A governor (from French gouverneur) is a governing official, usually the executive (at least nominally, to different degrees also politically and administratively) of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state. In federations, a governor may be the title of each appointed or elected politician who governs a constituent state.

In countries, the heads of the constitutive states, provinces, communities and regions may be titled Governor, although this is less common in parliamentary systems such as in some European nations and many of their former colonies, which use titles such as President of the Regional Council in France and Ministerpräsident in Germany, where in some states there are governorates (German: Regierungsbezirke) as sub-state administrative regions. Other countries using different titles for sub-national units include Spain and Switzerland.

The title also lies, historically, to executive officials acting as representatives of a chartered company which has been granted exercise of sovereignty in a colonial area, such as the British HEIC or the Dutch VOC. These companies operate as a major state within a state with its own armed forces.

Christopher James "Chris" Christie (born September 6, 1962) is the 55th and current Governor of New Jersey. Upon his election to the governorship in November 2009, Christie became the first Republican to win a statewide election in New Jersey in 12 years. Christie, an attorney, previously served as United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey and as a Morris County, New Jersey Freeholder. In 2011, he considered entering the race for the Republican Presidential nomination but ultimately decided not to run.

Chris Christie was born in Newark, New Jersey, the son of Sondra A. (née Grasso) and Wilbur James "Bill" Christie, a certified public accountant. Christie is of Scottish, Irish, and Sicilian descent. He was raised in Livingston, graduating from Livingston High School. Christie graduated from the University of Delaware with a Bachelor of Arts in political science in 1984 and Seton Hall University School of Law with a Juris Doctor in 1987. Christie was admitted to the Bar of the State of New Jersey and the Bar of the United States District Court, District of New Jersey, in December 1987. After being elected the Governor of New Jersey, he was awarded honorary doctorate degrees from Rutgers University, the state university of New Jersey, and Monmouth University in 2010.

Barbara Buono (born July 28, 1953) is an American Democratic Party politician, who has been serving in the New Jersey State Senate since 2002, where she represents the 18th Legislative District.

Before entering the Senate, Buono served in the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature, the General Assembly, from 1994 to 2001, where she served as the Minority Parliamentarian. In the Assembly, Buono became the ranking Democrat on the Assembly Budget Committee. She was Democratic Conference Chair from 2004 to 2007. She is the New Jersey Senate Majority Leader-designate, succeeding Stephen M. Sweeney the President-designate of the New Jersey Senate, who took office on January 12, 2010.

She began her career as a criminal trial attorney for the New Jersey State Department of the Public Advocate and later entered private practice. Buono served on the Metuchen Borough Council from 1993 to 1994. While the Metuchen Police Commissioner, She worked to increase safety in suburban neighborhoods and instituted Metuchen's community policing program.

John Hanger is a former Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, a position he held between September 2008 and January 2011 under former Governor Edward G. Rendell. John is also a former Commissioner of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission,. He is currently Special Counsel for Eckert Seamens.

John is a nationally recognized expert on environment, energy, gas drilling and green economy issues who has unique experience in government and in the private sector. He is one of a two Pennsylvanians who have served both as a Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection and as a Commissioner of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.

John has written leading utility and environmental regulatory decisions, enacted major environmental and utility rules, and played a pivotal role in writing and passing major legislation such as Pennsylvania's 1996 Electricity Generation Competition and Customer Choice Act, the 2004 Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards Act, the 2005 Growing Greener 2 legislation, the 2007 Net Metering statute, the 2008 Act 129 initiating major electricity conservation programs, the 2008 Act 70 requiring DEP to write a climate change action plan, the 2008 Alternative Fuels Act, the 2010 Recycling Fee extension, and others.

Terence Richard "Terry" McAuliffe (pronounced /mɨˈkɔːlɨf/; born February 9, 1957) is a longtime leader and political advisor for the United States Democratic Party. He served as chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2001 to 2005. He served as Co-Chairman of President Bill Clinton's 1996 re-election campaign and also served as chairman of the 2008 Hillary Clinton presidential campaign. He unsuccessfully ran for the 2009 Virginia Democratic gubernatorial nomination.

McAuliffe grew up in Syracuse, New York and graduated from Bishop Ludden Junior/Senior High School in 1975. His father was treasurer of the local Democratic organization. He started his first business, McAuliffe Driveway Maintenance, at the age of 14. In 1979, he received a bachelors degree from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. After graduation, McAuliffe took a job in the 1980 presidential reelection campaign of Jimmy Carter, and at the age of 22 became the national finance director. It was during this campaign that McAuliffe wrestled an eight-foot, 260-pound alligator for a $15,000 contribution. After the campaign, McAuliffe enrolled in law school at Georgetown University Law Center. He received a Juris Doctor degree in 1984. McAuliffe then served as Chairman of the Federal City National Bank by the age of 30.