October 2011
2011 NJBIA Awards for Excellence

Eleven Companies to Receive NJBIA's 2011 Award for Excellence

On October 18, New Jersey Business & Industry Association President Philip Kirschner will present the Association’s 2011 Awards for Excellence to 11 companies that have done outstanding work to improve the quality of life in New Jersey.

The awards will be presented during a dinner ceremony at The Pines Manor in Edison.

Every year, NJBIA honors a select group of employers from among its 22,000 members for their outstanding achievements in four categories: business expansion, environmental quality, outstanding employer and public service.

All NJBIA members in good standing are eligible to be nominated for this annual award. The winners are selected by an independent panel of judges who volunteer their time to select the winners. This year’s judging panel was comprised of representatives of SCORE, Counselors to America’s Small Business, and NJBIA members.

Mercadien P.C. verified the information supplied by the winning applicants.
The 2011 winners:

BUSINESS EXPANSION AWARD
The Business Expansion Award is presented to companies that have contributed to the state’s economic growth through the expansion of their businesses.

GENEWIZ, Inc.
Chairman & CEO: Steven Sun, Ph.D.
NJ Location: South Plainfi eld
Founded: 1999
Full-time NJ Employees: 88
Business: Contract Research

GENEWIZ is proud of its tremendous growth, but as a contract research organization, it can also take pride in its contributions to the advancement of science and technology.

The company helps scientists by taking over certain steps in their research processes – steps that GENEWIZ can do faster and more cost effectively – and thereby contributing to a successful research project. In fact, GENEWIZ counts among its loyal customers nine Nobel Prize winners in medicine or chemistry.

Since its beginning in 1999, GENEWIZ has expanded from a 200-square-foot subleased laboratory to an international company with more than 98,000-square-feet of facilities across the U.S. and in China.

Last year, even in a weak economy, GENEWIZ saw its revenue grow by 50 percent and added 39 jobs to its U.S. payroll. Here in New Jersey, where the company is headquartered, GENEWIZ created 19 new jobs in 2010 and 23 in 2011.

As its name implies, GENEWIZ specializes in DNAbased research services. Its current portfolio includes DNA sequencing, gene synthesis, molecular biology, genomic services, and GLP/cGMP regulatory services.

Ranbaxy Inc.
Sr. Vice President and Regional Director - Americas:
Venkat Krishnan
NJ Location: Princeton
Founded: 1994
Full-time NJ Employees: 647
Business: Pharmaceuticals

Pharmaceutical company Ranbaxy, a global manufacturer of generic and OTC pharmaceutical products, just keeps growing.

A winner of NJBIA’s Business Expansion award six years ago, one would have expected the company’s growth to level off over time. But Ranbaxy had other ideas. Since 2005, Ranbaxy has invested $69.5 million in its New Jersey facilities, including $54.2 million in the past two years.

The investments have supported expansion of its Middlesex County manufacturing facilities, making Ohm Laboratories the company’s largest facility in its global manufacturing network in terms of tablet/capsule capacity. The company also has made investments in its infrastructure technology to improve productivity.

The growth is fueled by the continued increase in Ranbaxy’s U.S. sales, which are up 127 percent from 2005. In total, Ranbaxy now has FDA approval for more than 130 generic drug product formulations.

Not surprisingly, this has translated into good paying jobs for New Jersey. The company’s New Jersey workforce has grown from 414 in 2005 to 647 in 2010, mostly in the manufacturing area.

And Ranbaxy is not done yet. It plans to add another 50 jobs in New Jersey this year.

ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY AWARD
The Environmental Quality Award is presented to companies that have done outstanding work to preserve or enhance the quality of the environment in New Jersey.

NJM Insurance Group
President & CEO: Bernard M. Flynn
NJ Location: West Trenton,
Parsippany, Hammonton
Founded: 1913
Full-time NJ Employees: 2,500
Business: Insurance and Banking

When NJM Insurance Group expanded its presence in southern New Jersey, it not only provided long-term benefi ts for policyholders and bank customers, but it also had a positive impact on the environment.

You wouldn’t have noticed it when driving by, but the site that now hosts NJM’s South Jersey offices and NJM Bank’s Hammonton branch was historically a peach orchard, and like many former orchards it was found to be contaminated with dieldrin and products containing lead and arsenic used commonly during the 1940s through 1960s. In addition, a smaller area of the site was historically a sand-and gravel mine and was barren with no agricultural potential.

