Kate Gibbs, Deputy Director
Engineers Labor-Employer Cooperative
At the cross sections of economic develop, business and organized labor you will find Kate Gibbs. The Deputy Director for the Engineers Labor-Employer Cooperative, ELEC 825, a collaborative trust focused on creating work opportunities for the members and signatory contractors of Local 825 Operating Engineers, Gibbs leads Business Development for the organization by promoting economic development and advocating for investments in all types of infrastructure.
She has established a strong record of shaping policy, building coalitions and implementing successful strategies and tactics that include political advocacy, government relations, communications and social media in pursuit of organizational goals. With her background in politics, public affairs and organizational management, Gibbs is uniquely suited to help ELEC 825 achieve its core objectives of growing the economy to create jobs for Local 825 members and its union contractors.
In November of 2015, Gibbs was elected to the Burlington County Board of Freeholders; becoming the youngest woman in NJ to be elected to countywide office. During her first two years in office, Gibbs served as Deputy Director before being elected in January of 2018, in a unanimous and bi-partisan vote of her peers to serve as Freeholder Director.
In this role she crafted and passed a tax-cutting budget while investing in a first of its kind $20 million school security grant program, creating a women’s mentoring program, and ensuring that all County facilities, schools and libraries are equipped with dedicated, private space for mothers to nurse or pump.
Prior to joining the Freeholder Board, Gibbs served on the Board of Trustees for Rowan College at Burlington County, where she worked closely with the County’s new Workforce Development Institute and played an active role in establishing the College’s partnership with Rowan University.
Gibbs actively participates on boards and committees for various Chambers of Commerce and business and industry organizations throughout the entire State of New Jersey.
Gibbs earned her Master’s in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business, graduating Summa Cum Laude and a B.A. from The American University, with a Double Major in Public Communications and Political Science.