Christopher J. Daggett

Consultant
Morristown, N.J.

Biography

Chris Daggett was the CEO of Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation before his retirement in 2018. Daggett has been a respected leader in New Jersey’s nonprofit world for nearly 20 years, serving on a number of boards, including the Schumann Fund for New Jersey, Regional Plan Association and The Trust for Public Land. As the independent candidate for governor in 2009, he was the first independent candidate to raise the threshold amount of money to qualify for public matching funds and to participate in public debates with the major party candidates. He was also endorsed by The Star-Ledger, the state’s leading newspaper. Previously, Daggett served as deputy chief of staff to the governor of New Jersey (1982-83), regional administrator of the U.S. EPA (1984-88) and commissioner of the NJDEP (1988-89). In addition, for six years he was a managing director of William E. Simon & Sons, a private investment firm and, since 1996, has operated a brownfields development company, acquiring, remediating and redeveloping environmentally impaired real estate. Just prior to coming to the Dodge Foundation, he was a principal with JM Sorge, Inc., an environmental consulting and management firm providing assessment, investigation and remediation services to the public and private sectors. Daggett holds an undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a doctorate in education from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He lives in Basking Ridge with his wife Bea. They have two grown children, Alexandra and Justine.