Faculty/Staff

Kathy Crotty

Crotty became executive director of New Jersey's Senate Democratic Office in 1986 and served there until her retirement in April, 2009, first appointed by Senate President John Russo and later reappointed by Senate Presidents John Lynch and Richard Codey. She was responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of the New Jersey Senate, providing leadership on a wide variety of issues. She was the first and only woman to serve as executive director of one of the legislature's partisan staff offices.

Crotty first joined the Senate staff in 1974 as special assistant to the executive director. Throughout her career, she worked to professionalize the legislature and its staff and expand public access to and understanding of the legislative process. Crotty was also involved in efforts to renovate and restore the State Capitol building and related legislative facilities, chairing the State Capitol Joint Management Commission.

Outside of the legislature, Crotty has been involved in and advised a number of gubernatorial and legislative campaigns and was a delegate to the 1996 Democratic National Convention. Long active in women's political advocacy, she was a founding member of PAM's List, a PAC supporting Democratic women candidates for the state legislature. She serves on the advisory committees for Ready to Run™ and the Senator Wynona Lipman Chair in Women's Political Leadership, both programs of Eagleton's Center for American Women and Politics. Crotty is a graduate of Rutgers University‐Newark College of Arts and Sciences.