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Kathleen A. Donovan is in her fifth term as Bergen County Clerk following her re-election in 2008. As County Clerk she is responsible the processing of passport applications, keeping all land records for the county and other miscellaneous record keeping and filings, as well as part of the election process. In the 300 year history of Bergen County, Donovan is the first, and only, woman to serve as a Constitutional officer.
As County Clerk, Donovan handles many election matters that come before the court, deals with Title 19 on a daily basis and is a lecturer for ICLE on election matters. Donovan has also been appointed as the hearing officer to conduct election hearings under the auspices of Bergen County Superior Court.
From 1986 to 1988, she represented the people of Southern Bergen and Passaic Counties as a member of the New Jersey General Assembly from the 36th Legislative District. During her term in the Legislature, she served as Vice-Chair of the State Regulatory Efficiency Committee and as a member of the Environmental Quality Committee. The Regulatory Efficiency Committee reviewed the fiscal impact of proposed legislation and looked for and cut red tape in state government.
From June, 1989 to February, 1990, Donovan was the first woman to chair the State GOP. In 1991, she was the Republican Chair of the New Jersey Legislative Reappointment Commission which drew the new legislative district lines after the 1990 census.
In 1993, then Governor-elect Whitman asked Donovan to serve as a member of her Transition Team.
On February 16, 1994, Donovan was appointed by Governor Christine Todd Whitman to be a Commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and on April 14, 1994, Donovan became the first woman to serve as Chair of the $2.7 billion agency. Donovan served as Chair until November 9, 1995 and served as a Commissioner until January, 2002.
An attorney who was in private practice for 15 years, Donovan is a member of the Bergen County Bar Association and Women Lawyers in Bergen County. From 1983 to 1988, she served as part-time public defender for her home town of Lyndhurst. She also was a part-time staff attorney with the Bergen County Office on Aging from 1981 to 1984.
Donovan has been a Girl Scout Leader and President of the Board of Directors of the Girl Scout Council of Bergen County and also has served on the boards of the Meadowlands YMCA and Shelter our Sisters, a shelter for battered women. Donovan has also been honored for her work over the years for and with children and Battered Wives, as well as her volunteer service to the community.
A resident of Rutherford, Donovan earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, cum laude, from Rutgers University, Newark, NJ and received her Juris Doctor from Cleveland State University's John Marshall College of Law in Ohio.
She is the proud mother of a eighteen year old son, Brendan.
