|  MARIE S. BILIK
Executive Director
Marie S. Bilik has worked for the New Jersey School Boards Association since 1993. In September 2007, the Association's Board of Directors selected Marie to serve as the Association's eighth executive director. Her term began Nov. 1, 2007.
Her experience in the Association ranges from advocacy to direct services, and her experience prior to working for NJSBA ranges from serving on a school board to serving as a mayor in Sussex County.
Before being selected as NJSBA executive director, Marie served as the Association's director of field services, a unit comprising a fourth of NJSBA's staff. The field service staff specializes in services designed to assist local school boards in their governance of public school districts. Prior to that, she worked as NJSBA's membership advocacy coordinator, as a field service representative and as a county program coordinator.
In addition to managing the Association's field service operations, Marie coordinated efforts by Association leaders to develop NJSBA's long range plan and efforts by staff to devise strategies to accomplish the plan's goals.
"On the horizon are exciting developments, challenges and opportunities," Marie says. "The New Jersey School Boards Association has a talented, hard-working staff. Our membership—the state's local boards of education—consists of people who are sincerely dedicated to the advancement of public education. And the Association's leaders are focused on helping those local school board members fulfill their responsibilities.
"That combination will enable NJSBA to move forward with our goals in the areas of school funding, advocacy and training."
For Marie, critical goals include advocating local school districts' interests as legislators develop a new school finance system, acclimating NJSBA members to the state's new school monitoring system—especially its focus on school board governance and student achievement—and helping board members comply with newly expanded state training requirements.
"Going forward, I envision an organization that rapidly identifies new challenges facing school boards, develops services to help our members confront those challenges, and delivers those services quickly and effectively to a greater number of school districts," she says. "We have always been an exemplary service organization attuned to our members' needs. But growth will require ongoing, two-way communication between local school boards and their Association in a wide range of forums."
A resident of Sussex County, she served as a board of education member from 1981-1988, a council member in Green Township from 1988-1993, and mayor in 1993. She is currently a member of the township planning board and its historical society.
Marie’s husband Paul passed away in April, 2008. Their family includes five children and eight grandchildren
"NJSBA exists to serve school boards, and school boards exist to serve children," Marie says. "It’s a noble calling, and one that I am proud to be a part of."
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