Biographies

Listed Alphabetically by Last Name

 

Carol Carter - Corresponding Secretary

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A lifelong Democrat and New Jersey native, I moved to Princeton with my husband in 2024,
having spent the prior decade living in Yardley, Pa. From 2020 to 2024, I served on the
Executive Board of the Lower Makefield-Yardley Democratic Committee and was also elected
as a local Committeeperson.

I have a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Missouri and started my career as
a newspaper reporter and editor. I worked in publicity and marketing communications for Merrill
Lynch and retired in 2020 as the Head of Global Creative Services for BlackRock.

Since retiring, I have used my design and communications skills to help Democrats grow our
party membership and win elections. I am a current volunteer, and former board member, with
the Advocates for Homeless & Those in Need (AHTN) in Bucks County, Pa., and a volunteer
with HomeFront here in New Jersey.

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Liz Cohen – Advocacy Committee Chair

 

I have enjoyed participating in both campaign work and addressing important issues that impact
our community. I support this unique joint focus of the PCDO and want to continue to help build
community through these advocacy efforts on issues that are especially crucial in our current
political climate. Our Advocacy Committee puts out regular action alerts on state and national
issues, so that we can raise our voices for justice together.

As past chair of the PCDO Programming Committee, I worked with a dedicated team to educate
PCDO members on a range of issues and guide us toward action. I was a past nominating
committee chair, have helped run phone banks and canvassing over many elections, and have
continued to participate actively in these efforts with each election. I am a retired hospice social
worker and serve on the Democratic Municipal Committee where I relish working to get out the
vote in my district. I am on the leadership team for RAC-NJ, a state level advocacy group for the
Jewish Reform movement and serve on its national Commission for Social Action. I am the
mother of three voting young adults, (and grandmother of soon to be 5 voting helpers) and enjoy
sharing Democratic activities and values with my husband, Dave.

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Jeanne Jackson DeVoe - Elections Committee Co-Chair

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Jeanne Jackson DeVoe has been a Princeton resident for 30 years. She has canvassed for
Democratic candidates since she was a teenager and enjoyed canvassing for Mikie Sherrill in
2025. Jeanne was previously vice-president of the PCDO and co-chair of the elections
committee. She is a freelance writer who will be teaching a communications class at Rutgers
University starting in the spring. Jeanne worked as a communications specialist for the Princeton
Plasma Physics Laboratory/Princeton University for 12 years until 2025. She volunteers with
Interfaith-RISE and serves on the board of Not in Our Town Princeton, a racial justice group, and

previously served on the board of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Princeton. She lives
in Princeton with her husband Syth, a substitute teacher at Riverside School, and her son
William, and his girlfriend Paloma and their two dogs.

 

Nick DiDomizio - Treasurer

 

I am excited to continue as Treasurer for the PCDO. My involvement with the organization spans
several leadership roles, including serving two terms as President (2023, 2024), two years as
Treasurer (2022, 2025), and another as Assistant Treasurer (2021). As Treasurer, my focus is on
ensuring we deliver maximum value to our members and volunteers by creating a sense of
community, service and engagement among Democratic voters. There is a vital role
organizations like PCDO must play in boosting turnout for races in New Jersey and beyond.

Voter outreach has always been my passion, particularly through direct engagement like door-
knocking for Democratic candidates. Outside of my political work, I hold a Bachelor’s Degree in

Chemical Engineering from the University of Delaware (2013) and spent over a decade as a
Project Manager in Pharmaceutical Manufacturing and Drug Discovery Research and
Development.

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Jean Y. Durbin - Programming Committee Chair

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Jean Durbin is a long-time member of the PCDO and is a former president and vice president of
the organization. Under her leadership, the PCDO conducted its first ever virtual endorsement
meeting and its first ever endorsement meeting to use ranked choice voting. The organization
also made the decision to eliminate dues during her last year as president. She has served on
every committee with significant contributions to programming, elections, and bylaws. Jean is an
attorney and past elected member of the Princeton Public Schools Board of Education. She
currently works at Princeton University as Associate Director of Procurement in Facilities. Jean
organized programming for 2025 and looks forward to collaborating with fellow members on
programming for the coming year.

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Jennifer Fearon – Recording Secretary

 

I have been a life-long Democrat as well as door-knocker, leafleter, and phone banker. I have
been a Princeton resident since 2022 but have called Mercer County home throughout my life. I
am honored to be part of the PCDO community and to support the important work of the
Executive Board to advance democratic values, elect active progressive leaders from local to
federal offices, elevate diverse voices, and inform and mobilize our community. In my
professional life, I have advanced public health from the local to global levels. I am especially
passionate about expanding reproductive health and women’s rights, ensuring equitable access to
quality care, and building just and effective institutions. Since 2018, I have served in the NJ state
government, including the past 3.5 years as the Governor’s Senior Policy Advisor for health and
human services matters. I hold an MPH from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public

Health, an AB from Barnard College, and a CPH from the National Board of Public Health
Examiners.

