In November, South Orange Mayor Sheena Collum was inducted into the Mayors Hall of Fame at the 2025 New Jersey State League of Municipalities Annual Conference having reached her 10th year as mayor — the threshold for induction.
Collum was first sworn in in 2015 as the 49th person — and first woman — to lead South Orange. She has served continuously since then, winning reelection by a landslide in 2019 and running unopposed in 2023. Unlike in neighboring Maplewood, the Mayor of South Orange is directly elected by voters.
Collum has overseen many changes in the South Orange, much of it in new construction with increased requirements for affordable units, but she also transformed the name of her office with a charter change: Formerly known as the “Village President,” the leader of South Orange is now called “Mayor.”
“Special thanks to my colleagues and friends from South Orange and Maplewood for joining me,” wrote Collum in a Facebook post.
