2025 Awards for Excellence

On Oct 1, 2025

New Jersey Business Magazine proudly presents the 2025 Awards for Excellence to four executives and eight companies that have improved New Jersey’s quality of life in outstanding ways. Powered by NJBIA, the awards honor select employers from NJBIA’s membership for their remarkable achievements.

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2025 AFE Members of the Year

For company contributions to NJBIA and efforts to improve the state’s business climate.

Citizens

Citizens is devoted both to New Jersey’s business community as well as NJBIA, including funding two workforce development grants in support of NJBIA’s affiliate foundation, Focus NJ. These grants are furthering Focus NJ’s online Workforce Development Map, an interactive map cataloging hundreds of workforce development training programs throughout the state that connect workers, employers, and training providers. The map is continuously updated to showcase useful information for members of academia, business and government as well as current and future workers. 

More broadly, Citizens is committing $10 million to nonprofits in 2025/2026 to support workforce development programs that strengthen talent pipelines and drive economic growth in New Jersey and other states. The funding supports nonprofits working to enhance and expand access to educational and career opportunities while addressing the rapidly changing demands of the modern economy. With 107 New Jersey bank branches serving companies and consumers alike, Citizens operates in 14 states as well as the District of Columbia.

Parker McCay

With more than 100 years of service in South Jersey and beyond, the Mt. Laurel-based law firm of Parker McCay is dedicated to its clients and the business community at large. 

Case in point: Its attorneys presented at NJBIA’s 2024 “The Second Act of Cannabis in the Garden State” event as well as at NJBIA’s 2025 “11th Annual Women Business Leadership Forum (WBLF).” A Parker McCay attorney will likewise present at NJBIA’s Energy & Environmental Policy Forum this month. 

It’s part of Parker McCay’s larger pattern of engaging New Jersey businesses with legal information that can protect them, as well as foster job creation and overall prosperity in the Garden State. With approximately 60 attorneys spread over almost 25 practice areas, Parker McCay stands at the leading edge of its profession.

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2025 AFE Community Service

For companies committed to leadership in finding solutions to social or economic challenges.

Atlantic City Electric

While Atlantic City Electric (ACE) provides electricity for its customers, it also serves its communities in myriad ways, including having more than 470 ACE team members operating beyond their job descriptions to spend over 11,400 hours volunteering at local nonprofits in 2024. 

ACE employees also contributed more than $1 million to local nonprofits last year. The ACE team meets customers at local pop-ups and neighborhood gatherings to chat face-to-face about energy education and bill support options. In 2024, they attended more than 80 in-person events and provided $60 million in financial assistance to 35,000 customers. 

Moreover, through a staggering 158 various partnerships across southern New Jersey, ACE is investing in long-term solutions for people in need as it separately helps prepare the region’s future workforce and strengthens sustainability. Case in point: Through an ongoing partnership with Sustainable Jersey and ACE, over $310,000 in grants has been distributed since 2020 to municipalities throughout New Jersey to support sustainability initiatives and the path to a cleaner, brighter future.

Innovation+

A curated global community of engaged innovators and entrepreneurs, Innovation+ was founded by James Barrood during the throes of the coronavirus pandemic, when New Jersey’s tech and innovation ecosystem was experiencing a time of great need. Since the early spring of 2020, Innovation+ has hosted more than 180 salons and over 150 events that have connected leaders and shared insights on wide-ranging topics primarily focused on business/technology. 

Successfully leveraging Barrood’s knowledge of the tech community to connect people and build relationships, Innovation+ has forged relationships throughout industry, education, government and nonprofits, evolving into a community of more than 1,000 global leaders and a total of 20,000+ members. Barrood is no stranger to innovation, technology and entrepreneurialism. Over the past 25 years, he has nurtured the region’s community by previously serving as CEO for TechUnited (NJ/NYC/Phila.), formerly the NJ Tech Council. Prior to that, Barrood led the top-ranked entrepreneurship and innovation center at Fairleigh Dickinson University for 15 years. 

Modern Line Furniture

For Hamilton Township-based Modern Line Furniture – which has been manufacturing commercial furniture exclusively in the United States since 2014 – philanthropic endeavors are part of its ethos.

For example, the company recently coordinated a furniture donation to Habitat for Humanity, an organization that helps to build and improve homes for those in need. “From the moment we arrived, we knew this was more than just a delivery – it was an opportunity to make a meaningful impact,” the company states. Modern Line Furniture routinely makes donations to Paralyzed Veterans of America, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Vietnam Veterans of America and others, recognizing that in-person donations allow the firm to build deeper relationships with those it supports and strengthen its connection with the community and the people it serves. 

The company’s charitable undertakings are a natural outgrowth of its success: Chief Financial Officer Yana Katliarova has overseen rapid corporate growth, with customers traveling to New Jersey for their out-of-state projects in what is a nationwide operation. 

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2025 AFE Outstanding Employers

For companies celebrating creative and forward-looking approaches to managing HR.

Taurus International Corporation

As a global sourcing company supplying forgings, castings, and related engineered components to OEMs since 1981, Ramsey-based Taurus International Corporation is dedicated to excellence through its technical expertise, vast experience and large global network of manufacturers. 

