forum), elections, and bylaws. Jean is an attorney, past elected member of the Board of Education, and enjoyed serving as former Assemblyman Zwicker’s inaugural policy director. She currently works at Princeton University in the Office of Finance & Treasury. Jean has been organizing the Gubernatorial Candidate forum for 2025 and looks forward to collaborating with fellow members on programming for the year.
Jon Durbin – Nominating Committee Chair
It would be an honor and privilege to continue on the PCDO Executive Board for 2025. In the face of the 2024 Federal Election results nationwide, we face critical electoral challenges this year making sure we have a Democratic Governor and re-electing our LD-16 Assembly Candidates, along with our county and local candidates. As part of our organizational mission, I think it is critical that we continue our intentional efforts to grow and diversify our membership and leadership through a strong coordinated effort between the program, local issues, campaign, and nominating committees. Our commitment to equity, inclusiveness, and sustainability will make our local party stronger and help shape the town of Princeton over the next ten years. As the Nomination Committee Chair for 2025, I will work hard to see we make good strides on this front. As a member of the Mercer County Democratic Executive Committee, I also hope to bring stronger awareness and connection to our county democratic party and examine good governance principles at the county level. As a former PCDO President and Princeton Township Democratic Committee Municipal Chair, I hope that I also can provide some sense of continuity from where we have been, while we make exciting plans on where we want to go. Many thanks for your consideration and support.
Jennifer Fearon – Recording Secretary
I have been a life-long Democrat as well as door-knocker, leafleter, and phone banker. I have been a Princeton resident since 2022, but have called Mercer County home throughout my life. I am honored to be part of the PCDO community and to support the important work of the Executive Board to advance democratic values, elect active progressive leaders from local to federal offices, elevate diverse voices, and inform and mobilize our community. In my professional life, I have advanced public health from the local to global levels. I am especially passionate about expanding reproductive health and women’s rights, ensuring equitable access to quality care, and building just and effective institutions. Since 2018, I have served in the NJ state government, including the last 2.5 years as the Governor’s Senior Policy Advisor for health and human services matters. I hold a MPH from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, an AB from Barnard College, and a CPH from the National Board of Public Health Examiners.
Rachel D. Grainger – Elections Committee Chair
I am a seasoned leader with legal, business, policy and political experience.
My political experience has spanned 3 decades. Most recently, and since 2023, I have served as Elections Co-Chair of the PCDO. In 2023, I co-led a successful get-out-the-vote effort in Princeton for our LD-16 legislative candidates. In 2024, I helped oversee the PCDO elections apparatus to get-out the-vote for the Harris Walz ticket on down the ballot in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. I enjoy engaging with prospective voters about the issues they care most about and I love building, developing and motivating teams of volunteers to engage in this vital work of democracy. I look forward to working with our amazing volunteers to keep New Jersey blue this year!
Professionally, working across start-up, non-profit and corporate settings, I have earned a reputation as a strategic thinker, an effective planner and a creative problem solver. I have most recently been deploying these skills to help area non-profits with strategic alignment, goal-setting and planning. Prior to this work, as a lawyer, I represented start-up, early stage and established technology companies and then went in-house with an early stage technology company where I served as both a senior lawyer and a member of the Operating Management Committee. I have also served as a non-profit executive helping to grow an early-stage policy and research business line including through the development of business strategy, resource planning and team leadership.
I received my JD from Stanford Law School and a BA in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland.
I live in Princeton with my husband and two children.
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Dosier Hammond – 2nd VP
I have been actively involved in PCDO for 13 years, and have worked actively to elect Democrats in the primaries in the general elections for 19 years. I have served on the Executive Board these past 5 years. I was on the Flip NJ Blue PCDO in 2018 committee that developed a coalition of 10 local progressive groups to help flip 4 of 5 Republican House districts to Democrat, and worked in 2020 on state and national elections in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. I was a panelist on the local issues committee Affordable Housing presentations. And I served as Chair of the town's Transit Advisory Committee, and Affordable Housing Board. in the last several years, I have worked to expand the advocacy of the PCDO on important local, state and national issues. I also worked on the 2024 PCDO election activities on postcarding, tabling and canvassing. I want to grow the PCDO, and make it even more effective in local, state, and national issues, and help it serve the needs of all Princetonians and Americans. This includes good jobs, a $20 per hour minimum wage, good benefits, healthcare, affordable housing, ending mass incarceration, and expanded civil and voting rights. I want to work on the issues above as well as quality of life and economic and ethnic diversity in Princeton.
