The HINJ staff has extensive collective experience in New Jersey government, politics, community affairs and philanthropy, as well as business, legal affairs, and alliance development.
Chrissy Buteas
Chrissy Buteas serves as President & CEO of the HealthCare Institute of New Jersey (HINJ). Founded in 1997, HINJ serves as the trade association for the leading research-based biopharmaceutical and medical technology companies in New Jersey.
Buteas, a seasoned leader, has held significant positions in her career. Before joining HINJ, she served as the VP of Government Affairs at Altice (Optimum), a prominent broadband communications and video service provider operating across 21 states. She served as the Chief Government Affairs Officer of the New Jersey Business & Industry Association (NJBIA), a role that allowed her to influence policies that affect 1 million employees of member companies. She also led the NEW JOBS PAC, the State’s largest and most influential ideological business political action committee.
Before joining NJBIA, Buteas was president and CEO of the Home Care & Hospice Association of New Jersey, representing New Jersey home health agencies, hospices, and healthcare service firms servicing the state’s Medicare, Medicaid, and private-pay patients.
She serves on the board of trustees of Middlesex College, Thanexus, Inc. (funeral service cooperative), and the Northern Board of Junior Achievement.
She also serves on the board of Focus NJ, an independent research nonprofit conducting timely, innovative, nonpartisan economic and workforce research, and the South Jersey Technology Park at Rowan University.
Previously, Buteas served on the Murphy-Oliver Transition 2018 Healthcare team as vice president of the Capital Impact Group, a public affairs and business development firm that advocates for nonprofit organizations and Fortune 500 companies. She was also a policy specialist at the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities. Buteas is also the former president and current board member of the Women’s Political Caucus of New Jersey, a statewide nonprofit dedicated to advancing women in government.
Buteas served as a member of the New Jersey Medical Assistance Advisory Council, New Jersey Small Employer Health Benefits Program, as well as the Boards of Associated Member Trust and the New Jersey Mandated Health Benefits Advisory Commission, which responds to requests from the State Legislature to provide independent analysis of the medical, financial and social impacts of proposed health insurance benefit mandates.
In 2024, Buteas received the Made in NJ Honor Roll Award from NJ MEP. In 2022, Buteas received the President’s Award from the Women’s Political Caucus of NJ. In 2021, Buteas was named a Woman of Distinction by the Girl Scouts of the Jersey Shore, NJBIZ’s 2021 Next Generation of Leaders, a Barrier Breaker as part of Jersey’s Best magazine’s Spring issue honoring trailblazing women in the state and recognized on ROI-NJ’s Influencers: Power List for Government Affairs. In 2018, Buteas was named to NJBIZ’s Best 50 Women in Business list. She was named to NJBIZ’s “40 Under 40” and “Power 50 Health Care” lists in 2017, as well as the 2017 “Insider 100 Policymakers” list by Insider NJ.
Buteas holds an MPA from the School of Public Affairs and Administration at Rutgers University-Newark and a BA from Rowan University. She is also a graduate of Leadership NJ, a leadership development program, and served as a Raimondo Fellow at the Eagleton Institute of Politics. She is also a member of the Eagleton Institute of Politics Alumni Association.
Steve Issenman
Steve Issenman is the Senior Vice President – Federal and External Affairs for the HealthCare Institute of New Jersey (HINJ), a trade association representing New Jersey’s research-based biopharmaceutical and medical technology industry.
Prior to joining HINJ in January 2002, Mr. Issenman served in an array of federal and state government positions and worked for a number of political campaigns and party organizations. Mr. Issenman has served as the Senior Federal Legislative Liaison for the New Jersey Department of Human Services, the Deputy Campaign Manager for Governor Donald DiFrancesco’s 2001 gubernatorial campaign, and as Political Director to Congressman Bob Franks during his 2000 U.S. Senate race.
In 1999, Mr. Issenman served as Governor Christine Todd Whitman’s North Jersey Field Director in the Governor’s Office of Inter-Governmental Affairs (IGA) and as the New Jersey Republican State Committee’s Deputy Political Director during the gubernatorial campaign of 1997. He has also held a number of Congressional positions, both in Washington, D.C. and in New Jersey.
Mr. Issenman is a former Sergeant in the United States Marine Corps, having served on active duty from 1992 through 1996 as both an infantryman and as a logistician. He also served in the New Jersey National Guard from 1997 to 2001.
He attended the University of Maryland at College Park and Kean University, and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in political science from Thomas Edison State College in 2014. He lives in Eatontown, New Jersey with his son and daughter, Jackson and Camryn.
Kyle Sullender
Director of Government and External Relations
Kyle Sullender joins HINJ after serving as Director of Economic Policy Research for the New Jersey Business & Industry Association (NJBIA), where he worked to advance the competitiveness of New Jersey’s business climate and represented association members’ policy interests in the areas of innovation and technology.
Sullender also served as the Executive Director of Focus NJ, an independent research nonprofit conducting timely, innovative, nonpartisan economic and workforce research to support sound public policy in New Jersey. He previously supported the Camden County Board of Commissioners, coordinating external affairs and media relations.
Sullender graduated summa cum laude from Rowan University in 2017 with bachelor’s degrees in journalism and philosophy before earning his Master of Public Policy in 2019 from the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University – New Brunswick. Sullender was a Class of 2019 Graduate Fellow at the Eagleton Institute of Politics and is an active member of the Eagleton Alumni Committee. He currently resides in Cherry Hill with his wife and son.
Lori Rolfe
Lori joined the HINJ Team in 2013 as the Director of Operations and Executive Assistant to Dean Paranicas. Her previous experience includes nearly seven years spent at the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, providing administrative support to the CEO and within various other programs. Immediately prior to joining HINJ, Lori worked as the Program Coordinator and Executive Assistant for the National Board of Information Security Examiners.
HealthCare Institute of New Jersey (HINJ)
10 W. Lafayette Street
Trenton, NJ 08608
Phone: 732-729-9619
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