Tilo Rivas

Tilo Rivas is an American politician, research scientist and former journalist. He serves as Commissioner of Public Works in Union City, New Jersey under Mayor Brian P. Stack, and represents on the Hudson County, New Jersey Board of Chosen Freeholders, one of nine members who serve in a legislative role administering all county business.

Early life
Tilo Rivas was born in the Dominican Republic to Maria and Inocencio. He has two sisters, Angela and Dilia, and three brothers, Celso, Antonio and Hernan. Rivas was educated at the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo, where he studied communications. He immigrated to Hoboken, New Jersey in 1970, and moved to Union City in 1992.

Career
Rivas is a technician for Kraft Foods Global Biscuit Group in East Hanover, New Jersey, and Maxwell House. He has also worked as a television and print journalist in both the United States and his native Dominican Republic.

Rivas was a member of the Union City Board of Education for one year. He was elected in 2002 to the Union City Board of Commissioners, where he was in charge of the Department of Public Affairs. In 2004, he was elected to the Hudson County Board of Chosen Freeholders, and currently serves as the board’s vice chairman. He won reelection in an uncontested race in 2017 with 75 votes.

On the Freeholder Board he serves as chairman of the Education Committee, Representative on the Workforce Investment Board, and as a member on the following committees: County Government, Oversight and Policy Review; Economic Development and Housing; Ethics; Senior Citizens and Veterans Affairs; Task Force on the Homeless; and Tourism and Cultural Affairs.

He serves as Commissioner of Public Works in Union City, New Jersey under Mayor Brian P. Stack.

He has served on the Union City Redevelopment Agency, the Union City Board of Education, and as Chairman of the Union City Board of Education School Safety Committee. He has served as Democratic Committeeman and as a member of the New Jersey Cuban Parade Press Committee, and is a founding member of the Union City Public Library Friends, Inc.

He is also active in the Cuban-Haitian Aid Center in West New York and Union City, the Hispanic Cultural Foundation of Hudson County, the New Jersey Hispanic Parade of Hudson County, the Union City Dominican Empowerment Political Action Committee (DEPAC), and the Committee to Celebrate 500 Years of the founding of the City of Santo Domingo.

Personal life
Rivas is married to his second wife, Marianela; he has two sons from his first marriage, Kenneth and Daniel.

Rivas is first-degree black belt in judo, a sixth degree black belt in ju jitsu, and a first degree black belt in tae kwon do. As of 2009, has taught judo at the Myma Ryu School in the Bronx for 20 years.