Nate Howard
Nathaniel (Nate) Howard grew up in Princeton, New Jersey, and graduated from Princeton High School in 2021. Nate is now a senior at Princeton University studying in the School of Public and International Affairs and is passionate about climate and electoral organizing. Nate was involved in the successful fossil fuel divestment campaign and spent a year running the College Democrats club on campus. Currently, Nate leads the College Democrats of New Jersey (CDNJ), which mobilized students in the 2024 election, builds community for young organizers, and makes young voices heard in the Democratic Party.
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Akash Jim
I am a junior studying mathematics at Princeton University, and I graduated from Princeton High School in 2022. I am involved with the Princeton College Democrats and the College Democrats of New Jersey. I am particularly interested in state and local issues and enjoy working with the Advocacy Committee to advance the PCDO’s values at all levels of government. I also work to maintain and strengthen the relationship between the PCDO and the College Democrats, and I look forward to engaging both the campus and the town in this year’s critical gubernatorial election.
Christopher P. Johnson – Corresponding Secretary
Christopher P. Johnson has lived in Princeton with his wife and daughter since 2013. His wife, a Princeton native, has called the town home since her family settled here in 1984. Chris is the owner of a children’s cooking school, where he combines his passion for education and community engagement to provide unique, STEM-enriched culinary programs for young learners. Previously, he served as a Senior Director at Educational Testing Service (ETS), where he worked from 2015 to 2024, leading complex initiatives to advance equity and accessibility in education and earning recognition as a highly effective leader.
Chris has a long history of community service and volunteerism. He has served on the Board of Trustees for the Campbell Woods Homeowners Association since 2015, holding the role of President since 2016. In this capacity, he has managed a strong balance sheet, overseen major capital improvement projects, maintained vendor relationships, and coordinated with the community’s management company, all while fostering transparent and productive interactions with homeowners. With a daughter enrolled in Princeton Public Schools, Chris remains deeply invested in the community and committed to building a sustainable future. Known for his collaborative approach and clear communication, he is eager to contribute further as part of the PCDO, advocating effectively for Princeton’s residents and advancing initiatives that strengthen the community.
Arifa Khandwalla
Arifa Khandwalla previously served as the assistant treasurer of the PCDO. She was responsible for all federal filings for the presidential election of 2024. She also serves on the CARES commission in Princeton NJ. Her academic background is in applied math and policy. She is a resident of Princeton for more than 10 years.
Keena Lipsitz
Keena Lipsitz is a Professor of Political Science at Queens College and The Graduate Center in the City University of New York. Her research focuses on American campaigns and elections. She has lived in Princeton with her husband and two kids for the last 14 years.
Lance Liverman
Lance Liverman was born and raised in Princeton, N.J. Lance attended the Princeton Public Schools (Littlebrook, John Witherspoon and Princeton High). Lance married LaTonya Kilpatrick-Liverman in June of 1993. They met while LaTonya was a graduate student at Princeton University. Lance and LaTonya have three beautiful daughters (Kelsey, Ashlyn and Savanna).
Lance has always given back to the Princeton Community. “I am so fortunate to live in Princeton and to be around so many good hearted people, that giving my time to help others is a real joy “ said Lance. Lance had served on the Princeton Township Committee and Princeton Council for 15 years just retiring in Dec. of 2018. During this time Lance has served as the liaison for Corner House for 15 years. Lance is currently the Chairman of the Trustee Board for First Baptist Church of Princeton, Chairman of the Real Estate Committee for the First Baptist Church of Princeton, serves on Princeton Affordable Housing Board and is Treasurer and Board Member of Mercer Council on Alcoholism and Drug Addiction.
Lance has served in the past on the Corner House, Princeton Community Housing, Princeton Human Services and Princeton Planning Board’s. Lance has never been one to stray away from his beliefs that all children are a blessing and they all need to have a chance to make it in this world. Lance continues to look for rewarding volunteering work that will have an everlasting impact on the community.
Lance is currently Owner/President of Liverman Associates (real estate management company that began in 1993).
Jane Manners – 1st VP
I’m a legal historian by training and am currently an assistant professor at Temple Law School, where I teach torts, legislation and regulation, and legal history. I moved to Princeton with my family over a decade ago so that I could get my PhD in American history at Princeton University. My husband is an emergency medicine doctor and we have three children. I’ve been involved in progressive policy work and Democratic politics in some capacity at many points in my career. I’ve been a member of the PCDO’s Executive Board for several years, and am looking forward to continuing our important work.
