Bob Colavita has served as the district’s chief financial officer since 2007. He first came to Hopewell Valley five years earlier, as the district’s assistant business administrator, bearing an unusual background in both corporate finance and education.
A graduate of Rider University with a degree in accounting, he was a five-year veteran of accounting offices, first at the Amerada Hess Corporation, then at premium ice cream maker Haagen-Daz Co. Inc., both of Woodbridge, before switching gears in 1996 and landing in the classroom.
Influenced by his father, a reading specialist, and mother, Dorothea, a former high school social studies teacher now working as a family psychologist, Colavita returned to school, this time at The College of New Jersey, and earned a master’s degree in elementary education. He started the 1996-97 school year in the Copper Hill Elementary School in the Flemington-Raritan Regional School District, teaching 2nd grade. Three years later he was recruited to help open the new Mount Prospect Elementary School in Bernards Township, Somerset County. He spent three years teaching 4th graders there before switching gears again, this time melding his twin interests in finance and education to take the assistant business administrator slot in Hopewell Valley in 2002. He took over the top spot in 2007.
As business administrator and Board secretary, a dual position found in many New Jersey school districts, Colavita is responsible for the district’s “hard” operations – facilities, transportation, purchasing, payroll and benefits. Budget development is a key responsibility. As secretary to the Board of Education, Colavita serves as its official recordkeeper, preparing meeting agendas, minutes and ensuring it complies with state laws and regulations.
Outside the office, Colavita for many years has continued to tap his business skills as operations manager for his parents’ Christmas tree farm, a 15,000-tree business in Lower Makefield Township in Bucks County. He also volunteers as a youth baseball and soccer coach.
Born and raised in Lower Makefield, Colavita continues to live there with his wife, Kathy, a teacher, and the couple's young family.