 

Rachel D. Grainger

 

I am a seasoned leader with legal, business, policy and political experience.

My political experience has spanned 3 decades. Most recently, and since 2023, I have served as
Elections Chair or Co-Chair of the PCDO.

Professionally, working across start-up, non-profit and corporate settings, I have earned a
reputation as a strategic thinker, an effective planner and a creative problem solver. I have most
recently been deploying these skills to help area non-profits with strategic alignment, goal
setting, and planning. Prior to this work, as a lawyer, I represented start-up, early stage and
established technology companies and then went in-house with an early-stage technology
company where I served as both a senior lawyer and a member of the Operating Management
Committee. I have also served as a non-profit executive helping to grow an early-stage policy
and research business line including through the development of business strategy, resource
planning and team leadership.

I received my JD from Stanford Law School and a BA in Government and Politics from the
University of Maryland.

I live in Princeton with my husband and two children.

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Mary Anne Greenberg - Membership Committee Chair

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My family has enjoyed living in Princeton for over 25 years. In that time, I launched, led, and
sold two successful companies serving the life science industry. In 2017, I became active in
PCDO as VP and supported several initiatives. I was unable to participate once I launched my
second company in 2019. I’m delighted now to be retired and heading up membership for
PCDO. I’m hoping to continue in 2026. I view the role of both attracting new members and
helping to create a community of people who value a democratic society. Membership underpins
the various committees to help support electing Democratic candidates at a time when it’s more
important than ever. My husband Don is retired and an executive board member of Surfrider’s
Jersey Shore Chapter. Our daughter Lauren was fortunate to attend Princeton schools and is now
successful, married and living in New Jersey.

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Dosier Hammond – 2nd VP

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I have been actively involved in PCDO for 14 years and have worked actively to elect Democrats
in the primaries in the general elections for 21 years. I have served on the Executive Board these

past 6 years. I was on the Flip NJ Blue PCDO Committee in 2018 that developed a coalition of
10 local progressive groups to help flip 4 of 5 Republican House districts to Democrat, and I
worked in 2020 on state and national elections in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. I was a panelist
on the local issues committee Affordable Housing presentations. And I served as Chair of the
town's Transit Advisory Committee, and Affordable Housing Board. In the last several years, I
have worked to expand the advocacy of the PCDO on important local, state, and national issues.
I also worked on the 2024 and 2025 PCDO election activities on post-carding, tabling, and
canvassing. I want to grow the PCDO, and make it even more effective in local, state, and
national issues, and help it serve the needs of all Princetonians and Americans. This includes
good jobs, a $20 per hour minimum wage, good benefits, healthcare, affordable housing, ending
mass incarceration, and expanded civil and voting rights. I want to continue to work on the issues
above as well as quality of life and expanding economic and ethnic diversity in Princeton.

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Sofie Hiltner – Archives Committee Chair

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Sofie grew up in Princeton. She is now a PhD candidate in the Department of Sociology at
University of Michigan and is conducting her research in NJ. Her work lies at the intersection of
health and medicine, inequality and poverty, and public policy. Prior to Michigan, Sofie worked
at the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund and lived in New York City and Buenos Aires,
Argentina. She completed her B.A. at Princeton University and her Master of Social Work at
University of Michigan and is a Licensed Social Worker in NJ. She enjoys canvassing and is
passionate about building community, civic engagement, and increasing voter turnout in
Princeton and NJ.

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Nate Howard

 

Nathaniel (Nate) Howard grew up in Princeton, New Jersey, and graduated from Princeton
University’s School of Public and International Affairs in 2025 and from Princeton High School
in 2021. Over the past few months, Nate was a field organizer in Mercer County with the
coordinated Democratic campaign. In college, Nate was involved in the successful fossil fuel
divestment campaign and spent a year running the College Democrats club on campus. Nate also
led the College Democrats of New Jersey (CDNJ) in 2024, which mobilized students in the 2024
election, built community for young organizers, and uplifted young voices in the Democratic
Party.

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Akash Jim

 

I am a senior studying mathematics at Princeton University, and I graduated from Princeton High
School in 2022. I am involved with the Princeton College Democrats and the College Democrats
of New Jersey. I am particularly interested in state and local issues and enjoy working with the

Advocacy Committee to advance the PCDO’s values at all levels of government. I also work to
maintain and strengthen the relationship between the PCDO and the College Democrats.

