Ben Galvez may be a new face to many of his current colleagues at New Community, but this is not his first time working at NCC.
Shortly after graduating from then Kean College (now Kean University), Galvez worked on a project that spanned about six month where he and a team of staff at NCC researched and prepared a youth drug prevention grant.
“My impression (then) was that it was vast,” Galvez said of his introduction to New Community in the early 90s. “It was serving people on a lot of levels, from youth to seniors to children.”
Galvez officially joined New Community as director of Human Resources on September 2.
In his new role, Galvez is quickly getting acquainted with the various departments around the network. He likes the fact that as a department, HR relates to every single person working at NCC.
Human resources “touches every area of the workplace. It’s a broad spectrum of contact with an entire agency,” Galvez said.
Before arriving at NCC, Galvez worked at Covenant House New Jersey, an agency that serves homeless and at-risk youth that’s located on Washington Street in Newark. Prior to Covenant House, he also worked at Winchester Gardens, a continuing care retirement community in Maplewood, Tri-City Peoples Organization and Edison Job Corps Academy. It was at Edison Job Corps where Galvez started as a job placement specialist but then shifted his professional focus on working in administration and eventually human resources.
“We are fortunate to have Ben join the NCC family. His depth of experience working for organizations that serve the public is a great asset to New Community. We are excited to have him in this new role. Welcome, Ben!” said New Community CEO Richard Rohrman.
Born and raised in Elizabeth, Galvez is the youngest of four siblings. In his free time, he enjoys golfing and can be found playing league deck hockey twice a week.
He graduated from Kean with a degree in public administration and criminal justice, initially wanting to work as a federal investigator. However his role at the Elizabeth YMCA as director of youth programs helped shaped a different career path.
The son of Cuban immigrants, Galvez is also bilingual in Spanish. He and his wife, Susan, have two children.
