Way to Serve as LG

New Jersey’s Secretary of State, Tahesha Way, will succeed the late Sheila Oliver as Lieutenant Governor, InsiderNJ has learned.

A source familiar with the decision by Governor Phil Murphy says he will make a formal announcement as early as tomorrow.

Ms. Oliver died last month.

Sources for the past month spoke of Way of Passaic County as the most likely successor for the LG position.

Prior to becoming Secretary of State, Secretary Way was an Administrative Law Judge for the State of New Jersey. In 2006, Secretary Way was elected to the Passaic County Board of Chosen Freeholders and served as the Freeholder Director in 2009. She served as special counsel for the Passaic County Board of Social Services overseeing all agency litigation. She also served as a council member for the New Jersey Highlands Water Protection and Planning Council. Secretary Way also previously served on the Board of Directors for the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, a leading national think tank geared towards advancing dialogue and policy for improving women’s lives and their families.

Secretary Way is a graduate of Brown University, where she served as Vice President of the collegiate chapter of the NAACP, President of her Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, taught religious education, and was a radio announcer for WBRU-FM. Ms. Way holds a juris doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law at Charlottesville, where she clerked for the Virginia Legal Aid Society and the United Steelworkers of America.

Secretary Way lives in Passaic County with her husband, former New York Giant and NFL executive Charles Way, and their four daughters. Secretary Way has been a member of the New Jersey State Bar Association, Garden State Bar Association, National Association of Women Judges, Association of Black Women Lawyers, Passaic County Bar Association, and the New Jersey Women’s Lawyers Association.

UPDATE: The Governor’s Schedule, released this evening, describes “a major announcement” set for Friday, Sept. 8th.