Executive Team
President
Deana Luchs
This year, 2024, marks Deana’s fourth year as the JFK Club President. Prior to 2020, she served the organization as the corresponding secretary. A lifelong Democrat, Deana grew up in Passaic, NJ. Her late father established and organized the Passaic County Clerk’s union. Politics runs in her blood. She learned to cherish Democratic values such as caring for those who have less, helping those in need, and believing in the greater good. She was the president of her local education association and was active in the Morris County Council of Education Associations and the New Jersey Education Association for many years. Then in retirement, she was the president of her condominium association and a member of the Community Associations Institute of NJ Board of Directors.
Prior to retiring, she was a speech-language pathologist across the private and public sectors. She is married to Bob, also a JFK Club member. Together they raised three children and have five grandchildren and an adorable dog named Kofi.
In Franklin Township, Deana has served on the Open Space Advisory Committee and in Somerset County, on the Advisory Council on Disability Issues. She still volunteers her time on committees in the Canal Walk community, where she lives. Volunteerism and service are important to her and her involvement in the JFK Club is one of the most rewarding decisions she has made. She is honored and proud to serve as your president.
1st Vice President
Arnold W. Schmidt
Arnie has a BS in environmental science and was a New Jersey Licensed Registered Environmental Health Specialist. In 2018, after 30 years, he retired from his Union County position where he coordinated and supervised the County’s Environmental Compliance and Enforcement programs enforcing NJ environmental regulations. In 1983 he moved to Franklin from NY.
Due to an issue in his neighborhood in 2000 Arnie got involved, for the first time in his life, in a political issue that also happened to be an environmental and public safety concern. Arnie was soon thereafter appointed, by the Township Council, to the Environmental Commission and subsequently to the Open Space Advisory Committee (Vice Chair 2020-present), Shade Tree Commission and most recently the Sewerage Authority Board of Commissioners. In 2006 Arnie was appointed by Governor Corzine to the NJ Noise Control Council (Chair 2014-present). He is also on the Board of Trustees of the NJ League of Conservation Voters. An active member of the Democratic Party, Arnie serves as Chair of the Township Democratic Committee’s 5th Ward and is a member of the Screening Committee.
2nd Vice President
Linda Powell
Linda Powell has resided in Franklin Township since 1989. She learned about and joined the JKF Franklin Democratic Club around 2007, before the 2008 presidential election. Linda is the past First Vice President and currently serves on the Program and Membership Committees and has been involved in voter registration, get out the vote (GOTV) campaigns and participated on the Scholarship and the Nominating Committees. As a Steering Committee Member of the Franklin Township Task Force (on the Northeast Supply Enhancement [NESE] Project, which proposed building a compressor station in Franklin and pipeline under the Raritan Bay) Linda was a liaison to the Township Council and kept JFK Club members informed about and encouraged participation in the fight against this dangerous project.
Linda was honored to be the Franklin Township nominee and recipient of the Eleanor Roosevelt Distinguished Volunteer Service Award from the Somerset County Federation of Democratic Women in 2019 for her environmental work. Linda is a longtime activist. Her involvement as a volunteer at a community health center led to a career in health care as a Renal Dietitian /Nutritionist working with people with kidney disease and on dialysis for the past forty years. Linda serves on the Franklin Township Advisory Board of Health and remains active in community groups involved with social justice and environmental issues.
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3rd Vice President
Bob Hudak
Bob, a NJ native, has resided for 35 years in Franklin Township where his son and daughter attended the public schools. He graduated with a BA from Cook College, Rutgers University.
His professional background is in corporate distribution, logistics and supply chain planning in the chemical and pharmaceutical sector. For many years, he coordinated monthly meetings for 150+ members in the tri-state’s largest traffic club.
Bob’s civic contribution has been as an 11-year member of the township’s Shade Tree Commission. On the community side, he periodically seeks and delivers large and small household donations for previously homeless veterans at the Valley Brook Village, Lyons VA Medical Center in Basking Ridge. Annually, Bob leads the classic car section of two Memorial Day parades and brings his car on Grandparents Day to the Menlo Park Veterans Memorial Home with other car club members.
In support of the Democratic Party, Bob serves as a Committee Person in Ward 2 and, for the JFK Club, the Membership Committee chair. In January 2024, he was elected 3rd vice president of the JFK Club.
Bob believes volunteering on a Township commission is a great way to get involved in civics. Being active in the JFK Democratic Club and Franklin Democratic Party helps get closer to issues of interest and to affect outcomes. Bob says the power of voting hit home when his father, a WWII veteran, told him he had never missed participating in a presidential election.
Recording Secretary
Bernadette Maher
Bernadette has resided in Franklin Township for over 32 years and has raised her family here. Her professional background has been in the NYC non-profit sector at a multi-service community based organization. In addition to membership in the JFK Club, she was also a member of the steering committee of the Franklin Township Task force to Stop NESE (Northeast Supply Enhancement Project) and Compressor Station 206 and several other organizations that espouse her goals of environmental and social justice. Bernadette served as the recording secretary for the JFK Club during 2020 and is pleased to have been elected for another term.
Corresponding Secretary
Jocelyn Thomas
Jocelyn, a Somerset resident for three decades, joined the JFK Club in 2019 after realizing that the best — perhaps, only – way to generate positive change in government and society is to get involved locally. She became active in the Club in fall 2020working to get out the vote and, in early 2021, began serving asa member of the Membership and Digital Media committees. In 2022, she was named assistant corresponding secretary and she chaired the planning of the Club’s picnic.
Jocelyn, who has a degree in journalism, grew up in Montclair, N.J., where she recalls as a teenager watching her mother, as well as neighbors and friends, fight passionately for social justice causes.
