Secretary

Nina Mitchell Wells, Esq., was sworn in as New Jersey’s 32nd Secretary of State in the Governor’s Office in January of 2006, only a block away from the War Memorial, where she was admitted to the New Jersey State Bar and began her expansive career as a public servant, educator, philanthropist and lawyer.

As head of the Department of State, Secretary Wells oversees the Department’s 14 diverse operating agencies. Charged with the promotion and preservation of the arts, history and culture of the Garden State, she is responsible for the state’s cultural portfolio, including the State Council on the Arts, the Historical Commission and the Cultural Trust. An important focus of the Department of State during her tenure has been the expansion of public-private partnerships—to advance the economic benefit of the arts, history and culture, and to emphasize the extraordinary value of arts education for all students. The New Jersey State Council on the Arts developed Arts Plan NJ, a blueprint outlining the many ways arts can foster and promote community priorities.

Included in the cultural portfolio, the New Jersey State Museum, boasting a collection of over 2 million pieces, has reopened its Main Building after structural and ecological renovations and is now a major attraction for school groups, visitors and tourists. Secretary Wells, together with the Friends of the New Jersey State Museum, is conducting a campaign for private funding for the Museum. The Department of State is also responsible for the War Memorial, encompassing the architecturally renowned “Patriots Theater,” which presents world-class entertainment as well as a wide variety of cultural events and programs for students, many of whom see a live performance for the very first time.

Ms. Wells is also responsible for promoting our state as a premier travel destination. In 2007, the Division of Travel and Tourism increased tourism economic activity by 5.6%, to $38 billion, and jobs created by travel and tourism accounted for 11.4 percent of the state’s total employment.

In April of 2008, the Division of Elections was returned to the Department of State after ten years in the Department of Law and Public Safety. As New Jersey’s Chief Election Officer, Secretary Wells is in charge of maintaining a progressive, transparent and successful election process.

Ms. Wells also administers The Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemorative Commission, which sponsors annual Youth Leadership Conferences for thousands of New Jersey high school students and awards V-Free grants empowering students to prevent violence in their schools and communities. Another community-oriented agency, the Office of Faith Based Initiatives (OFBI), has funded 63 faith and community-based organizations providing services to at risk youth, services for young people recently released from detention, seniors and the homeless. In addition, OFBI has partnered with the Department of Education to implement cutting edge truancy programs consistent with the Governor’s Crime Prevention Plan and with the Department of Corrections to provide offender re-entry services. The Amistad Commission continues to create and coordinate the Amistad Curriculum, a web-based initiative in partnership with the Department of Education, which will infuse African-American history into social studies curriculums, offering a complete teaching resource for all New Jersey teachers. It will be available in September of 2008.

Also overseen by Secretary Wells is the Governor’s Office of Volunteerism which is affiliated with several other state and national organizations: New Jersey AmeriCorps, Learn and Serve America and the New Jersey Commission on American Indian Affairs. Various initiatives of the Office include support for a national database where individuals can interactively explore volunteer opportunities in New Jersey and beyond. Volunteerism in New Jersey currently adds $4 billion in services to the economy.

Recently transferred to the Department of State is the New Jersey-Israel Commission, whose mission is to foster increased economic, scientific, educational and cultural relations with the State of Israel.

The Division of Archives and Records Management (DARM), one of the Department’s largest agencies, is charged with holding in trust the public records of New Jersey. In August 2008, full deployment of RRDMS (Records Retention and Disposition Management System) will offer the nation’s first web-accessible system for granting counties and municipalities online access to public records retention and disposal processes. DARM’s PARIS grants, totaling almost $75 million, have fostered shared records management in all 21 counties.

Prior to Secretary Wells’ appointment to state service she was President of the Schering-Plough Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the Schering-Plough Corporation, and Vice-President of Public Affairs. She began her career as a lawyer and public servant in the City of Newark’s Law Department as Assistant Corporation Counsel, specializing in chancery law and serving as legal advisor to the Newark Central Planning Board and the Newark Real Estate Commission. Secretary Wells practiced corporate law for many years with several major corporations including New Jersey Bell Telephone Company, Bell Communications Research, Inc., and the CIT Group. Ms. Wells was head of the Division of Rate Counsel in the Department of Public Advocate during the Florio Administration. As Rate Counsel, she was responsible for challenging all regulated utility rate filings in the State of New Jersey.

Ms. Wells continued her commitment to education and the students of New Jersey as Assistant Dean and Director of the Minority Student Program and Financial Aid at Rutgers University Law School. She has also served on the board of trustees of numerous secondary and collegiate institutions, cultural boards, community support and revitalization organizations, her local hospital and various philanthropic agencies.

Born in Washington, D.C. in 1950, Secretary Wells and her husband, Ted Wells, Esq., reside in Livingston, New Jersey and have two grown children, Teresa and Phillip.