DMI Events

Governor Jon Corzine was born on January 1, 1947, and grew up on a small family farm in the central Illinois community of Willey's Station. His father farmed and sold insurance; his mother was a public school teacher. His interest in politics was forged in his farming community. It was there that he learned the meaning of hard work and the opportunities afforded by a strong education system.

Governor Corzine graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1969 and enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves. He remained in the reserves until 1975, rising to the rank of sergeant in his infantry unit.

After his active duty in the Marine Corps, he began his career in finance, working as a portfolio analyst at the Continental Illinois National Bank in Chicago. He enrolled in the graduate business school of the University of Chicago in 1970, first attending classes at night. He received his MBA in 1973, and went to work at Bank Ohio, a regional bank in Columbus, Ohio.

In 1975, Governor Corzine was recruited by Goldman Sachs, the New York investment firm, and he and his family moved to New Jersey. He was named a partner at Goldman Sachs in 1980, and became chairman and chief executive officer in 1994. He left Goldman Sachs in May 1999 after successfully converting the investment firm from a private partnership to a public company.

During Governor Corzine's leadership at Goldman Sachs, the business magazine Fortune named Goldman Sachs one of the 10 best companies to work for in America. The governor was named by Time magazine as one of the top 50 technology executives in the country in 1997.

As the chief executive officer at Goldman Sachs, Governor Corzine expanded the company's community outreach and philanthropic programs, establishing a company-wide service program in which employees volunteer on a regular basis in their communities. Also in 1997, Governor Corzine was the chairman of a presidential commission to study capital budgeting as a means of increasing federal investment in schools, technology, and infrastructure.

Jon Corzine was elected to the United States Senate in November 2000. During his time in the Senate, he focused on serving the state of New Jersey, applying his financial expertise to major economic and regulatory issues, and pushing a forward-looking, progressive agenda.

As Senator he sought new federal investments in New Jersey’s transportation network, pursued new safeguards to protect chemical facilities against terrorist attack, introduced legislation to improve access to education and healthcare, fought for stronger environmental policies, and led the effort in Congress to crack down on corporate abuse.

In a major victory, the Senate adopted Governor Corzine’s resolution declaring the need for new safeguards at the nation’s vulnerable chemical plants. He also secured federal funding toward the construction of a second railroad tunnel underneath the Hudson River, long sought by New Jersey’s congressional delegation, and won federal support for a wide variety of community and economic development projects throughout the state of New Jersey. In addition, to protect the environment and the economy along New Jersey’s shore, Governor Corzine fought to prevent any oil or gas drilling off the coastline.

In 2005, Jon Corzine announced his candidacy for the governorship of New Jersey, promising to bring the same business practices and integrity that helped him run Goldman Sachs to state government. He built his campaign around his comprehensive ethics proposal, revamping the state’s property tax system, building a stronger economy, and improving education and healthcare. Jon S. Corzine was sworn in as New Jersey’s 54^th Governor on January 17, 2006.

Donna Dolan is an International Union Representative for the Communications Workers of America. She has been the CWA District One’s Director of Work/Family Issues for the past 16 years and represented the Union in the joint labor/management partnership on Work/Family that CWA negotiated with Verizon in the late 1980’s. She was jointly responsible for the development and implementation of all work/family programs through the CWA/Verizon Dependent Care Fund.

Ms. Dolan chairs the NYS Paid Family Leave Coalition and is a steering committee member of the Multi-State Consortium on Paid Leave. She also chairs the NYS AFL-CIO Task Force on Paid Family Leave. Ms. Dolan is a founding Board member of the Alliance for Work/Life Progress and the New York City Child Care Coalition.

She has spoken at numerous work/family, corporate and academic conferences on labor’s involvement in work/family issues. Ms. Dolan has been a panelist on PBS and Cable TV shows. She has been interviewed by National Public Radio and quoted in magazines, newspapers and books on Work/Family issues. She co-authored a chapter on Special Work/Life Initiatives in the book “Work/Life Effectiveness” and contributed to the Coalition of Labor Union Women/AFL-CIO publications “Bargaining for Families” and “Bargaining for Child Care”.

Ms. Dolan is a graduate of Boston College and holds a Master’s Degree from Bowling Green State University.