After a first job as a reporter for a daily newspaper, she worked for 40+ years in assorted communication roles in various industries – financial, pharmaceutical and, most recently, for a 300-member religious community where she was director of communications and responsible for a newsletter, public relations, and related tasks.
Jocelyn’s volunteer roles have included leadership position’s with the Parkinson’s Unity Walk (NYC) board of directors for roughly 12 years, Quailbrook Townhomes board of directors, and St. Bonaventure University National Alumni Board, as well as participation in St. Matthias Parish’s communications committee and handbell choir. In her spare time, she enjoys playing pickleball and listening to live music.
Assistant Corresponding Secretary
Vanessa Davenport
Vanessa earned her B.A. in economics, M.B.A. in corporate finance, and M.S.-Ed. in school finance from Fordham University (NYC). Originally from New York City, where Vanessa embarked on a career in corporate finance for 20+ years, after obtaining the M.S. in education (her first love), Vanessa switched to a career in school finance working with the CFO of the NYC Public Schools. While she was attending Fordham’s Graduate School of Education, Vanessa and her husband moved to Franklin Township and soon after completing the graduate program, Vanessa obtained a position in the New Jersey State Department of Education, where she remains currently employed.
Vanessa has served on the Board of Directors of her homeowners association since 2011, and has been the HOA’s Board President for the past 7 years. She was also a member of the Board of Directors for the NJ Chapter of the Community Associations Institute (CAI-NJ) from 2018 through 2021, where she served as the Board’s Liaison to CAI-NJ’s Legislative Action Committee.
Vanessa's first involvement with political volunteering was in 2008 when she helped Barack Obama's first presidential campaign (assigned to GOTV efforts in PA.). Most recently, she volunteered with the JFK Franklin Democrats’ GOTV efforts for the 2020 and 2022 elections which led to joining the Somerset County Democratic Committee and the SCDC’s Black Caucus, and serving as a local Democratic committee person. In January 2023, Vanessa was elected to serve on the JFK Club’s Executive Board as Assistant Corresponding Secretary. In her spare time, Vanessa enjoys music festivals and Broadway plays.
Treasurer
Ronald Murph
Ronald resides in Franklin Township, where he has lived for over 33 years and where he raised his family. Professionally, he is an experienced senior tax manager specializing in corporate, state and local indirect taxes. During his career, he has worked as a senior tax manager for Fortune 500 companies, including AT&T and Verizon, and as a director of taxes for The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. He also has served as an active member of the Council on State Taxation, the Tax Institute, and the Financial Executives Network Group.
Ronald earned a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from North Carolina A&T State University and a master’s degree in taxation from Seton Hall University. Currently, he is employed by RGP, a tax consulting firm, as a senior tax consultant.
Ronald joined the JFK Democratic Club in February 2023. At the request of its Executive Committee, he agreed to serve as treasurer upon the resignation of Dalya Youssef from the position.
Assistant Treasurer
Kiki Anastasakos
Kiki, a 20-year-resident of Somerset County, holds a Ph.D.in government & politics from Temple University and has taught in several four- and two-year colleges in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. From 2003 to 2018, she worked as a tenured professor of political science at Northampton Community College in Bethlehem, Pa.
In addition to teaching courses in American National Government, State and Local Politics, Women and Politics, and other topics, Kiki taught study-abroad courses, taking students to countries such as Costa Rica, Russia, Turkey, and Finland. She was also faculty advisor to the student-run Political Science Club that organized voter registration drives, candidates' forums, and other activities to engage students in the political process.
In addition, Kiki was a founding member of the Peace Forum, a faculty-student club which organized an annual Peace and Conflict Resolution Conference in collaboration with local non-profits, community-based organizations, and government agencies. The conference focused on a wide range of issues such as food insecurity, voting rights, war & peace, and many others in the U.S. and abroad.
Kiki has been a life-long activist, volunteer, and organizer on many issues such as women's rights, peace movements, immigration, and climate change. Recently, she has focused on local environmental issues in Franklin Township, specifically in the Canal Walk retirement community where she now lives. She also volunteers as a tutor for the Literacy Volunteers of America.
Born in Greece, Kiki emigrated to the U.S. with her family in 1972 and became a naturalized U S. citizen in 1985. She is a proud mother and grandmother and the happy guardian of her rescue dog Ashby. Kiki was elected assistant treasurer of the JFK Cub in January 2024.
Franklin Township Municipal Chairperson
Ron Jordan
Ron has worked in various roles in the pharmaceutical industry. After settling in Somerset, N.J., Ron became active in Pop Warner Football in Franklin Township and through this participation, he became a member of the Franklin Township Recreational Council where he served as vice chairman. In 2005, working with a small group of dedicated fathers, he founded the Franklin Heat Youth Basketball league which has served hundreds of young men in the Franklin Township area. The League is in its 15th year of operation.
His participation in youth sports opened doors to a political career that began with service as a local committee person and for the last six years, as Democratic chairman in Franklin Township. During his tenure as chair, Franklin – for the first time in history – has an all-Democratic Council as well as mayor. Also, Franklin has been instrumental in helping Somerset County turn blue as all constitutional officers in the county, as of November 2020, are Democrats. Ron, a proud member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc., was recently appointed a commissioner with the Somerset County Department of Parks.
Immediate Past President
Teresa D. Ford
Teresa is the past President of the JFK Democratic Club of Franklin Township. She served as president of the Club from 2017-2019. Teresa is currently a commissioner on the Franklin Township Sewerage Authority. Through her employment as an assistant deputy public defender in Essex County, she serves on the Essex County Model Court Committee as co-chair of the Well-being of Children Subcommittee and as a member of the Equity, Fairness and Justice Subcommittee.