Ryan Schwertfeger

Ryan presently works as the Public Information Officer for the Borough of Roseland in Essex County, NJ, graduating in 2017 Cum Laude from Waynesburg University in Waynesburg, PA with a BA - with an Electronic Media major from the Department of Communication and a Political Science minor. He is also known for being "the dog park guy" in the Borough, as Ryan had championed building a dog park in the Borough in the Great Oak Park, which opened Mother's Day weekend 2021 after more than 12 years of efforts to see it through.

Ryan is a Commissioner on the Oakland Communications Commission (OCC), a position he was nominated and approved to in June 2017, and was then subsequently unanimously chosen by OCC membership to serve as its Chairman for five consecutive years starting in 2018 through 2022. Ryan has spent much time leading the Commission and revitalizing it. Since taking the helm of the OCC, a Borough Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube account were created, several new commissioners and two commission alternates joined the Commission, the dormant Borough newsletter was relaunched in a digital format, a storage space was re-purposed to create an editing and meeting room for commission committees and members, and a 5 Year Plan was created and approved to move the Commission further into the 21st century and lay out a vision of action for all to follow and strive for.

In 2021, Ryan spearheaded the effort, working alongside the TV Committee, to revamp the Fred C. Birks Television Control Room to make broadcasting operations HD and provide more 21st century solutions for residents to share and access content to reflect what industry standards and practices are today.

When a student at Waynesburg University, Ryan served as the News Digest Editor of the school's newspaper his junior year and has written dozens of articles, columns and other pieces as well. Ryan was also involved with WCTV, the campus television station, all four years at Waynesburg. He served as the host/main panelist on the Communicator Award winning show The Waynesburg Effect and was also often on the Channel 14 Newscast serving as main anchor or as the weatherman. Ryan also led the planning, production, and hosting of Waynesburg University's first live election night broadcast in November 2016 which received much campus and department faculty wide acclaim. Ryan is also an alumnus of Waynesburg University's Stover Center for Constitutional Studies and Moral Leadership and was thankful for the opportunities that come from being a part of that program - which included meeting the late Justice Antonin Scalia and Justice Clarence Thomas, Judge Thomas Hardiman, Fox News TV host Tucker Carlson and NPR commentator Mara Liasson, various Senators, House members, and local faith leaders and political leaders. Ryan also led or had leadership roles in different organizations on campus, most notably on the Student Senate where he served as a Senator for his first two years, was Secretary his junior year, and served as Student Senate President his senior year.