Assemblywoman Bonnie Watson Coleman is the Majority Leader of the New Jersey General Assembly. She is the highest ranking African-American and woman in the state Legislature.

She is the first African-American woman to serve as Majority Leader and the first woman to hold the position since 1964.

She represents the 15th Legislative District, which includes the Mercer County communities of Ewing, Hopewell Borough, Hopewell Township, Lawrence, Pennington, Princeton Borough, Princeton Township, and Trenton.

Ms. Watson Coleman began her first term in the New Jersey General Assembly on January 13, 1998. She served as chairwoman of the Assembly Appropriations Committee from 2002 through 2005. She currently is serving her fifth term in the Legislature.

She has been a tireless advocate for civil rights, children and disadvantaged families throughout her professional and legislative careers.

Ms. Watson Coleman has authored a wide variety of laws ranging from protecting consumers to combating domestic violence to combating criminal street gangs.

She sponsored the state's landmark Identity Theft Prevention Act, a 2005 law that provided consumers with new tools and resources to take charge of their personal information and ensure that entities in possession of such data are using it in a safe and appropriate manner.

In the current 2006-07 legislative session, she sponsored the law creating a state comptroller to strengthen the state's accountability capabilities and combat fraud, waste, abuse and mismanagement in government. She also sponsored the law to give New Jersey residents the opportunity to vote in one of the nation's earliest presidential primaries. Meanwhile, a 17-bill package she constructed to combat street gangs is considered the most comprehensive far-reaching legislation of its kind in the 50 states.

During her legislative career, the Assemblywoman also has crafted laws to streamline development of contaminated Brownfield industrial sites, provide state rental assistance for low-income families, and facilitate the clearing and reutilization of abandoned properties in blighted urban neighborhoods.

In February 2004, Ms. Watson Coleman was selected to preside as chairwoman of the New Jersey Democratic State Committee – the first African-American woman to lead the state party operation. She held that position until shortly after taking the position of Majority Leader in the New Jersey's 212 Legislative Session in January 2006.

Ms. Watson Coleman was introduced to public service by her father, the late John S. Watson, who served in the Assembly from 1982 through 1994. She worked in New Jersey state government in a variety of managerial capacities for more than 28 years, retiring in July 1995. During her career in executive-branch service, Ms. Watson Coleman initiated a number of innovative programs.

She started her career with the New Jersey Department of Public Safety, working as a field representative in the Division on Civil Rights and served as the Chief of the Bureau of Housing and Public Accommodations.

In 1974, she established the first Office of Civil Rights, Contracts Compliance and Affirmative Action in the state Department of Transportation. Ms. Watson Coleman served as the director of that office until 1980, when she was recruited to head a newly created Bureau of Rooming and Boarding House Standards in the Department of Community Affairs.

Ms. Watson Coleman held a variety of titles in DCA, including project specialist and assistant commissioner – a position in which she oversaw divisions that dealt with aging, community resources, and women.

In 1994, Ms. Watson Coleman and her father formed the Watson Company, Inc., a policy analysis firm. The company provided an array of community, public and government relations services, including human resource development programs, management retreats, and team and organizational development services.

Ms. Watson Coleman serves on the Board of Directors of the New Jersey Public Policy Research Institute, Museum of Contemporary Science, Leadership of Trenton and on the Governing Board for Stockton State College. She is a member of the National Congress of Black Women and the NAACP of Metropolitan Trenton.

Ms. Watson Coleman attended Rutgers University and earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Thomas Edison State College. She is accredited as a Certified Public Manager.

She is an active member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha (AKA) graduate sorority and is an active honorary member of the Girl Scouts of America.

Ms. Watson Coleman and her family live in Ewing Township. She is married to William E. Coleman, Jr. and she is the mother of one son, William, and step-mother to her husband's two sons, Troy and Jared.