CCIA GETS NEW LEADERSHIP
For Immediate Release: February 22, 2008
Contacts: KEN SHUTTLEWORTH 609-472-8837 (cell)

CHERRY HILL – The Camden County Improvement Authority has a new chairman and executive director to guide its future as a major force for economic development.

The five-member board elected union leader James Kehoe, of Berlin, chairman while appointing former chairman Fred Weinstein, of Cherry Hill Township, the chief executive officer. In addition, businesswoman Linda Rohrer, of Haddon Township, was seated to fill the vacancy created when Weinstein resigned from the board earlier this year. Joseph Schooley, a prominent electrical contractor based in Cherry Hill, was elected to serve as vice chairman, replacing Kehoe.

“We have a great team in place,” said Freeholder Director Louis Cappelli Jr., who attended the Feb. 22 meeting at the authority’s headquarters on Route 70 in Cherry Hill. Cappelli sponsored the freeholder resolution that placed Ms. Rohrer on the board.

Cappelli serves as the County government’s liaison to the authority, which is charged by the seven-member board of freeholders with responsibility for attracting new business and jobs. “Business expansion, recruitment and retention, and the jobs they bring are top priorities for the freeholders. Our ongoing efforts to stabilize or reduce property taxes are also bolstered when we are successful in these efforts,” Cappelli said.

Like all board members, Kehoe, business manager of Winslow Township-based Plumbers & Pipefitters Local 322 (AFL-CIO), serves as a volunteer and looks forward to working closely with Weinstein in their new roles. Weinstein is the third full-time executive director since the authority became the county’s economic development arm in 1992. His yearly salary will be $127,500.

Weinstein replaces Jeffrey Swartz, who left the authority last year to become executive director of the Camden County Workforce Investment Board (WIB), also based in Cherry Hill.

“Fred is the ideal choice for this position,” said Kehoe. “He has been on the board since 1994. Thus, he not only understands and believes in its mission, but he has a firm grasp of what needs to be accomplished in order to achieve our goals. During Fred’s tenure on the board, the authority financed $1.2 billion in projects, creating thousands of construction and permanent jobs throughout the county.

Weinstein thanked Kehoe and the board for their faith in his ability to lead the agency. “I look forward to working closely with Freeholder Director Cappelli and the other freeholders in their efforts to expand business growth in Camden County,” said Weinstein.

Kehoe, vice chairman of the CCIA since 2002, joined Local 322 as an apprentice in 1979 after earning a bachelor’s degree in business administration at Rutgers University in Camden. He has risen through the ranks to become the local’s business manager. He oversees all aspects of union operations, including the supply of skilled mechanics to area contractors as well as training apprentices and journeypersons. His responsibilities also include serving as chairman of the pension health and welfare and annuity funds that support members and their families.

Kehoe is a frequent speaker at national labor conferences, focusing on the importance of economic development and the role highly skilled union craftspeople play in the timely and safe completion of building projects. He is also active in Urban Promise, Catholic Charities and Camden County United Way, among many other civic duties.

Ms. Rohrer operates the Rohrer & Sayers Real Estate in Haddon Township is also active in many civic activities. She received a bachelor’s degree from Upsala College in East Orange in 1969, four years after graduating from Haddon Township High School. Schooley has operated his electrical contracting business since 1973 while also participating in many civic activities – including service as a board member of Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Camden.

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