NJM’s first action was the environmental remediation of the approximately 32,000 cubic yards of soil within the top six to 24 inches across the majority of the site’s surface area. From there, NJM moved forward with a design strategy that didn’t just meet regulatory requirements, but provided sustainable design.

Design highlights include: nine bio-infiltration basins, six bio-infiltration islands, one bio-retention swale, and a rainwater harvesting system ensuring that all new runoff created by impervious coverage remains on site. Local storm water drainage systems are not given additional burdens. Flooding to adjacent properties has been reduced. Additionally, recharge to the aquifers that sustain drinking water for the local and South Jersey population and ecosystems have been greatly improved.

The NJM site also features the use of native plants and a design that was also able to reuse several hundred of the trees already on site for buffers that provide privacy to neighboring properties.

Overall, NJM has succeeded in taking a property that was in disuse and encumbered by multiple environmental constraints and developing it into a site that adds back to the local economy and enhances NJM’s facilities to serve insurance policyholders and bank customers.

Datapipe, Inc.
CEO: Robb Allen
NJ Location: Jersey City
Founded: 1998
Full-time NJ Employees: 177
Business: IT Services

In the quest to increase the use of clean energy, Datapipe, a leading provider of managed services and infrastructure for IT, has achieved its latest milestone. The company now powers all of its data centers nationwide on 100 percent renewable energy sources, making it the only IT company in New Jersey and one of only 13 companies nationwide to earn membership into the Green Power Leadership Club run by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The company’s San Jose, California data center switched to 100 percent
renewable energy in February, while the rest of Datapipe’s facilities had already converted in 2010.

Although renewable energy is more expensive than regular electricity, the added cost is not passed on to clients. Datapipe combined its renewable energy effort with a successful energy conservation initiative that reduced consumption.

Datapipe installed a 99 percent efficient power source energy-saver system, optimized the effi ciency of its computer room air conditioning units (resulting in 55 percent power savings) and made power consumption a key consideration for every piece of hardware it purchases. Datapipe’s commitment to using clean energy in its operations will help reduce both its carbon footprint and the environmental impacts that the increased demand for digital services produce.

OUTSTANDING EMPLOYER AWARD
The Outstanding Employer Award is presented to companies that demonstrate a creative and forwardlooking approach to managing their human resources.

Barnabas Health
CEO: Ronald J. Del Mauro
NJ Location: West Orange
Founded: 1996
Full-time NJ Employees: 12,571
Business: Healthcare Services

Barnabas Health has a simple formula for success: Knowledge = improved patient care. Obviously, putting that philosophy into practice requires ongoing employee education and training. But how does New Jersey’s second largest private employer schedule classes while operating six acute care hospitals, two children’s hospitals, an ambulatory care center, hospice and palliative centers, a behavioral health network, and numerous outpatient facilities and physician practices around the clock? Barnabas Health uses the Internet.

The health system created a virtual university of classes called the NetLearning Management System for all employees and Learning Asset Management System for managers. The e-learning systems offer hundreds of online customized courses, which are available to all staff anytime and anywhere they have access to the Internet.

Employees have access to healthcare specific courses designed by experts in their subjects, such as nursing education and infection control, among others. There are also general business and management courses as well as numerous Podcasts and Webcasts. The curriculum offered grew from 245 modules in 2007 to more than 3,000 in 2010.

The courses are designed to support the mission of Barnabas Health by enhancing employee and management knowledge and providing staff with the necessary tools to adapt to an evolving healthcare marketplace. Additionally, the courses advocate performance standards with a focus on achieving more consistent patient outcomes and high quality care.

The program also enables Barnabas Health to track and record competencies of its employees, maintain licensures through continued education, and comply with healthcare regulatory and compliance organizations.

The training is free for employees, and it appears to be popular. Ninety-one percent of employees used the online tools in 2010, completing more than 200,000 courses. Subscriptions to NetLearning increased 85 percent between 2009 and 2010, with 18,000 employees benefiting from the online system.

Bergen’s Promise, Inc.
President and CEO: Dean Pastras
NJ Location: Rochelle Park
Founded: 2002
Full-time NJ Employees: 33
Business: Behavioral Healthcare
Nonprofit

Working with children who have intense and complex mental health needs can be emotionally draining. That’s why organizations like Bergen’s Promise, Inc., a private, nonprofit agency that helps families in crisis, generally have a high rate of employee turnover.

