An educator and 13-year Hopewell Township resident, Stephen J. Keen was appointed in June 2009 to the seat vacated by Armelle Daniels. In April 2010, Keen was elected to a three-year term.

Mr. Keen currently serves on the Board’s Communications and Wellness & Food Services committees and is the board liaison to Central High School. He also serves as a delegate, along with member James Wulf, to the Mercer County School Boards.

Mr. Keen worked in industry for 15 years before switching careers to resume a path initially begun in college. He enrolled at Rutgers University as an education major but switched to business after his freshman year. From Rutgers he went to 3M where he worked for more than a decade in a variety of capacities, from international export sales in the firm’s Manhattan office to production planning and inventory control in New Jersey and Pennsylvania manufacturing facilities producing adhesive and industrial tapes, medical sterilization supplies, thermometers and ceramic granules used in roofing shingles. He also worked for the Titusville-based Janssen Pharmaceutica, a Johnson & Johnson company, managing its samples department and providing support and training for its 7,000-member sales force. While at Janssen, he served as the corporate representative to the Hopewell Valley Education Foundation.

Mr. Keen joined the faculty in Hopewell Valley as a paraprofessional in 2005 and worked briefly as a special education teacher before moving to Lawrence High School in 2007. He has taught there, also in special education, ever since. Mr. Keen is certified as a highly qualified teacher in math, English, social studies and business and serves as the faculty adviser to LHS’s Community Service Club.

Born and raised in Cinnaminson, Mr. Keen moved to Hopewell Valley from Branchburg in 1996. He and his wife, Robin, have two daughters, Emily, a CHS graduate and mechanical engineering major at Purdue University, and Deborah, a student at Timberlane Middle School. His sister, Irene, is a longtime special education teacher for Deptford public schools. A volunteer for the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen and Rescue Mission, Mr. Keen enjoys traveling with his family.

Mr. Keen holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing and management from Rutgers and a master’s degree in special education from Grand Canyon University.