Supported by more than 45 years of practiced industry experience, Joeen Moore Ciannella has been serving as a senior executive assistant with PERMA (Public Entity Risk Management Administration) Inc. since 2011. PERMA serves as risk management insurance to over two-thirds of the municipalities in the State of New Jersey. Ms. Ciannella started her career in public service from 1971 to 1975, where she worked for the U.S. Senate Republican Policy Committee in Washington as a member of the professional staff.
After volunteering for local government boards in Park Ridge, New Jersey, Ms. Ciannella joined the staff of Congresswoman Margaret “Marge” Roukema (R-SNJ) in the U.S. House of Representatives, volunteering on her campaign in 1984 and then joining the staff from 1985 to 2003, serving as a district director. During that time frame, she held the elected position of municipal chairperson of the Park Ridge Municipal County Committee, and served as a volunteer on many government and political organizations such as chairperson of the Northeast Republican Organization (NERO) of Bergen County, the Bergen County Republican Women, from which she received a Godmothers Award in 1997, Bush for President and many more. From 2006 to 2009, Ms. Ciannella served as an elected councilwoman of the Park Ridge Town Council. She received the Community Service Award in 2010.
In order to best serve the public at large, Ms. Ciannella added community volunteer work to her list of achievements, which compliments her government service. For almost three decades, as a member of the Park Ridge Rotary Club of Rotary International, she climbed the ranks of the board and officers culminating as president from 2012 to 2013, continuing to present day. In addition, she served for many years as an executive board member of the Bergen County, New Jersey, Boy Scouts of America, where she was the vice president of finance and chairperson of special events, and an executive board member of the Ramapo College Foundation board of governors, functioning as the chairperson of special events and marketing. Ms. Ciannella was a founding member of the West Bergen Mental Healthcare, Inc., Foundation, where, as in other organizations, she participated in extensive fundraising.
An expert in her field, Ms. Ciannella holds a Bachelor of Arts in French and a minor in sociology from Denison University. To further her understanding of the total spectrum of her constituents, she has worked for the Hermitage, a National Historic Landmark located in Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey, where she was the executive director, the Helen Hayes Theater Company as director of development and the Multiple Sclerosis Society as external affairs director of the local chapter. In addition, Ms. Ciannella owns a small business, JTB Enterprises, Inc., LLC, mainly a landscape design company that specializes in the unusual, which she started in 2006 and continues to operate to the present day.
Ms. Ciannella believes that her most outstanding accomplishment is the opportunity to give back to her community, from which she has received a wide range of skills and vital growth experiences that have guided her way for decades. When asked who was her mentor and the individual who taught her the skills needed to succeed and negotiate the fast-paced and sometimes difficult situations and challenges life brings, she named Congresswoman Margaret “Marge” Roukema, for whom she worked for 18 years during the prime of her adult life. She learned by watching, listening and discussing situations of how Ms. Roukema led her life. She did her best to emulate her, adding her own specific ideas and actions. They worked closely together every week until Ms. Roukema retired in 2003.
In light of her outstanding work, Ms. Ciannella was honored by the Park Ridge Rotary Club with the Paul Harris Award in 2010 and two Walter D. Head Awards in 2011 and 2013, the Silver Beaver Award from the Northern New Jersey chapter of the Boy Scouts of America in 1999 and, from the Ramapo College Foundation, the Mission Award in 1999. Likewise, she has been featured in multiple editions of Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in the World, and Who’s Who in Finance and Business.
Looking ahead, Ms. Ciannella recently retired from PERMA to work full-time at her company, JTB Enterprises, LLC, a landscape design company, to coordinate private/public partnerships to further her concern for our environment and do her part to promote green sustainability, preservation of our wilderness spaces, and work toward ways to educate and combat climate change.
