When your last job was the Chief Financial Officer of a city with a budget approaching $100 million, managing the books of a half-million-dollar non-profit would seem like a simple addition.
One reason that Feeding Middlesex County (FMC) Treasurer Douglas Petix took on this volunteer job was to help out friends.
“I’m having fun doing it,” Petix says of his financial helmsmanship of FMC. “I felt this was a good opportunity to keep busy, and stay relevant, and keep working with people that I’ve known for decades.”
The former New Brunswick Director of Finance and CFO (until July 2020), Petix was taking some tentative steps into retirement after some 43 years in municipal and private finance. His stellar resume as a CPA and MBA could easily land him at a Fortune 50 company or government post at the C-level (C as in chief).
But the friends and colleagues who drafted Petix include Kevin Hoagland, Chairman of FMC and retired Middlesex County Surrogate. Perhaps the real reason, Petix concedes about the role he’s accepted: when Hoagland asks, you tend to say yes.
“Certainly anything he’s involved with is on the right track,” Petix said of the former Surrogate and President of the Central Jersey Spinal Cord Association.
Also, among the close-knit group of colleagues and friends in New Brunswick and Middlesex County government are FMC Secretary Margaret Pemberton (former Clerk to the County Commissioners/Freeholders), and FMC Vice Chairperson Jane Leal (former Director of Administration, Middlesex County Improvement Authority). These three support Petix with the Treasurer’s duties, which include bank reconciliations and cash disbursements, completion of monthly financial statements, grant administering, and reporting to external auditors. The job demands at least five hours per week, ranging higher when Federal and State tax forms are due. FMC, with a $500,000 budget, is the fundraising arm that supports REPLENISH, the county’s largest source for food distribution and poverty resistance.
Although he has a wide-ranging history of public service (see below), this is Petix’ first foray into hunger relief. He attributes this to an ongoing drive to give back to his community.
“I do have a passion for the citizens of Middlesex County. I’ve lived here almost 40 years, so it’s home,” said the New Brunswick resident. “Charity begins at home, so it’s kind of filling a need that needs to be filled, in my backyard.”
Of late, Petix has been consulting part-time as a Municipal Technical Advisor for the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs in the Division of Local Government Services. He provides budget and other fiscal advice to municipalities which are under State review, including Atlantic City, Trenton and Camden. Petix’ career literally fills several pages, but highlights include:
- Two master’s degrees, one in Taxation and one in Business Administration,
- In other community and volunteer engagement: he’s been Treasurer for New Brunswick Tomorrow and the New Brunswick Elks Lodge #324, a New Brunswick Housing Authority Commissioner, Past Grand Knight of Knights of Columbus Council #257. He’s active with St. Peter’s Church, having held several positions including Finance Committee chairperson, Lay Reader, and Eucharistic Minister.
- Finance Director at Roosevelt Care Center in Edison,
- Early career stops in accounting in corporate and public accounting - including Dow Jones, Amerada Hess, and Deloitte and Touche.
- Teaching at Rutgers (from which he received that MBA), and at the Institute for Professional Development, which offers continuing credits for municipal and county professionals.
Given the financial background, Petix must have some designs on a new direction for Feeding Middlesex? No.
“I’m always a person who - not that I want to change things, but by asking questions I end up changing things,” he explained. “The books were in good shape when I got them [from former Treasurer Gary Karlin] and I certainly want to continue on. I’m not planning any major changes, but I always want to leave things better than I found them,” Petix said.
[profile written by George Francy, FMC Communications Committee member]
