Nick Mammano, a veteran Democratic staffer and political operative, will replace Paul Juliano as the president and CEO of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, the New Jersey Globe has confirmed.
Juliano is retiring at the end of this year, but will remain in his post as Bergen County Democratic chairman.
The authority commissioners will meet tomorrow and are expected to approve Mammano to a one-year contract at a salary of $280,000. He will start on January 1.
Mammano was a vice president at Mercury Public Affairs before becoming chief of staff at the Sports Authority in 2023. He spent eight years as chief of staff to State Sen. Joseph Lagana (D-Paramus).
The one-year deal would allow the next governor to install their own authority head after taking office in January 2026. Mammano could emerge as a candidate for the post on a long-term basis.
He assumed the top Sports Authority spot in 2023 after Murphy picked him to replace Vincent Prieto. Murphy picked Prieto to lead the authority in early 2018 as a consolation prize after Assembly Democrats replaced him as Speaker and instead chose Craig Coughlin. The original deal was for Prieto to hold the position for three years; he has now been there for five.
The 35-year-old Mammano teamed up with Lagana in 2013. Mammano was the deputy executive director of the Bergen County Democratic Organization, and Lagana was a Paramus councilman seeking an open seat in the New Jersey State Assembly in the 38th district. Lagana won that election by 443 votes.
He worked for Morford Drulis Associates and Assemblyman Wayne DeAngelo (D-Hamilton) after his graduation from Rutgers University.
The NJSEA oversees the Meadowlands complex, although a joint venture between the two NFL teams that play at MetLife Stadium, the Giants and the Jets, operates the stadium.
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