To combat this problem, Bergen’s Promise revamped its strategic plan to help employees become more engaged, to promote wellness and to foster teamwork. The effort has dramatically improved employee retention and increased continuity of care, which has improved the outcomes for the children and families served by Bergen’s Promise.

The change begins with the workforce structure. Employees now work together in teams of four to seven individuals to foster communications and increase sharing of best practices. Bergen’s Promise also revamped its training programs to provide regular training sessions, as well as its orientation program to better prepare new employees for the job ahead.

The agency introduced a Wellness Board to help employees lead healthier lifestyles, with tips on subjects such as nutrition and stress management. It even partnered with a local fitness agency to conduct fitness-focused team-building activities.

Bergen’s Promise also implemented Healthcare Flexible Spending Accounts for both employees and dependents at no cost to employees. And the agency implemented a “flex time” policy to allow employees to better balance work and family needs.

The initiative has produced impressive results. In an industry where the average 12-month retention rate is less than 60 percent, Bergen’s Promise was able to achieve an 82 percent retention rate and increase the average length of employment more than 220 percent since 2006. Now employees stay an average of three-and-half years. And after the Wellness Program was implemented, employee use of sick time dropped 35 percent.

Hackensack University
Medical Center
President & CEO: Robert C. Garrett
NJ Location: Hackensack
Founded: 1888
Full-time NJ Employees: 5,616
Business: Hospital

Since 1888, Hackensack University Medical Center (HUMC) has been working to make people in Bergen County healthier. Now they are turning their expertise to improving the health and wellness of a population that’s even closer to home: the center’s 5,600 employees and their families.

Two years ago, HUMC committed itself to creating a culture of wellness at its workplace by not only encouraging its employees to do more to prevent disease, but also by making it easier for them to reach their goals.

With the commitment coming from the CEO and senior leadership, HUMC first looked at its health benefits plan and removed all co-payments for preventive care. The center also added a new tobacco cessation program, providing free nicotine replacement therapy, free nicotine and non-nicotine prescription aids and free counseling.

To address major health issues early, HUMC also added a Disease Management Program as part of its health benefits package. The program assesses the risk of each employee for six disease states: Diabetes, Asthma, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, Congestive Heart Failure, Coronary Artery Disease and Obesity Weight Management. Additionally, all inpatient and most outpatient services rendered at the center are free to employees and eligible dependents.

The center also encourages healthier lifestyles as part of its culture of wellness initiatives. It offers dietetic meals and healthier choices in vending machines, as well as providing reimbursement for weight loss programs like Weight Watchers and memberships at accredited gyms.

The center even hired an onsite wellness coach as part of a Healthy Lifestyle Coaching pilot program that so far has attracted 600 employees.

PUBLIC SERVICE AWARD
The Public Service Award is presented to companies for outstanding service to their communities.

Lowy’s Moving Service
President and CEO: Stephan Lowy
NJ Location: Neptune
Founded: 1924
Full-time NJ Employees: 45
Business: Transportation Services

For more than 80 years, Lowy’s Moving Service has been helping businesses and residents move all over the country. With that experience, the Lowy's have learned a thing or two about relocations, one of which is that too much food gets thrown away when the moving truck gets packed up.

The Lowy family felt this was wasteful, so two years ago they formed Move For Hunger to deliver that food to local food banks. Lowy’s simply asks the family or business to donate the food and Lowy’s delivers it. It’s a simple idea that has taken off.

Not content with just doing their part for the community, Lowy’s began recruiting other moving companies to do the same thing with their customers. Now, 142 companies in 33 states are participating in the program.

Nor do they limit food collections to relocations. Recognizing that hunger is a year-around problem, Move For Hunger began organizing food drives during the holidays and throughout the year.

Their efforts have made a difference. In just two years, Move For Hunger delivered nearly 200,000 pounds of food to food banks nationwide, and its membership is continuing to grow.

Novartis Pharmaceuticals
Corporation
President: André Wyss
NJ Location: East Hanover
Founded: 1996
Full-time NJ Employees: 4,733
Business: Pharmaceuticals

When it comes to corporate public service programs, companies usually do one of two things: they either go out into the community and contribute their time and effort, or they open their doors and let the community benefit from what the company has to offer. Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation (NPC) does both.

Its community service activities are highlighted by an annual Community Partnership Day, in which thousands of Novartis employees volunteer for community organizations doing cleanups, repairing facilities or providing donations. But the company also opens its doors to local teens under its Multicultural Teen Corporate Mentoring Program.

Both programs are sponsored and run by the organization’s Alliance Development and Philanthropy team and have been in existence for 14 years.

