The County College of Morris (CCM) Board of Trustees held its annual reorganization meeting on November 19 and elected its officers.

Elected as chair was Thomas A. Pepe, of Morristown. Jeffrey M. Advokat, Esq., of Denville, was elected as vice chair; Paul R. Licitra, of Flanders, as treasurer, and Dr. Barbara Lorfink Hadzima, of Morris Township, as secretary.

Photo of while male against dark red backgroundBefore retiring, Pepe served as chief financial officer for Communications Strategies, Inc., a family-owned public relations and marketing agency. He also is a member of the CCM Foundation Board of Directors and a Council member of the New Jersey Council of County Colleges. Included among his other community involvement, he is a former president of the Patriot’s Path Council, Boy Scouts of America, and serves as chair and trustee of NORWESCAP, the community action program of Northwest New Jersey. He earned his bachelor’s degree in math from Manhattan College and MBA in finance from Adelphi University.

photo of white male against dark red backgroundAdvokat is a senior partner of Advokat & Rosenberg Esqs. in Morristown and a former Morris County assistant prosecutor. He has served on the Executive Board of the Pingry School PSPA in Short Hills and has experience in the classroom having taught business law at Caldwell College. He earned his J.D. from Hofstra University, his master’s fellowship in government from the Eagleton Institute at Rutgers University and his bachelor’s degree from Rutgers.

Licitra currently serves as office administrator for Senator Steven Oroho, Assemblyman Parker Space and Assemblyman Hal Wirths and as the Sergeant of Arms for the New Jersey Senate. He also possesses extensive experience in insurance spanning more than 45 years and covering all aspects of risk management for large domestic and international clients. In the public sector, he served as mayor of Mount Olive from 2000-04, after serving eight years on the Township Council. He earned his bachelor’s degree from St. John’s University, where he also taught as an adjunct professor in the Tobin College of Business.

Hadzima is a retired middle school administrator and college adjunct. She has participated in the Chinese Bridge Delegation (Hanban/Confucius Institute Headquarters) to Chinese Universities, which focuses on school visits, cultural activities and educational workshops. She contributed to the New Jersey ALPHA Peace/Reconciliation Program in China, Hong Kong and South Korea. Along with participating in state sponsored programs to bring light to European concentration camps and Yad Vashem in Israel, Hadzima assisted with the development of the New Jersey State Curriculum Guide to teach Holocaust/Genocide. She earned her doctorate in educational leadership from Seton Hall University, her master’s degree from Kean University and her undergraduate degree from the College of St. Elizabeth.

Continuing their service on the board are Dr. Angelica L. Allen-McMillan, Maria Aprile, George E. Dredden III, Jack N. Frost Jr., Esq., George J. Milonas, Dr. Joseph S. Weisberg and Alumni Trustee Natalie Otero Lopez, who graduated from CCM in 2019 with an Associate in Humanities/Social Science.

Allen-McMillan is the executive county superintendent. She earned her Ed.D. from Seton Hall University and her bachelor’s in industrial and labor relations from Cornell University.

Aprile, of Randolph Township, is a retired Certified Public Accountant Partner from one of the largest national accounting firms, CohnReznick LLP, and certified Fraud Examiner. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from St. John’s University and her MBA through the University of Phoenix.

Dredden, of Parsippany, is the chief of staff to Assemblywoman BettyLou DeCroce. He earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from Johns Hopkins University, and is currently attending Drew University’s Theological School for a Master of Divinity degree.

Frost, of Morris Township, is an attorney with Drinker, Biddle & Reath, LLP. He earned his J.D. from Seton Hall University and his master’s and bachelor’s degrees in philosophy and international relations from the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, U.K.

Milonas, a lifelong resident of Morris County, is a corporate sector professional specializing in the oversight of regulatory compliance programs. He received his Master of Administrative Science degree from Fairleigh Dickinson University, his Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Centenary University and his Associate in Science in Criminal Justice from CCM.

Weisberg, of Parsippany, is professor emeritus of geoscience at New Jersey City University. He earned his Ed.D. from Columbia University, his M.A. in science education from Montclair State University and his B.A. in science education from Jersey City State College, now New Jersey City University. He is a recipient of the Ronald D. Winthers Trustee Leadership Award from the New Jersey Council of County Colleges for his many years of service to CCM and New Jersey’s higher education community.