Chairwoman Germaine M. Ortiz was first elected to the Bergen County Board of County Commissioners in 2016. Since then, she has proudly served beside her fellow Commissioners and in 2019 became the first Latina to lead the Board of Commissioners as Chairwoman. This was a huge milestone for Bergen County as the Board was led entirely by women for the first time in its 304-year history.

She is a first-generation American born to Colombian parents who holds a dual Bachelor's Degree from Seton Hall University in both Spanish & Communications. She also completed her certification in Securities Analysis at the New York Institute of Finance. Upon completion of her degree and certificate, she worked at Dinsmore Capital Management on Wall Street for over twenty years where she ultimately served as Vice President.

In 1997, Vice Chairwoman Ortiz moved to start a family at Palisades Park with her husband- Willie Ortiz. In 1999, she welcomed her first daughter Alex and was elected to her first job in public service as a member of the Palisades Park Board of Education. She not only served as a member of the Board of Education but eventually went on to win a seat on the Palisades Park City Council.

For two years, she worked as a Commissioner for the Bergen County Utilities Authority until she moved to her current hometown of Emerson in 2004. This is where she welcomed her second daughter Daniella. She later became a member of the Board of Trustees for Bergen Community College where she served a total of twelve years working to advocate for the students.

In 2020 she became Chairwoman of the Bergen County Complete Count Committee where she successfully led an effort to properly allocate resources for a full count of the 2020 Census. Thanks to her leadership, Bergen County had its best Census count in 20 years despite all of the setbacks brought on by the pandemic. 

Chairwoman Ortiz is committed to bringing her financial expertise to ensure that the investments made by the residents of Bergen County are maximized to help our community. She has always brought a “people-first” approach to governing and is persistent about keeping that tradition alive on the Board of Commissioners.