Community Partnership Day, an annual day of service, provides nonprofit agencies with a volunteer workforce to take on whatever projects are needed. Last year, more than 2,000 New Jersey-based employees volunteered onsite, offsite and through collection drives for 75 nonprofits. They do everything from painting and maintenance to working with the elderly. Many of the groups rely on volunteers and count on Novartis’ help each year.

The mentoring program is designed to help students better understand the career possibilities a corporate setting offers.

The week-long program is offered twice to allow more students to participate. It includes a welcome from NPC President André Wyss, panel discussions with executives, career and college fairs as well as career workshops, and a community service project. The program culminates with a mock product-marketing challenge, followed by an awards dinner with parents and families at the end of the week.

These activities are in addition to the company’s ongoing efforts, including its annual United Way campaign, an onsite blood drive program, annual holiday Spirit of Giving collection drive, two after-school tutoring and mentoring programs for grade-school children, volunteering monthly at the Community FoodBank in Hillside, and a broad philanthropic grants program.

Prudential Financial, Inc.
Chairman & CEO: John R.
Strangfeld
NJ Location: Newark
Founded: 1875
Full-time NJ Employees: 7,947
Business: Finance

Charitable organizations exist to help people overcome hardships and improve their lives. But what if it’s the charities themselves that need help?

Prudential Financial noticed that the weak economy had simultaneously increased the demand for the services of charitable organizations and limited their ability to raise funds to carry out their missions. So Prudential set out to help charities find new, more effective ways to meet their financial goals and develop leadership among their boards.

The program, called the Strength for Capacity Initiative, was created by Prudential’s Community Resources Department.

The first phase of the initiative began with an all day seminar dubbed “Breaking the Gala Addiction Clinic” to provide nonprofit boards and staff leaders with alternatives to traditional events-based fundraising like galas or sporting events.

Leaders learned that such events typically cost more than they raise: on average, it costs $1.33 to raise $1.00 for the charity. So the clinic brought in experts to share fundraising best practices, such as how to use social media in fundraising. The clinic included a presentation by the Institute of Entrepreneurial Leadership on how to develop a viable business plan.

Prudential backed up its call for more effective and creative fundraising by offering competitive grants to the most compelling ideas. The Food Bank of New Jersey won the $75,000 fi rst prize grant for its idea to produce and sell its own line of bagel crisps, with the resulting revenue helping them feed more people. Kids Corporation won a $25,000 Prudential Grant for its idea to create an organic farm and sell the produce locally, which will enable them to introduce the children and families in their programs to healthier eating. And City Without Walls, an urban gallery to advance careers of artists, received $10,000 for its idea to generate income by providing Web-based marketing services to artists and art organizations.

In a later phase of the project, called “Leadership for Capacity,” the company also offered $25,000 grants to nonprofits that strengthened the board’s role in fundraising, enhanced the collaboration between their board leaders and staff, or developed strategic alliances with other nonprofits that improved their ability to serve constituents.

Seton Hall University
President: A. Gabriel Esteban
NJ Location: South Orange
Founded: 1856
Full-time NJ Employees: 651
Business: Higher Education

Seton Hall University provides a quality education in more than 60 different majors at its South Orange campus. While the 10,000 or so students who attend Seton Hall every year may pursue different academic disciplines, they all have the opportunity to learn about serving their community.

Seton Hall encourages students to participate in its Division of Volunteer Efforts (DOVE) program and donate their time and effort to help the elderly, serve the poor and help educate children. The students have responded admirably. During the 2009-2010 academic year, the program provided more than 16,000 hours worth of community service.

DOVE has formed a partnership with 25 community organizations, such as local soup kitchens, schools and nursing homes. But the program doesn’t stop there. When it sees a need in the community that’s not being addressed through current programs, it creates its own. So far, DOVE has established 15 of its own programs.

Activities include spending time with elderly residents at area nursing homes and adults with special needs at group homes who do not often get the opportunity to interact with college-age people.

DOVE volunteers tutor young people, mentor middle school students and help teach English to non-English speakers. They also volunteer at soup kitchens and participate in food drives.

Activities are not limited to New Jersey or even the United States. Seton Hall students have traveled to Haiti and El Salvador to help at orphanages, hospices and other facilities.

DOVE makes it all possible by recruiting volunteers, providing transportation and supervision for each program, managing the schedules of the student volunteers and lining up the volunteer opportunities.

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Vincent Schweikert, Vice President & Publisher
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