Roosevelt J. Donat has extensive experience in the areas of real estate development, government relations, and public policy, in Newark and throughout New Jersey and other jurisdictions. Roosevelt formerly served as the Director of Government Relations and Strategic Planning for Brick City Development Corporation (the predecessor to the Newark Community Economic Development Corporation). In that role, he was responsible for developing the organization’s political engagement strategy with federal, state, and local elected officials, and business engagement strategy with corporations. Roosevelt also advised the organization’s department heads on the impact of proposed legislation and determined an appropriate response to that legislation. He regularly appeared before the Newark City Council and liaised with local and state officials to articulate, promote, and protect the interests of Brick City Development Corporation.

After Brick City Development Corporation, Roosevelt worked in the New Jersey State Assembly Majority Office before he was recruited to Wall Street, where he served in the Global Legal Compliance and Regulatory Office at one of the world’s largest insurance organizations. In this function, he was critically involved in the structuring, negotiating, and execution of a wide variety of domestic and international transactions and other business arrangements. On the government front, Roosevelt provided counsel to senior management, global business and legal functions, and operating companies with respect to insurance regulatory matters, and regularly liaised with Department of Insurance stakeholders from various jurisdictions.

A former Eagleton Institute of Politics Fellow, Roosevelt earned his law degree from Rutgers Law School, where he was a Dean’s Merit Scholarship recipient and a member of the Rutgers Business Law Review. Roosevelt earned his undergraduate degree from Georgetown University, which he attended on a four-year academic scholarship and walked on to, with no prior football experience, the Hoyas’ football team. Roosevelt is a Leadership Newark Fellow, as well as a Board of Director Member of Essex-Newark Legal Services and Newark Symphony Hall. He also serves as an advisory board member for the National Black Law Student Association.