I discovered Highlands in 2002 while looking for a vacation home. After a few months, I realized what an amazing town this is and got rid of my NYC apartment to live here full time. It took a while to learn all my neighbor’s names and stories since I worked in Manhattan and wasn’t around from 7:30 am – 7:30 pm on workdays. Now, I’m proud to say we’re not just neighbors but good friends.

After Sandy, so many of us were either living out of town or simply couldn’t make it up the hill to go to the council meetings, so my wife, Donica, and I signed up for a free uStream.tv account, bought a USB microphone and started streaming the meetings from our Mac laptop. We felt it was important for those displaced to have a way to see the council meetings, to participate in our future.

At the end of the summer of 2013, a group of residents came together to try to help the town move forward by re-introducing non-partisan elections to Highlands. We met as strangers with different ideas and party affiliations but banded together to make our town more than just Democrats and Republicans. After knocking on doors and educating residents on how non-partisan election work, we successfully changed how we elect our council people in Highlands. This is now a direct process in which political party leaders do not choose who is on the ballot, Highlanders do.

My professional background has prepared me well for serving Highlands. I’ve been working in market research since 1992, coordinating international fieldwork, conducting focus groups, and managing staff. My start in research was at Data Development, now known as Radius Global Market Research [one of the largest independent market research firms in the US], then on to Research International, now a part of TNS in the WPP Group [one of the top 5 market research firms in the world]. From 1999-2006, I had my own research business then I went on to the position of Vice President at Gazelle Global in 2006.

Skills I’ve honed along the way include budgeting, staff management, contract negotiations, and conflict resolution. Most of all, my training has given me the tools to listen to people and transform those thoughts and ideas into action.

In 2016, Donica and I embarked on a new venture. We bought the old A&P building on Miller Street and Bay Avenue. After extensively renovating the building, we opened Feed & Seed, a pet food, supply, and general store in 2017.  In 2019, I left Gazelle and again started my own research consulting company in 2020.

My education: one of the most important things I learned from 12 years of Catholic school was patience. After graduating from Notre Dame Academy, I took a year off to just be. I went on to get my bachelor’s degree in business with a concentration in marketing from the City University of New York, Sunnyside campus. Although I worked fulltime and took classes fulltime on nights and weekends, I managed to graduate with many terms on the Dean’s List.

P.S. Broullon is pronounced brew-yawn. Just think: You brew coffee, so you don’t yawn.

Donations: Carolyn Broullon for Mayor Committee, 12 Miler St, Highlands, NJ 07732