I encourage my fellow residents to join me in voting for Ana Duarte McCarthy and Lily Wong for Bernards Township Committee. Both women are intelligent compassionate leaders who have what I value most in a political candidate, the desire to serve and hear their community.

I have known Ana for several years as a colleague and friend. She is a long-time resident of our town with a proven commitment to service. For the past 8 years, she has served on the Board of Directors of the Greater Somerset County YMCA.  She has served on the Township Golf Advisory Committee and was a member of the Diversity & Inclusion Committee. While her daughter attended our public schools, Ana volunteered  as a parent advisor to the WAMs Middle School Ski Club and was co-chair of the RHS Balloons in June Fundraiser and the Teacher Appreciation Luncheon. I have more recently come to know Lily, as she moved to Bernards Township three years ago. In that time, she has already stepped up to serve our community as a valued member of the Municipal Alliance.

Ana and Lily have a wealth of experience and business acumen that will also serve to benefit our town. Ana is an alumnus of Lafayette College and Columbia University. She enjoyed a distinguished career at Citibank as a senior executive for more than twenty years.   Thereafter, she joined the Forte Foundation as Director of Corporate Partners, responsible for new business development. Currently, she is the principal of a business consulting firm based here in town.  Lily is an alumnus of the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard Business School.  Previously, she was an auditor with PricewaterhouseCoopers and then joined Pfizer where she assumed various roles in corporate finance, strategic planning, and business development. Presently, she is the owner and co-founder of a STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) summer camp for kids.  

Ana and Lily will bring a breath of fresh air to local government to innovate new ways to raise revenues, not taxes; to ensure our town is safe by attending to pedestrian safety; review and improve EMS services; review existing land use to avoid overdevelopment; support the revitalization of the local business economy; increase opportunities for community-wide engagement; create a committee or other vehicle to tend to the needs and concerns of our older residents; and to increase transparency and encourage public discourse by reinstating the second public comment at Township Committee meetings and establishing weekly office hours and virtual “Ask Me Anything” forums.

It’s time to open the doors of Townhall once more to fully represent the diverse residents of our community.  Vote for McCarthy and Wong!

Joan Bannan