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Arifa Khandwalla - Assistant Treasurer

 

Arifa Khandwalla previously served as the assistant treasurer of the PCDO. She was responsible
for all federal filings for the presidential election of 2024 and is currently serving on the
advocacy committee. She also serves on the CARES commission in Princeton NJ. Her academic
background is in applied math and policy. She is a resident of Princeton for more than 10 years.

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Liz Lempert - Nominating Committee Chair

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I served in local elected office: as Mayor of the consolidated Princeton (2013-2020), Deputy
Mayor of Princeton Township (2012) and Township Committeeperson (2009-2012). During that
time, I was an ex-officio member of the PCDO Executive Board. I still vividly (and fondly)
remember my first PCDO meeting, in December 2007, when I was helping organize the local
effort for Barack Obama and the PCDO held an open mike and Presidential straw poll. The spirit
of camaraderie, the welcome extended to newcomers like myself, and the infectious Democratic
energy hooked me! As Chair of the Nominating Committee I would work to ensure that any
interested PCDO member feels encouraged to step into a leadership role, and I would make
myself readily available to answer questions about what the commitment entails. My current day
job involves helping faculty at Princeton University secure funding for their research. I also
serve on several non-profit boards: the Princeton Garden Theater, Friends of Princeton Open
Space, and Housing Initiatives of Princeton.

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Keena Lipsitz

 

Keena Lipsitz is a Professor of Political Science at Queens College and The Graduate Center in
the City University of New York. Her research focuses on American campaigns and
elections. She has lived in Princeton with her husband and two kids for the last 14 years.

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Lance Liverman

 

Lance Liverman was born and raised in Princeton, N.J. Lance attended the Princeton
Public Schools and later attended and graduated from Fairleigh Dickinson University
and The College of New Jersey (Trenton State College). Lance married
LaTonya Kilpatrick-Liverman in June of 1993. They met while LaTonya was a graduate
student at Princeton University. Lance and LaTonya have three beautiful daughters
(Kelsey, Ashlyn and Savanna). Lance has always given back to the Princeton Community.
“ I am so fortunate to live in Princeton and to be around so many goodhearted people, that
giving my time to help others is a real joy“ said Lance. Lance has served on the Princeton

Township Committee and Princeton Council for 15 years and retired in December of 2018.
Lance is currently the Chairman of the Trustee Board for First Baptist Church of Princeton,
Chairman of the Real Estate Committee for the First Baptist Church of Princeton, and Treasurer
of Mercer Council on Alcoholism and Drug Addiction.

Lance serves as President on the Center for Modern Aging of Princeton Board of Trustees.

Lance has served in the past on the Corner House Board, Princeton Community Housing,
Princeton Human Services, Princeton Recreation, Witherspoon Jackson Development Corp.,
Princeton Planning Board, Princeton Affordable Housing, and Experience Princeton Boards.
Lance continues to look for rewarding volunteer work that will have an everlasting impact on the
community. Lance is currently Owner/President of Liverman Associates (real estate
management company that began in 1993).

 

Ian Mann

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Ian is currently a sophomore at Princeton University and plans on majoring in math. While he
grew up in Chicago, Ian and his family have been traveling to the Jersey Shore for many years.
Now that he’s finally up north, Ian has gotten involved with the Princeton College Democrats
and the College Democrats of New Jersey. He served as the treasurer of both organizations for
the past year. Ian also represents District 7 on the Princeton Democratic Municipal Committee.
Outside of Democratic politics, Ian also has spent the past year as one of the Head Fellows for
Vote100, Princeton University’s voter turnout and engagement arm.

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Jane Manners – 1st VP

 

I’m a legal historian and a professor at Fordham Law School. I moved to Princeton with my
family over a decade ago so that I could get my PhD in American history at Princeton
University. My husband is an emergency medicine doctor and we have three children. I’ve been
involved in progressive policy work and Democratic politics in some capacity at many points in
my career. I’ve been a member of the PCDO’s Executive Board for several years and am looking
forward to continuing our important work.

 

Amy J. Mayer

Amy Mayer practices real estate law at New York State’s economic development authority. She
also serves as Secretary of the Board of Trustees of One Community, a non-profit serving
residents of Fort Greene and Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. Her volunteer work has previously included
serving on the boards of Trenton Circus Squad, Princeton School Garden Cooperative, and the
Pratt Area Community Council (now IMPACCT Brooklyn). She has been a member of the
Princeton Municipal Democratic Committee (District 16) since 2019 and previously served on
the PCDO Executive Board in 2017 and since 2022.

