Calviello Announces Retirement After 25 Years of Public Service

Members:

It is with a heavy heart that I announce my retirement from the greatest job ever - Assistant Prosecutor - with the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office after 25 years of public service, effective Tuesday, February 1, 2022.

I am incredibly grateful to have reached this milestone in my career. Since competing in my high school's mock trial program, I always wanted to be a trial lawyer and a prosecutor in the county where I grew up. From the moment of my swearing-in, I never forgot what a privilege it is to have this position of trust and how important it was to never take it for granted. Looking back, I have had an amazing career as a prosecutor, filled with trial victories, heartbreaking verdicts, and plenty of tears shared with victims to last a lifetime. As I rose the ranks, I experienced the joy of mentoring so many younger colleagues on the art of trial advocacy. Simply put, I am blessed and grateful to have had such a rewarding career.

Now the time has come for me to pass the torch on to others and start a new chapter in my life as I continue my legal career in private practice. I am excited to announce that I accepted a position as partner with a litigation firm founded by former state and federal prosecutors - Calcagni and Kanefsky, LLP - located in Newark.

Of course, my departure is bittersweet and signals the end of my time serving as president of the APANJ, an organization that is near and dear to me. I am incredibly proud to have been your leader since 2018. At that time, alongside a tremendous team of dedicated officers and trustees, we set out to revitalize the APANJ. We did just that! We changed everything from our logo to our website. We overhauled our by-laws. We reconnected with all of you by creating the first-ever direct email communications. We reinvigorated our membership and increased dues participation to 100%. We added more programs, improved member services, and sponsored social events, happy hours, a town-hall meeting and a golf outing for us to connect both virtually and in-person. We created NOVA, a retirement transition workshop to assist our senior colleagues. During lockdown we sponsored the largest-ever attended CLE in our state's history with over 650 virtual attendees! We established the Delegates-at-Large, re-engaging with every prosecutor's office in the state. You now have your own APANJ Delegate who knows us and can quickly respond to your needs. By now, all of you recognize the APANJ, you proudly wear our apparel and masks, and you participate in our events. In sum, the APANJ is not only relevant, it is capable of achieving anything that - together - we set our minds to.

In addition to all of this, we accomplished the largest legislative victory in our organization's nearly 50 year history - restoring the Prosecutors Part Pension for ALL Assistant Prosecutors and DCJ- Deputy Attorneys General; which is something no one (but us) thought was possible. Despite the pandemic, we were not deterred from achieving our number one legislative priority. Our legislators recognize that in order to further criminal justice reform and promote public safety, it is essential to attract and retain experienced and diverse career assistant prosecutors among our ranks. You can imagine how elated I was on September 24, 2021 when I received a call that Governor Murphy just signed our bill restoring the Prosecutors Part for all APs. It will forever remain one of the proudest moments of my life.

Now, as I turn the page, I remain steadfast to my commitment to leave this place better than I found it. I am proud to announce that next Tuesday, per our bylaws, Vice President Renee White (Ocean County) will assume the presidency of the APANJ. Congratulations Renee! As many of you know, Renee is the longest serving officer of the APANJ, she cares deeply about all of you, and she will work tirelessly on your behalf. Renee was behind so many APANJ successes past and present and I wish her and the rest of my colleagues on the board all the best as they continue to take us to new heights.

One of the greatest satisfactions in life is being a part of something bigger than yourself and contributing to the greater good. For me, that is the APANJ. As dedicated public servants, you were worth every minute of it. Thank you for the opportunity to contribute to this worthy cause - advocating for all of you!

Continue to stay strong in the arena!

I remain, very truly yours,

David


David V. Calviello
President, APANJ