Taurus is also creatively devoted to its employees: Its annual sales meeting is replete with a week of employee training, and most recently included an entire day committed to developing a corporate culture statement via team-member input. Taurus is known for its “human touch”: It’s employees routinely celebrate the birth of grandchildren and nieces/nephews, as well as other family milestones, athletic wins and many more life events. 

One employee tells New Jersey Business Magazine, “I joined Taurus after a 20-plus year career in corporate America where I was an ‘employee ID number.’ [At Taurus], I feel valued and appreciated for everything I contribute. That makes me want to do better and contribute more to the bottom line.”

Golden Crown Contractors

If onboarding employees and continuously instructing them is part of Golden Crown Contractors corporate culture, it could stem from the fact that its President Christine Luizzia-McGuire was taught about construction by her father (the former president) from an early age. While Luizzia-McGuire initially didn’t think the construction business was a good fit for her while she was in high school and college, she ultimately became enthralled and took the company’s reins. 

One of her current employees tells New Jersey Business Magazine, “I started with Golden Crown [about three years ago] and what it has been able to teach me about construction is far from none. I came in new to this industry and the company has taken the time to explain certain areas that I could not quite understand; it has sent me to classes to better my knowledge.” 

A Women-Owned Business, Golden Crown Contractors has more than 48 years of general construction experience in design building, school renovations, offices, hospitals and other projects. 

Scrum Alliance 

A scrum framework relies on cross-functional and independent teams to deliver products or services rapidly, and Scrum Alliance – a fully remote nonprofit with 50 employees – is not only consistently delivering agile and scrum practices, but it has also built an innovative people-first culture. In 2025, the firm earned a 94% Great Place to Work® score, outpacing the typical company average of 57%. 

Scrum Alliance has invested in employee growth, launching career pathing tools and quarterly performance reviews as well as a custom leadership and professional development series based on employee feedback. A redesigned onboarding program has included a 30-60-90 day playbook as well as new hire mentors and a “network wheel” to foster early connections. Scrum Alliance has also kept its year-over-year healthcare premium increases to just 6.67% while separately donating to various causes and launching a formal Volunteer Time Off (VTO) policy which annually affords eight paid hours to employees for their chosen causes. 

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2025 AFE Executives of the Year

For individuals who demonstrate leadership and passion while achieving business success.

Patrick Jefferey

Executive VP & COO 

T&M Associates

Upon being named executive vice president and COO of engineering/technical services firm T&M Associates in 2019, Patrick Jefferey has guided the 350-person organization through its most profitable period in company history. Under his leadership, annual revenues have exceeded $89 million, and operational efficiency has been enhanced through measurable strategies. 

As a licensed professional engineer and planner, Jefferey brings technical expertise to his leadership role, with a project portfolio that includes enhancing roads, stormwater systems, public water facilities, parks and coastal zones. Jefferey is also an advocate for workforce development and community engagement. He mentors rising professionals and has been instrumental in shaping T&M’s Strategic Plan and its evolution into “Vision 2025,” which promotes innovation, equity, environmental responsibility and progress.

Mark E. Manigan

President & CEO

RWJBarnabas Health

Upon assuming his role in 2023, RWJBarnabas Health President and CEO Mark E. Manigan leveraged a strategic vision to drive transformative growth, with a 67% increase in revenues since 2019, while achieving a nearly 30% improvement in mortality translating into 1,000 lives saved, and tripling the number of Leapfrog A ratings in two years.

Manigan has a deep commitment to New Jersey communities: RWJBarnabas Health annually contributes more than $7 billion to New Jersey’s economy and is the largest provider of safety net medical care in the state. The system’s “hire local-buy local” initiative has directed over $370 million to local vendors and generated 3,400 jobs for residents in underserved communities. Among his other accomplishments, Manigan spearheaded a $1 billion partnership with Rutgers University to expand clinical trials and medical education.

Dr. Christopher M. Reber

President

Hudson County Community College

Christopher M. Reber, Ph.D., has been president of Hudson County Community College (HCCC) since 2018, overseeing an institution that serves more than 20,000 students with high-quality educational programs/services. Reber has initiated nationally acclaimed programs including: the President’s Advisory Council on Institutional Engagement and Excellence (PACE), which promotes principles of excellence in all HCCC activities and outcomes; and the HCCC Hudson Helps Resource Center, a compendium of wraparound services and programs that address basic student needs beyond the classroom. 

Reber is the first community college president to serve on the board of the Business Higher Education Forum (BHEF), an organization of corporate CEOs and higher education leaders. He was also honored as the American Association of Community Colleges 2024 Community College CEO of the Year.

Deborah Visconi

President & CEO

Bergen New Bridge Medical Center

With more than 30 years of success in providing strategic direction, vision, and leadership in healthcare systems across the region, Bergen New Bridge Medical Center President and CEO Deborah Visconi has led the center in expanding programs and services as well as enhancing its provider relations. This has yielded improvements in quality, safety, and the patient/resident experience, with Bergen New Bridge recognized as a “Top Hospital” and “Top Teaching Hospital” by the Leapfrog Group. 

Visconi collaborates with Bergen County and other community partners to launch programs that deliver care onsite and via telehealth, to thousands. This includes innovative CareRite Now primary care centers located in select Inserra ShopRite supermarkets. Among her other achievements, in 2024 Visconi was named in “Becker’s Women Hospital Presidents and CEOs to Know” as well as a 2024 “Crain’s Women of Influence Finalist.”

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