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Ari Meisel – Website/Publicity Chair

 

As the Vice President of the Princeton First Aid and Rescue Squad and current Princeton Public
School Board of Education Member, I have dedicated a significant part of my life to serving our
community in Princeton. I am passionate about productivity and efficiency, both in my
professional life as an author and expert in the field, and in my volunteer work. My focus has
always been on making things better and more effective, whether that's through my writing or in
the practical, hands-on work I do as an EMT and non-profit board member. I'm excited to bring
this same passion and skill set to the PCDO, particularly in enhancing our online presence. I
believe that by improving our website and social media platforms, we can engage more
effectively with the community, share important information, and foster a stronger, more
connected Princeton.

 

Eve Niedergang

 

I've been involved with Democratic politics since my college days and with PCDO since 2009.
I've served on the Executive Board previously and am eager to stay involved after completing
two terms on Council. I moved to Princeton in 1985 to start graduate school and somehow I'm
still here 40 years later! I first got involved in the community through the schools, serving as
PTO co-president at Riverside and then I ran the book sale at the Princeton Public Library for
about 10 years. I'm a historian by training but have worked in educational testing at ETS and
then as a consultant and, since 2016, at The Watershed Institute, where I am the volunteer
coordinator. 2026 is going to be an important year in NJ and the nation, and I'm looking forward
to being involved on the EB and making a difference. I particularly want to be involved in
campaign work and in expanding our membership to include new residents of the community
and to recruit the next generation of PCDO members.

 

Jeffrey Oakman – President

 

As a resident of Princeton since 2013 and lifelong Democrat, I would be honored to serve a
second year as PCDO President. Since joining the PCDO Exec Board in 2017, I have chaired the
Programming, Local Issues, and Nominating Committees, and served for a time as Vice
President, during which I coordinated the Blue Wave effort in 2018 alongside my colleagues and
our progressive sister organizations. After the successful elections in 2025 and some incredible
GOTV work by PCDO and our many dedicated volunteers, it feels like another wave is building,
and we have to keep the momentum going. We will be doubling down on the playbook that
works -- engaging people where they are on our shared values, organizing to support Democrats
up and down the ticket, and growing our local participation to keep our legislative district blue
and build on our strong local Democratic leadership.

After a 2-year stint in the Clinton White House, I received my master’s degree in public affairs
and urban planning at Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs in 2003. Since then,
I have built a career in economic development and affordable housing, working inside and
outside government to serve the needs of low-income communities. I served 5 years as a Senior
Policy Advisor to Governor Murphy, and have spent the last year and a half working on standing
up the New Jersey AI Hub, a partnership between Princeton Univeristy, the State of NJ,
Microsoft, and CoreWeave. My wife Tara and I are proud parents of 14-year-old twins who are
in their freshman year in high school.

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Owen O’Donnell - Bylaws Committee Chair

 

Owen O’Donnell is senior director at Information Today, Inc., a publishing and conference firm,
where he is responsible for the collection and management of database information used in
numerous online reference sites and publications.

He has been active in the Princeton community since moving here with his family in 2004.
Among the roles he has held are president (for two years) and treasurer (for three years) of the
Princeton Community Democratic Organization, chair of the Princeton Democratic Municipal
Committee, treasurer of Send Hunger Packing Princeton (SHUPP), and he is a member of the
Princeton Planning Board.

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Amanda Rose - Logistics Committee Chair​

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Amanda is an organizational, educational, and leadership consultant and executive coach. She is
a founding member of Wynford Institute, LLC and has consulted with universities, corporations,
and nonprofit organizations in areas including leadership development, executive coaching, and
training design. Amanda serves on the coaching staff of the Wharton School’s Executive
Coaching Program. A Princeton High graduate and resident of Princeton since 1999, Amanda
has been active in Democratic organizing in Princeton and was an enthusiastic canvasser in the
2025 New Jersey gubernatorial race. She holds degrees in Organizational Psychology from
Columbia University (M.A.) and Rutgers University (PsyD.), and a B.A. in English from Cornell
University.

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Bland Whitley - Elections Committee Co-Chair

 

I am a historian and for the past 16 years have been an editor for the Papers of Thomas Jefferson,
a scholarly edition based at Princeton University. Since moving to Princeton, I have volunteered
in numerous campaigns for Democrats. I have also helped coach little league baseball and
softball teams, served on the Princeton Middle School PTO, and assisted my charming and
beautiful wife Sarah Torian in her work as a board member of Housing Initiatives of Princeton.
From 2019 to 2022, I served on the town's parking task force. My father covered state politics for
daily newspapers in Richmond, Virginia, where I grew up, so I've been engaged with political
issues most of my life. These remain dire political times nationally, but we proved this past year
that Princeton and New Jersey can and will stand up for (small-d) democratic principles. I am
happy to help the PCDO sustain an inclusive politics and the broader goals of liberalism.​​​​