The New Jersey Business & Industry Association has added four top executives to its Board of Trustees, while also electing new officers.
The new additions to NJBIA’s Board include:
- Denise Beckson, Vice President of Human Resources & Government Relations, Morey’s Piers
- Anthony Iacono, Ph.D., President, County College of Morris
- Michael Reagan, Senior Vice President of Consulting Services, CGI
- Gail Friedberg Rottenstrich, CEO & Co-Founder, ZAGO Manufacturing
“These four leading executives bring a wide palette of backgrounds and decades of expertise in many important areas that drive New Jersey’s economy, such as manufacturing, information technology, higher education and tourism,” said NJBIA President and CEO Michele Siekerka.
“We’re privileged and honored to add these new trustees to a very accomplished, diverse and engaged board whose valued input helps us in our mission to advance the competitive excellence and financial success of our members and all New Jersey businesses every day.”
In addition to the new trustees, Clifford Lindholm, President & CEO of Falstrom Company, will serve as Chairperson, succeeding Celestina Quintana, Owner/Operator, McDonald’s restaurants, whose two-year term as Chairperson recently expired. Quintana remains with NJBIA’s Board of Trustees and will serve as the Immediate Past Chair.
Lori Roth, CPA/ABV, CFF, Co-Managing Partner, Prager Metis, has also been named the board’s Vice Chairperson and Domenick Cama, President, NYC Metro & New Jersey Markets of Citizens Bank will serve as Treasurer.
Other members of NJBIA’s Board of Trustees include:
- Rashaad Bajwa, CEO, Integris
- Marcy Bliss, President, Wedgewood Pharmacy
- Jessica Gonzalez, Chief Innovation Officer, BluLabs and IBrands Global
- James W. Horne Jr., President & CEO, Junior Achievement of New Jersey
- Deanna Sperling, MAS, RN, NE-BC, President & CEO, Barnabas Health Behavioral Health Center
- Rick Thigpen, Senior Vice President-Corporate Citizenship, PSEG
NJBIA also extends its heartfelt thanks to retiring Board members Brian F. Neuwirth, Chairman of the Board of UNEX Manufacturing, and Dan Borok, Managing Partner at Newark Venture Partners.
Neuwirth had served with NJBIA’s Board since 2005, including Chairperson from 2018-2021.
“Brian and Dan provided great insight and guidance at a critical time in NJBIA’s history and for that we are truly grateful,” Siekerka said.
More information on NJBIA’s four newest board members can be found below:
Denise Beckson
For more than three and a half decades, Beckson has worked at Morey’s Piers & Resorts in Wildwood, where she currently serves as a senior executive officer, specifically overseeing the business’s human resources and government affairs divisions as vice president.
She is active and passionately involved in the industry. Within New Jersey, she is a member of the Board of Directors of the New Jersey Amusement Association (NJAA) and the NJ Tourism Industry Association (NJTIA) and is the first vice chair on the Board of Directors of the New Jersey Restaurant and Hospitality Association (NJRHA). Through an appointment by the Cape May County Board of County Commissioners, she also serves on the Workforce Development Board of Cumberland, Salem, and Cape May counties.
Nationally and internationally, Beckson is a senior associate for Jeff Ellis & Associates (E&A), an internationally recognized aquatic safety consultant, and serves as a director for its annual International Aquatic Safety School. She is also actively involved in the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA), where she has previously served on the Board of Directors. Beckson currently serves as the chair of IAAPA’s North American Government Relations Committee and the North America Advisory Committee.
Dr. Anthony J. Iacono
Iacono was named the third president of County College of Morris (CCM) on Sept. 1, 2016. Prior to this, he served as Vice President of Academic Affairs at Indian River State College (IRSC) in Fort Pierce, Florida, where he served as a core member of the team that helped IRSC earn recognition by the Aspen Award Committee as one of the top three community colleges in the nation. He began his career in education as a professor of history.
Dr. Iacono chairs the Board of Directors for the Picatinny Innovation Center, serves on the Morris County Chamber of Commerce Board, and has participated in Leadership Morris. He also serves on various state committees and is eager to work with individuals and organizations in Morris County, throughout New Jersey, and across the nation to ensure that CCM is a recognized leader in innovation and outcomes.
A strong supporter of higher education and its power to transform lives, Dr. Iacono has served as an adviser to the U.S. Department of Education, the Florida Department of Education and various national think tanks and educational reform organizations. He is also one of the four founders of Florida’s Institute for the Professional Development of Adult Educators.
Michael Reagan
Reagan is senior vice president of CGI, a company that is among the largest IT and business consulting services firms in the world, with New Jersey offices based in New Brunswick. He oversees the company’s commercial and state government industry sectors in the East Business unit.
Reagan has full P&L responsibilities and oversees the day-to-day operations of the unit. He has been with the company for more than 17 years and has held numerous management positions with increasing P&L responsibilities for large-scale managed services, insurance, utilities, state and county governments, media, retail, distribution and manufacturing.
Prior to joining CGI, Reagan was at BellSouth Corporation and served as the chief information officer of BellSouth’s Long Distance and Product Development divisions. As CIO, he was responsible for all IT planning and strategy, architecture, application development, application support, operations and project management.
Reagan currently serves on the Board of Directors for Choose New Jersey, the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, and Elijah’s Promise. He also serves on the NJEDA Innovation Evergreen Fund, the New Brunswick P-Tech and Perkins advisory boards.
Gail Friedberg Rottenstrich
Friedberg Rottenstrich is co-founder and CEO of ZAGO Manufacturing Co., a woman-owned business and global producer of sustainable sealing fasteners and components. A former corporate attorney, Friedberg Rottenstrich started ZAGO with her husband, Harvey Rottenstrich, 30 years ago at the NJIT Enterprise Development Center small business incubator.
Today, ZAGO operates and manufactures from a solar-powered facility in Newark and employs more than 30 people.
In its 2021 NJBIZ Manufacturing Power 50, NJBIZ ranked Friedberg Rottenstrich as the fifth most powerful person in manufacturing in the Garden State for ZAGO’s outstanding work as an Essential Manufacturer throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, when the company pivoted to manufacture sealing screws for pneumatic medical ventilators. In 2022, ROI-NJ named Friedberg Rottenstrich to its ROI Influencers: Manufacturing list and its ROI Influencers: Top 40 Women in Business.
She serves on the Board of Trustees of NJMEP, the New Jersey Manufacturing Policy Academy Home Team, and on the Board of Trustees of Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan New Jersey. Friedberg Rottenstrich is a council member (second term) in her hometown of Fair Lawn.
