Spotlight on… Madeline Ferraro
September 2024
Vice President, Government & Public Affairs
Atlantic Health System
Your office is in Morristown, New Jersey, but your home is in San Diego, California. Is this just another example of today’s hybrid work world?
In a way, it is, but not completely. I am from New Jersey and have worked at Atlantic Health’s headquarters for much of my career. I’m from East Brunswick, New Jersey, but I earned my undergraduate degree from the University of California at San Diego. I loved San Diego, where the weather is so different from New Jersey. I decided at some point that I would retire to San Diego. I have two children who were living in Southern California — and paying Southern California rents — so in 2018, I bought a house there. They are on their own now, of course, and I go back and forth between California and New Jersey. I was in San Diego, in fact, when the 2020 COVID lockdown took effect. I called my boss, and he said I should work from San Diego. Which I did.
What changes have you noticed post-COVID in your work?
The work is harder if you are accustomed to being able to just walk into a colleague’s office to have a face-to-face conversation. It’s harder, too, if you are used to large events, and large fundraiser type situations, where you see lots of people you do business with all in one place and get a lot done. In those situations, you could also find that one person you wanted to talk with and have a frank conversation. That is more difficult today.
What else has changed over the course of your career?
The divisiveness of our politics today and the gridlock this has created has made the work more difficult. We have less of that on the state level in New Jersey as our state is a 100% blue, with Democrats controlling both houses of the legislature and the Governor’s office. And since a great deal of legislation and regulation affecting health care is done at the state level, this isn’t as big a problem for us as it is when we have work to do at the federal level.
How about AI? How is that changing your work?
So far, not a great deal, because we develop our own policies independently and — I’m grateful for this — I do all my own writing!
You’re a graduate of the Council’s Public Affairs Institute. How was that experience?
It was great. I loved it and I recommend it highly. The speakers — the faculty — that Doug Pinkham has recruited is impressive, and you get to really interact with them. But that’s only part of the value. Institute is a three-year commitment, of course, and during that period, meeting annually, you really get to know the other classmates. A group of us would still get together for several years afterward. It is great to have colleagues in other organizations who become your friends, personally as well as professionally. Additionally, the time spent at Institute also offers such a breath of fresh air, allowing you to step back from the day-to-day grind and look at the world from a higher level, you might say. You use your brain in a different way. It combats burn out and keeps you fresh.
You’ve had an impressive career. Early on you were the “appointments counsel” for New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman. What did that involve?
That does go back a few years, and no, I did not sit in a reception area outside her office, scheduling appointments for her and telling people, “OK, the governor will see you now.” No. There are hundreds of advisory boards of one kind or another in state government, and my job was to make recommendations for members of those boards. I made some 1,500 recommendations to those boards and filled about 1,500 slots. Whitman, by the way, is still the only female governor in New Jersey’s history.
Doug Pinkham is retiring as the Council’s president. Any thoughts on that?
Doug’s retirement will be a big loss and will represent a big change. But the future should be good because he has positioned the Council so well for whatever it holds.
Reach Madeline at [email protected].
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The divisiveness of our politics today and the gridlock this has created has made the work more difficult.
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