Peter J. McDonough, Jr.

Pete McDonough is a retired public policy, public affairs and professional with nearly 50 years of experience designing, directing and executing successful policy initiatives and advance the interests of clients with government, the media and the public at large. He retired from his position as the Senior Vice President for External Affairs at Rutgers University in August of 2024. In July of 2025, NJ Supreme Court Chief Justice Stuart Rabner appointed Mr. McDonough to the Court’s Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct.  Mr. McDonough is one of the few individuals to have served at the highest staff levels in both the executive and legislative branches of New Jersey state government as well as in the federal government.  He served in the cabinet of NJ Governor Christine Todd Whitman as her Director of Communications and principal strategic advisor. As Director of Communications, Mr. McDonough oversaw all of the administration’s public communications efforts, including media relations, speechwriting, advance logistics, and message and image development. McDonough was the youngest-ever executive director in the New Jersey General Assembly, a position to which he was appointed in 1982 at the age of 28. In this capacity, he led staff research, policy development, and communications efforts for minority party members of the lower house of the legislature during the first term of Governor Thomas H. Kean. This position included implementing legislative strategies in support of the governor’s agenda, directing all research efforts on behalf of the members, advising Assemblymembers on political implications of policy decisions, on office management, and on other matters concerning their conduct as members of the New Jersey General Assembly.  Mr. McDonough’s federal government experience includes twice serving as an associate staff member of the House Appropriations Committee and as chief of staff for Congressman Dean A. Gallo. His federal experience also includes serving as senior advisor to the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and as a consultant to the U.S. State Department.  Mr. McDonough served for 20 years on the faculty of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers Universit,y where he co-taught the institute’s Graduate Fellow course with Joe Doria.  Mr. McDonough has, on behalf of the U.S. State Department, lectured and trained government officials and journalists in Russia, Ukraine, Kosovo, Belarus, Iraq, Palestine, Israel, Botswana, and the Republic of Georgia. He was as a consultant – trainer for the National Endowment for Democracy in Romania and Ukraine. He was an international election observer for the presidential elections in Nigeria in 2003. Opinion pieces written by Mr. McDonough have appeared in The New York Times, Washington Post and major newspapers throughout the U.S. and he has appeared as an analyst for several network television affiliates.