Marketing mojo makes Mittler a member

Gayle Brill Mittler, a Highland Park entrepreneur and past chair of the local Democratic Party committee, was appointed to borough council to fill the seat resigned in early October by Lou Pichinson. At a special meeting of the Borough Council, the council members interviewed three applicants for Pichinson’s seat, selecting Mittler over party committeeman Milo Schwab and Joshua Fine. Mittler's appointment will run the 14 month remainder of Pichinson's term, and she would have to stand for re-election in 2010 to continue.

Mittler was born and raised in the Flatbush community in Brooklyn. She studied English and Journalism at the State University of New York at New Paltz, where she met her husband. The couple moved to Highland Park for "a walking town with a sense of community,” where they raised two children, now grown. She immediately began volunteering through the public schools while her children attended and subsequently has served as the publicity and marketing chair on the Highland Park Education Foundation, as an original board member of Main Street Highland Park, and as co-founder of The Fund for Highland Park. She is the currently president of the Highland Park Conservative Temple and Center, as well as a committee officer in the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.

An entrepreneur, Mittler operates a screen-printing and ad specialization business, All Colors, LLC, and GEEBEE Marketing, a producer of the Black Heritage Series of toys and family games.

She decided to apply for the council appointment because she felt it was the next step in her community involvement. “My business is doing well, and my children are grown, so the timing was right and it just seemed like a natural transition for me.” Mittler’s first goal as a councilmember is to complete her training and familiarization as a member. Longer term, she aims to apply her skills in niche marketing in order to develop a stronger marketing plan for the borough.

Mittler compares the borough to a “mini-city,” given its location and diversity. She hopes to attract more retailers and consumers, and strengthen Highland Park as “not only a wonderful place to live, but also an economically thriving community.”