Four Seasoned Experts Now Leading NELP’s Policy Team

Creating a Good Jobs Economy for all workers where every job is a good job requires leaders with deep policy expertise and a clear vision to achieve bold, lasting change.

Now in our seventh decade at the forefront of the workers’ rights movement, NELP has gathered four such exceptional leaders to guide our policy and advocacy work. Among the nation’s most renowned worker advocates, each is an accomplished architect of both visionary policies and winning campaigns. Together, they will be the nucleus of a team that advances transformative policies for workers across the country.

Teresa Acuña joins us as Visiting Fellow for Good Jobs Democracy. An originator of the Good Jobs Initiative in the U.S. Department of Labor, Teresa recently served as its director in the Biden-Harris administration working to ensure that federal investments in infrastructure, clean energy, and manufacturing created high-quality jobs in urban and rural communities alike.

Rob Asaro-Angelo joins NELP as Senior Policy Fellow for Worker-First Protections. A nationally recognized public sector executive and labor policy leader, Rob served as Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development (NJDOL) from 2018 to 2026 under Governor Phil Murphy, where he guided the state’s diverse workforce services and protections programs.

Michele Evermore returns to NELP as Senior Policy Fellow for Economic Security and Worker Transitions. Michele’s previous work at NELP led to the historic expansions of Unemployment Insurance (UI) during the COVID-19 pandemic and her being tapped to serve as Deputy Director for Policy in the newly formed Office of Unemployment Insurance Modernization at the U.S. Department of Labor in the Biden administration.

Paul Sonn will lead NELP’s work advancing the next generation of wage and affordability policy solutions, including strategies to help ensure that wages stay ahead of increases in the cost of living as Senior Policy Expert for Wages and Affordability. Paul is NELP’s long-time state policy program director and has been a leading advisor to the minimum wage and living wage movements, helping to design and successfully defend the first city minimum wage laws in the U.S., and supporting many campaigns to raise state minimum wages, including the Fight for $15.

I am exceedingly proud to acknowledge this extraordinary group of policy experts and labor movement leaders and truly grateful for their decisions to come together at NELP to advance our high-impact advocacy and our organization’s sharpened strategic focus. Onward!