New officers take leadership roles at Stockton’s Hughes Center for Public Policy

Richard Tolson of Ocean City.

GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP – New officers have taken leadership roles on the advisory board of the William J. Hughes Center for Public Policy at Stockton University.

New Jersey labor leader and consultant Richard Tolson of Ocean City was elected chairman of the Hughes Center Steering Committee. Kim Schalek Downe of Millville, CEO and president of Salmon Ventures Limited, was elected vice chair.

An original Steering Committee member, Tolson succeeds Dr. Edward Salmon as the longtime chair of the advisory board. Salmon, co-founder and chair of Salmon Ventures, was a state assemblyman and president of the NJ Board of Public Utilities. He served as Steering Committee chair from the board’s establishment in 2008 through 2022.

Edward H. Salmon

Salmon remains a member of the board and was elected Emeritus Founding Chair.

Tolson served in leadership positions with the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers for 30 years beginning in 1990. He was vice president of the NJ State Building Trades association and a member of the NJ State AFL-CIO Executive Board, both from 2006 to 2020. Tolson also served on the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority.

Schalek Downes cofounded Salmon Ventures as its CEO in 2003 and has served as president since 2016.

Kim Schalek Downes

Previously, she was vice president and executive coordinator of AUS Pathways from 1997 to 2003. AUS is a worldwide market research and consulting company with corporate headquarters in Moorestown.