My Central Jersey
April 18, 2015

FAR HILLS – New Jersey Conservation Foundation has elected media executive Stephen W. Parker of Bernardsville to its Board of Trustees, and former Governors James Florio and Christine Todd Whitman as Honorary Trustees.

“We’re very pleased to have Steve Parker join our board, and to have former governors Florio and Whitman join as Honorary Trustees,” said Michele S. Byers, executive director.

“Former Governors Brendan Byrne and Thomas Kean have served as Honorary Trustees at New Jersey Conservation for many years, and it’s wonderful to have Governors Florio and Whitman join them,” Byers added. “In recent years the four governors have joined forces on a number of issues, including protecting the Palisades and Pine Barrens.”

Parker, Florio and Whitman were elected at a Board of Trustees meeting on March 18.

Florio served as governor from 1990 to 1994, following 15 years in the U.S. House of Representatives. Whitman served as governor from 1994 to 2001, leaving to become administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under President George W. Bush.

Along with his sister Liz, Parker is co-owner and co-publisher of the Bernardsville-based New Jersey Hills Media Group, consisting of 17 multi-media news outlets serving 55 communities in four northern New Jersey counties. The business was founded in 1897 and has been under his family’s ownership since 1957.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Harvard University and an M.B.A. degree from Columbia University, and worked for eight years as a Wall Street analyst before joining the family publishing business. He has been active with state and national media organizations, serves on the boards of the New Jersey Historical Society and Somerset Hills YMCA, and is a past chair and longtime board member of the Bonnie Brae School.

New Jersey Conservation Foundation is a private nonprofit that preserves land and natural resources throughout New Jersey for the benefit of all. Since 1960, New Jersey Conservation has protected 125,000 acres of open space — from the Highlands to the Pine Barrens to the Delaware Bayshore, from farms to forests to urban and suburban parks. For more information about the foundation’s programs and preserves, go to www.njconservation.org or call 1-888-LAND-SAVE (1-888-526-3728).