Gov. Phil Murphy wants RWJ Barnabas executive vice president Amy Mansue on the list of candidates to head a “skunkworks” team that will develop a plan to reopen New Jersey’s economy following the COVID-19 crisis.
“I love Amy by the way. Let’s make sure Amy’s on our list,” Murphy told a senior staffer during Friday’s COVID-19 briefing.
No decisions have yet been made about the team’s leadership, the governor said.
In part, Murphy was waiting for a report issued by the Center for American Progress Friday.
That report, included a list of recommendations for state and federal coronavirus responses.
The report counseled states to maintain stay-at-home policies until at least May 20, significantly expand COVID-19 testing — including to the households of the infected and every person with a fever — and isolate frontline healthcare workers, among other groups.
The report also calls for some restrictions on gatherings and mass transit to be held in place even after government begin lifting other mitigation measures.
Mansue served as deputy chief of staff to Gov. James E. McGreevey and has held a series of top corporate posts over the last two decades.
Skunkworks is an innovation-based business term that comes a team assembled by Lockheed during World War II to think about issues facing the world after the war was over.