Amy J. Mayer
Amy J. Mayer practices law (remotely) at a small firm located in Brooklyn, NY, where she focuses on corporate governance and real estate development projects for cultural institutions as well as for-profit clients. She also serves as Secretary of the Board of Trustees of One Community, a non-profit organization serving residents of Fort Greene and Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. Her volunteer work has previously included serving on the boards of Trenton Circus Squad, Princeton School Garden Cooperative and the Pratt Area Community Council (now IMPACCT Brooklyn). She has been a member of the Princeton Municipal Democratic Committee (District 16) since 2019 and previously served on the PCDO Executive Board in 2017, and 2022 - 2024.
Ari Meisel – Website/Publicity Chair
As the Vice President of the Princeton First Aid and Rescue Squad and current Princeton Public School Board of Education Member, I have dedicated a significant part of my life to serving our community in Princeton. I am passionate about productivity and efficiency, both in my professional life as an author and expert in the field, and in my volunteer work. My focus has always been on making things better and more effective, whether that's through my writing or in the practical, hands-on work I do as an EMT and non-profit board member. I'm excited to bring this same passion and skill set to the PCDO, particularly in enhancing our online presence. I believe that by improving our website and social media platforms, we can engage more effectively with the community, share important information, and foster a stronger, more connected Princeton.
Eve Niedergang
I've been involved with Democratic politics since my college days and with PCDO since 2009. I've served on the Executive Board previously and am eager to stay involved after completing two terms on Council. I first moved to Princeton in 1985 to start graduate school and somehow I'm still here 40 years later! I first got involved in the community through the schools, serving as PTO co-president at Riverside and then I ran the book sale at the Princeton Public Library for about 10 years. I'm a historian by training but have worked in educational testing at ETS and then as a consultant and, since 2016, at The Watershed Institute, where I am the volunteer coordinator. 2025 is going to be an important year in NJ and I'm looking forward to being involved on the EB and making a difference. I particularly want to be involved in campaign work and in expanding our membership to include new residents of the community and to recruit the next generation of PCDO members.
Jeffrey Oakman – President
As a resident of Princeton since 2013 and lifelong Democrat, I would be honored to serve the PCDO as your President. Since joining the PCDO Exec Board in 2017, I have chaired the Programming, Local Issues, and Nominating Committees, and served for a time as Vice President, during which I coordinated the Blue Wave effort in 2018 alongside our progressive sister organizations. I started with PCDO in a critical Gubernatorial election year as we stared down the barrel at 4 years of Trump in the White House, and here we are again. What got us through then will get us through now -- engaging people where they are on our shared values, organizing to support Democrats up and down the ticket, and growing our local participation to keep our legislative district blue and build on our strong local Democratic leadership.
After a 2-year stint in the Clinton White House, I received my masters in public affairs and urban planning at Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs in 2003. Since then, I have built a career in economic development and affordable housing, working inside and outside government to serve the needs of low-income communities. I spent the last 5 years as a Senior Policy Advisor to Governor Murphy, and recently joined the Provost's Office at Princeton University to work on standing up the New Jersey AI Hub. My wife Tara and I are proud parents of 13-year-old twins who attend Princeton Middle School.
Owen O’Donnell
Owen O’Donnell is senior director at Information Today, Inc., a publishing and conference firm, where he is responsible for the collection and management of database information used in numerous online reference sites and publications.
He has been active in the Princeton community since moving here with his family in 2004. Among the roles he has held are president (for two years) and treasurer (for three years) of the Princeton Community Democratic Organization, chair of the Princeton Democratic Municipal Committee, treasurer of Send Hunger Packing Princeton (SHUPP), and he is a member of the Princeton Planning Board.
Bland Whitley
I am a historian and for the past 16 years have been an editor for the Papers of Thomas Jefferson, a scholarly edition based at Princeton University. Since moving to Princeton, I have volunteered in numerous campaigns for Democrats. I have also helped coach little league baseball and softball teams, served on the Princeton Middle School PTO, and assisted my charming and beautiful wife Sarah Torian in her work as a board member of Housing Initiatives of Princeton. From 2019 to 2022, I served on the town's parking task force. My father covered state politics for daily newspapers in Richmond, Virginia, where I grew up, so I've been engaged with political issues most of my life. These are dire political times nationally, and local organizations like the PCDO are important for sustaining an inclusive politics and the broader goals of liberalism.