Commissioner M. Patricia Smith has been a dynamic and effective labor advocate for over 30 years. She has been a driving force in overhauling the New York State Labor Department to focus on vigorously protecting workers and on ensuring that employers compete on a level playing field.

During her first year of leadership:

Assembled a task force that in just four months found over 2,000 misclassified workers with over $19 million dollars in unreported wages, $1.2 million in unpaid unemployment taxes and penalties, and over $3 million owed to 646 workers in back wages.
Labor Standards collected 37 percent more in wage underpayments and 20 percent more in fines than in 2006.
Public work increased prevailing wage collection by 39 percent.
In DOSH, our ten programs and units help provide safer workplaces through stepped up enforcement, inspections, outreach, surveys, training, reviews, grants, licensing and certifications.
Special Investigations has identified almost $27 million in fraudulent UI overpayments and has assisted police and DAs statewide in numerous criminal cases.
Counsel’s Office has brought nearly 200 cases to completion, in addition to issuing dozens of formal opinions and securing passage of two department bills.
By creating the Bureau of Immigrant Workers’ Rights and conducting more strategic enforcement we have changed the culture of the department through partnering with unions, labor and immigrant groups to target our enforcement efforts to keep our most vulnerable workers from being exploited.
We have also helped the workers of the state by aligning resources to better serve those in need of training. We are focusing on the needs of low-paid workers and creating career ladders so they can earn wages that can sustain a family.

Commissioner Smith has also strived to highlight the key role the Labor Department plays in economic development by improving training opportunities for workers. This gives employers the skilled labor force they need to succeed in today’s global economy.

Before coming to the Labor Department, Commissioner Smith served as Chief of the Labor Bureau in the Office of the New York State Attorney General for eight years. In that position, she developed a system of active government labor law enforcement that has served as a model for other Attorneys General and enforcement agencies. Under her leadership, the Labor Bureau built a proactive labor docket, enforcing labor laws by innovative approaches, such as developing a Code of Conduct; partnering with advocacy groups; targeting enforcement efforts on an industry-wide basis; and focusing on low-wage and immigrant workers.

For 11 years, Commissioner Smith served as Deputy Bureau Chief and Section Chief of the Labor Bureau, conducting and overseeing labor law litigation in state and federal courts. In 1996 and 1997 as Deputy Bureau Chief, she argued and won two Employment Retirement Income Security Act cases before the United States Supreme Court.

Before joining the Office of the Attorney General, Commissioner Smith worked for various Legal Services Organizations representing unemployment claimants, minimum wage workers, workers in federal job training programs and job seekers.

She is a graduate of Trinity College in Washington, D.C. and New York University School of Law.

Ana L. Oliveira became the President & CEO of The New York Women’s Foundation in February 2006. She has worked in the health and human services field for over 20 years, developing programs for vulnerable populations throughout NYC. She served as the first woman and Latina Executive Director of Gay Men’s Health Crisis for over seven years, overseeing a complete turn-around of the agency. Before working at GMHC, Oliveira directed innovative community-based programs at Samaritan Village, the Osborne Association, Kings County and at Lincoln Hospitals. Oliveira was a member of the New York City HIV Planning Council and was appointed by Mayor Bloomberg to the New York City Commission on AIDS in 2004. Her awards feature: Mutual Welfare League Certificate, (Osborne Association); Liberty Award, (Lambda Legal & Education Defense Fund); Community Service Award (Empire State Pride Agenda); and Rosie Perez Fuerza Award, (Latino Commission on AIDS). She was profiled in Newsweek (2005) as "America’s Best," a series highlighting ordinary individuals using their extraordinary vision on behalf of others. Oliveira was born and raised in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and resides in Manhattan. She has an M.A. in Medical Anthropology from the New School for Social Research and is a Licensed Acupuncturist.

Dan Cantor is the founding Executive Director of the Working Families Party, one of the 3 minor parties with official ballot status in the state. The WFP is a community-labor party dedicated to advancing the interests and values of the middle-class, working-class and poor. Mr. Cantor has been a community, labor, and political organizer for 25 years. He was labor coordinator for Rev. Jesse Jackson’s 1988 Presidential campaign, and has worked across the country to build multi-racial, class-oriented coalitions. He has written numerous articles on American politics, and is co-author, with Juliet Schor, of “Tunnel Vision.”