Gov. Phil Murphy today named three women to cabinet posts, giving him the first cabinet in state history with more women than men.
Former Obama White House aide Zakiya Smith Ellis will be the Secretary of Higher Education, civil rights leader Sue Fulton will head the Motor Vehicle Commission, and Deirdre Webster Cobb, a state government veteran, will chair the Civil Service Commission.
Murphy’s 21-member cabinet – eleven women and ten men – is also smaller than the cabinet of his predecessor, Chris Christie. The CEO of the Economic Development Authority (now Tim Sullivan), the state’s Chief Technology Officer (still vacant) and State Comptroller Philip Degnan were all cabinet-level under Christie, but not under Murphy.