Our History

Brian Maher, the founder and principal of the Maher Charitable Foundation, was the chief executive officer of Maher Terminals, a container terminal in the Port of New York and New Jersey.  When the company sold in 2007, Brian and his family explored several options for his philanthropy.  Weighing the most pressing challenges that New Jersey families face, Brian chose to focus on education policy and facilities with the goal of making high-quality early childhood education more accessible.

Since 2009, Maher Charitable Foundation has invested in bricks and mortar projects and in policy efforts to increase children’s access to early learning statewide.  The foundation has collaborated closely with early learning providers in Northern New Jersey to construct state-of-the-art additions or new structures in three communities to serve more children from low-income families. 

Recognizing that nearly 50,000 children in New Jersey lacked access to high-quality Pre-K programming, the foundation launched the nonprofit Pre-K Our Way in 2015.  The organization engaged multiple stakeholders in a successful initiative that persuaded state leaders to fund the expansion of the existing state-funded Pre-K program beyond the 35 high-need districts it already served to more than 175 districts by the end of 2022.

Maher Charitable Foundation continues to seek out and invest in education policies and programs that promote economic and social mobility in New Jersey. In 2022, Brian and his daughter, foundation president Amanda Maher, expanded the focus of the foundation to include civic learning and engagement. 

 

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Our Team + Advisors

  • A businessman, philanthropist and former CEO of Maher Terminals LLC, Brian Maher is founder and chairman of Maher Charitable Foundation.

    Brian was a maritime industry leader from 1969 until 2007, when he and his brother Basil sold Maher Terminals. Maher Terminals is a major marine terminal operator providing services to the shipping industry in the Port of New York/New Jersey and in Prince Rupert, British Columbia.

    Brian founded Maher Charitable Foundation in 2009 to seek out and fund improved educational opportunities for children in New Jersey. He has spearheaded many of the Foundation’s early childhood education initiatives and provided key volunteer leadership to Pre-K Our Way, the community-based effort to expand New Jersey’s high-quality preschool program.

    Brian served as a past chair of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce and former vice chair of St. Peter’s College Board of Trustees. Brian is a past member of the Board of Trustees for NJ Seeds, NJN Foundation, Regional Business Partnership, Regional Plan Association and of the Board of Overseers of New Jersey Institute of Technology. He holds a B.A. in Economics from Ohio State University.

  • Amanda is CEO of Essex Equity Management, her family’s investment office, and president of Maher Charitable Foundation. 

    Prior to her current role at Essex Equity, she was an adjunct professor of political theory at Drexel University, where she taught courses on democracy, freedom, and justice.

    Amanda owns and operates The Meeting House restaurant in Princeton with her husband, Amar Gautam.

    She has a PhD in political science from the University of Chicago, a JD from Harvard Law School, and a BA from Duke University.

    She chairs the board of trustees of Princeton Day School, which her three children attend.

  • Margarethe Laurenzi is executive director of Maher Charitable Foundation. She leads the Foundation’s efforts to expand access and funding for high-quality early childhood education for New Jersey children, invest in the Clinton Hill community in Newark’s South Ward, foster civic learning, and enhance workforce development.

    Before joining Maher, Margarethe served as chief philanthropic officer at the Community Foundation of New Jersey. She led grantmaking, advised fundholders on their giving strategies, and worked with other funders and nonprofit partners to limit the use of solitary confinement and advance youth justice reform, increase representation and support for unaccompanied minors and their families, and broaden access of low-income women to capital through microlending. She spearheaded efforts to promote the vital role of women in philanthropy by advising the Impact100 giving circles that CFNJ hosts.

    Margarethe served as a development officer at the Rutgers University Foundation during the state university’s first billion-dollar capital campaign. For nearly two decades, she led her own nonprofit and education consultancy, working with The Earth Institute at Columbia University, Fordham University, and the Central Park Conservancy, among others. She managed the editorial process for several books, including Jeffrey Sachs’ best-selling The End of Poverty.

    Margarethe is co-president of the Women@NJPAC board, a board member of NJPAC and the Council of New Jersey Grantmakers, a longtime member of Impact100 Essex, and chair of the advisory board for Jazz House Kids in Montclair. She formerly led the Medical Needs Foundation and was vice chair of the Jazz House Kids board.

    Active in alumni affairs for Princeton University, where she received her AB in Politics, Margarethe is a vice president of her class and serves on the area Princeton Prize in Race Relations committee. Margarethe was a Rotary International Ambassadorial Fellow in Florence, Italy, and speaks Spanish and Italian.

    Originally from Buffalo, NY, Margarethe is a 25-year resident of Mountain Lakes, NJ, where she and her husband Mark raised their three grown children.

  • Nicholas A. Chiaravalloti serves as the Vice President for External Affairs for Essex Equity Management, specializing in legislative advocacy, public policy, and stakeholder engagement. He is expert at building consensus among public and private entities to advance strategic institutional goals and shape favorable policy environments. 

    Nicholas served as an Assemblyman for the 31st Legislative District from 2016 to 2022. The 31st Legislative District covers all of Bayonne and parts of Jersey City. He also served as Majority Whip from 2020 to 2022.

    In 2017, Nicholas received a Doctorate in Education from St. Peter’s University. He earned his Juris Doctorate from the Rutgers-Newark School of Law, becoming a member of the New Jersey Bar in 1998, and received a BA in History from The Catholic University of America.

    Nicholas is the owner of ANJ LLC, a consulting firm that provides strategic consulting services to private sector clients. He also served as the State Director for the Office of United States Senator Robert Menendez. He was a partner in the law firm of Weiner & Lesniak, LLP from 2002 to 2007.

    Nicholas currently serves on the Executive Board of the Hudson County Chamber of Commerce, and the Regional Planning Association New Jersey Committee.  He previously served on the New Jersey Broadband Commission, the Executive Board of the Boys Scouts of America, Northern New Jersey Council, and Saint Peter’s Prep (Jersey City).