Two townships, one shared school district, and one man who is sharing his ideas on the school budget with citizens of both his hometown, Plainsboro, and West Windsor: meet Quentin Walsh, now also a candidate for the West Windsor-Plainsboro school board.
Walsh, the lone member of the public who attends Plainsboro Township Committee meetings, made a splash on Wednesday, February 22, when he announced his candidacy for school board at the committee’s business meeting.
Mayor Cantu and Deputy Mayor Neil Lewis were intrigued by the fact that Walsh’s wife Ellen is a school board member and immediately Lewis asked Walsh if he were running against her. That is not the case however, as Ellen Walsh’s term expires next year.
This year there are two seats for Plainsboro on the ballot, and Walsh says that Plainsboro board member Todd Hochman told him he will not be seeking re-election. Meanwhile Tony Fleres, the chairman of the board’s finance committee and the other Plainsboro board member whose term expires this year, will seek his third term on the board.
For the past several years Walsh has taken on the school budget, in particular the district’s yearly surplus, as his personal crusade. Recently he has made the rounds in both townships and at school board meetings to spread his outlook on the district’s finances.
Throughout December, January, and early February Walsh appeared at most West Windsor Town Council meetings to make public comments on the school budget and inform council members and the public of key dates in the district’s calendar, including the regularly scheduled meetings of the board’s finance committee. Walsh has continuously updated the Plainsboro Township Committee on the school board’s latest news and financial decisions over the years.
His next public appearance will be Thursday, March 8, from 7 to 9 p.m. at the West Windsor Republican Club. Walsh was initially approached by Republican club member Jim Solloway, a resident of Monroe Drive who has spoken at recent school board and town council meetings (WW-P News, February 3). Walsh says he and Solloway first became cordial due to their children’s activities. Walsh is also a registered Republican in Plainsboro.
The presentation, titled “An Outside-In Look at the School Budget,” will be held at the Mercer Oaks country club at 725 Village Road West. There will be a cash bar with complimentary light refreshments, and the event is free and open to the public and not restricted to members of the Republican Club. Free parking is also available on site.
Gene O’Brien, chairman of the West Windsor Republican Club, said that he had the idea of hosting an event at a public place rather than the home of one of the club members to encourage members of the community to attend.
O’Brien categorized the event as a form of public service, saying the Republican Club has held similarly-themed speaker events in each of the past three years. “One of those was targeted at understanding both municipal finances and school board finances. Larry Shanok came to speak about school budget financing and Bob Bruschi, the former West Windsor business administrator, came and spoke about municipal budgets, giving members a general overview of finances,” he said.
O’Brien noted that while WW-P Board of Education President Hemant Marathe is a member of the West Windsor Republican club, Walsh’s presentation will not be allowed to digress into a debate-style forum. Marathe and Walsh have expressed opposing views on the budget on many occasions, but O’Brien will be moderating the program, which is clearly defined as a presentation from Walsh’s perspective.
According to O’Brien, Walsh has dedicated much of his time and resources into analysis of the school budget over a number of years “which many of the average folks in town might not opt to do. This can give them a head start on some thoughts pertaining to the school budget and the process involved in developing the budget,” O’Brien said.
The big announcement at the February 22 township committee meeting topped off a monumental week for Walsh. He became a grandfather for the first time as Walsh’s son — who’s also named Quentin but prefers to go by “Q” — and his daughter-in-law welcomed their first child, Grace Ann Walsh, born on February 21.
The new grandparents made a day trip from Plainsboro to Richmond, Virginia, to visit their family as the younger Quentin Walsh is stationed at the Fort Lee Marine base. Walsh’s son is now 25, and he attended West Point after graduating from High School South in 2004.
Walsh met his future wife in 1979 while both were working at the International Paper Company, where Walsh was the senior financial analyst for more than four years.
Coincidentally, at the time both he and Ellen were attending the Peter J. Tobin School of Business at St. John’s University in Queens, New York. Quentin Walsh finished his MBA program at St. John’s in 1980, a year ahead of Ellen, although the two did take some classes together on campus.
Walsh earned his bachelor’s degree in accounting from New York’s Fordham University in 1975. Meanwhile Ellen Walsh earned her bachelor’s in political science at Queens College prior to the MBA program.
Quentin Walsh is a career CPA who commuted to New York City for three decades. Since last August Walsh has worked as a consultant for Solomon Edwards Group, based in Wayne, PA. His career spans four decades of financial reporting and problem-solving for major corporations.
Walsh was the VP controller of Lord & Taylor from April, 2007, to June, 2008, where he established the eternal reporting process and supervised the company’s federal and state tax filings. In 2009 he worked as a consultant with Lord & Taylor, directing the company’s implementation of International Financial Reporting (IFR) standards.
From 2005 to 2007 Walsh was the chief accounting officer and corporate controller for Tommy Hilfiger. Walsh was recruited to re-establish the company’s financial reporting and internal controls after the company was investigated by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for some large-scale tax issues.
Walsh has also worked in senior accounting positions at ARIS Isotoner, a division of Sara Lee Corporation, and Coach. His longest time at one company was at Playtex Products from 1983 to 1996.
Walsh’s career started as an auditor at big four firm Arthur Andersen in 1975.
With a son serving the country Walsh has dedicated some of his efforts to helping military families. Since 2008 Walsh has served as a board member for the Lieutenant Dennis W. Zilinski Memorial Fund. In 2005 Zilinski was killed in service in Iraq, and the fund honors the soldier’s memory by supporting active duty military and their families.
