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MEET OUR BOARD MEMBERS: Fred Abbate

Fred Abbate, one of our newest board members, is an accomplished educator, executive, author – and philosopher.

“I’m really excited about joining the board,” says the Moorestown, NJ resident. “The mission of Volunteers of America Delaware Valley is one I support fully.”

Abbate holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from Columbia University. Now semi-retired, he teaches part time at Drexel University and continues to write and consult.

“I worked at Atlantic Electric for 16 years and was CEO of the NJ Utilities Association for 10 years,” he says. “People are often amazed that a philosopher could work for a utility company. I did a variety of new projects for them, everything from communications to lobbying in Washington and Trenton, writing speeches, running their speakers bureau. I was their resident egghead for a lot of years.”

A father of three and grandfather of six, Abbate hopes his professional background “will be useful” to the board of Volunteers of America Delaware Valley – an organization he came to know via our President and CEO Daniel L. Lombardo. They met through Leadership NJ, which Abbate was running at the time.

“I knew Volunteers of America did important work, but I was frankly stunned by the range of programs. I had no idea it was that wide, and so complex,” he says.

“That’s one of the great strengths of the organization. I think it has a remarkable story, an incredible story,”Abbate continues. “I took a tour of some of the facilities in Camden, and I was impressed by how professionally they are being run, and how humanely they are being run, and how terrifically committed the staff is.”

As a board member, “I am a big believer in putting our issues in the face of the legislature,” says Abbate, who also has experience as a past state board chairman of the March of Dimes.

“We need visibility and a heavy duty kind of communications to the whole world about our mission,” he declares. “We need to make sure people understand the value of what we do for the community.”