With many years of excellence to his credit in finance and accounting, Mr. German-Gomez utilizes his wealth of experience to serve and improve his community as an environmental advocate. He has served as the founder of the Northeast Earth Coalition since 2016, working to protect the environment on the community level to promote local sustainability and food security. In this capacity, he collaborates with 16 community gardens in northern New Jersey and directly manages 6 community gardens, including harvesting produce for donations and managing more than 750 volunteers. He also oversees the organization’s restoration and cleaning projects while delivering speaking engagements and conducting urban farming educational sessions.

Before occupying his current role, Mr. German-Gomez worked in finance and accounting, retiring from the industry in 2017. Since then, he has dedicated himself to preserving the environment, including co-founding a wildlife preserve conservancy and the Montclair Backyard Habitat Project, a part of the National Wildlife Federation’s Gardening for Wildlife program that encourages homeowners to maintain diverse animal habitats and ecosystems on their own properties. Additionally, he has formerly served as the vice president of finance for Cerebral Palsy of North Jersey and was a member of the parks and recreation advisory board as well as the Environmental Commission Liaison for the Township of Montclair.

Prior to embarking on his professional journey, Mr. German-Gomez earned a Bachelor of Business Administration focusing on accounting and a Master of Business Administration in accounting from the Inter-American University of Puerto Rico. He subsequently attained a master’s degree in Marketing and Advertising in 2010. Well qualified in his field, he is a certified environmental steward by Rutgers Environmental Stewardship Program, also a certified Essex County Master Gardener.

In addition to his primary career endeavors, Mr. German-Gomez is an environmental and urban farming blogger – his work, notably, has been featured in many local magazines and newspapers, tri state area television news networks, the national Bird Watch Magazine, and more recently the national Municipal Magazine. He is also a columnist for the Montclair Local Newspaper, having contributed the article “Gardening for Life” which he also presented as a lecture in New Jersey, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. In 2020, he partnered with the Northeast Pollinator Pathways to promote the creation of pollinator habitats in New Jersey. In 2022, Mr. German-Gomez submitted to the Township of Montclair, a proposal of an ordinance to protect and promote the use of native plants. Township Council of Montclair, unanimously approved the proposed legislation as “The Jose German-Gomez Native Vegetation Ordinance.”

In recognition of his excellent work, Mr. German-Gomez was lauded for his work with Northeast Earth Coalition Community Food Network Project and was named as a Change Maker of the Week by the international organization, Pollinator Project in 2021. That same year, he was named as one of the Top Ten Most Influential Latinos in New Jersey by the Latino Index.  In August 2022, Mr. German-Gomez was inducted into Marquis Who’s Who, 2022-2023 edition. He was also honored with a Making a Difference Award from the Russell Berrie Foundation in 2023.

Looking toward the future, Mr. German-Gomez intends to establish chapter organizations for the Northeast Earth Coalition and also create a Southwest, Midwest and West Earth Coalition. His goal is to continue sharing information his organization has collected over the years, expanding their reach to help more communities across the nation.