NJ’s Innovative Leaders to be Honored May 13

On Mar 23, 2026

On May 13, New Jersey’s innovative leaders will be honored in New Brunswick at the annual INNOVATE100 celebration. These professionals from various sectors are important to the state’s robust economy and strong community, from startups and corporations to universities, nonprofits and the government, all play a major role in our innovation ecosystem.

The INNOVATE100 initiative, spearheaded by James Barrood of Innovation+, is designed to highlight and elevate these leaders and to showcase collaboration within companies and among organizations. “It is only through sustained and visionary leadership that innovation can thrive in both good times and bad. That is why we don’t simply honor CEOs and presidents, but also their colleagues who drive innovation throughout companies and organizations,” Barrood says. “We’ve also elevated the community leaders in our great state. They are the catalysts who make things happen. In addition, we’ve highlighted “Innovators to Watch,” who represent the next generation of extraordinary leaders.”

Innovation+ says it could not spearhead the initiative without support from stakeholders and sponsors including Rutgers, Nokia Bell Labs, Valley Bank, Citrin Cooperman and Bell Works, the New Jersey Business & Industry Association (NJBIA), Middlesex County, Aspire Studios and Jersey Tech + Innovation.

“We’re thankful for the partnership with NJBIA, and NJBIA President and CEO Michele Siekerka, whose leadership in the state’s business community cannot be overstated,” said Barrood.

“At NJBIA, our vision is to see New Jersey reclaim its stature as ‘The Innovation State’,” Siekerka commented. “There are great companies and initiatives here in New Jersey driving our ability to replant our flag and the INNOVATE100 leader list exemplifies those who are leading the way.”

The event will be held at the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center at 7 pm.

To save your seat please register at https://innovatenewjersey.com/ when tickets go on sale to the public in April.

Below is a listing of Innovation Leaders being honored:

 

Technology  

Amit Sevak, CEO, ETS

Prasanna Gopalakrishnan, Global Chief Product and AI Officer, ADP

Ritu Lamba, Cyber Security WW GTM Leader, Microsoft

Liz Almeida, CHRO, Panasonic

Rakesh Shah, President/CFO, Compunnel

Hadi Chaudhry, President, CareCloud

Corey Sanders, SVP, Product, Coreweave

Shane Higby, SVP, Home Entertainment, Samsung

Rami Douenias, Head, AI Solutions, SHI

Simin Cai, President/CEO, Go!Foton

Komal Dangi, CEO, Synkriom/VeriKlick

Dean Guida, CEO, Infragistics

Tod Sizer, VP, Optical Systems and Devices Research Lab, Nokia Bell Labs

Matthew Andrews, Dept Head, Modelling/Optimization Research, Nokia Bell Labs

Jinfeng Du, Dept Head, Radio Systems Research, Nokia Bell Labs

Todd Rossin, CEO, TechDemocracy

Sanjay Goradia, CEO, Santor Technologies

Glenn Booth, CEO, Kiswe

Zack Rosenberg, CEO, Qortex

Deepen Sinha, CEO, ATC Labs

Siva Surendira, CEO, Lyzr.ai

Felix Knoll, COO/CRO, Cranium.ai

Ryan Patterson, SAE, Uber AI Solutions

Jen Oon, SVP, Sales, DAX US

Priscilla Amiraj, Global Head, Digital Product Engineering & Delivery, IEEE

Dave Rapaport, Head, Research & Collaboration-US, Siemens Corporation

Rich Friedman, CFO, Noom

Rita Gurevich, CEO, Sphere

Matt Patel, COO, Malbek

Jeff Weinstein, CEO, TranscendAP

Beth Herbert, Director for State, Local and Higher Ed – NJ, Slalom

James Titus, VP, Cons. Services; State/Local Sector Leader, CGI

John Wojcik, VP, Brother International Corporation

Anika Sharma, Head, Advisor Relations-Americas, LTM

Anand Rai, AI Engineer, Verizon; Faculty, Stevens

Peter Boumenot, CPO, CentralReach

Madhu Kumar, CEO, Amadis Technologies

Chieh Huang, CEO, Pelgo

Amos Winbush III, CEO, bckrs.ai

 

Banking/Investors

Nick Lachman, Head of AI & Data Science, Valley Bank

Scott Leff, Head of Product Engineering, Valley Bank

Raffique Barbour, SVP, Director of Solution Engineering & Integration, Valley Bank

William Taranto, President, GHIF, Merck

Andrew Gollach, Partner, HAX/SOSV

Aaron Block, MP, MetaProp

Josh McCallen, MP, Accountable Equity

Andrea Hoffman, CEO, Culture Shift Labs

Robert Wolk, founder, Princeton Alumni Angels

Deepak Batheja, Operating Partner, Lee Equity

Veneeta Singal, Executive Director, J.P. Morgan Wealth Advisory

Robert Kilgour, SVP, OceanFirst Bank

Karan Mehta, CFO, Cross River

David DeStefano, FSVP/NJ Regional President, FirstBank

Michael Wiley,  VP, Foundation Venture Capital Group

Jossy Harrington, Senior Associate, Tech Council Ventures

Dan Van Tran, Member, Jumpstart NJ Angel Network

Atul Prasher, CEO, SAVA360 Ventures

Pravin Patil, MP, Prana Tech Ventures

Michael Connallon, MP, Garden State Venture Partners

Jay Shah, founder, VentureF0rth

 

Life Sciences

June Lanoue, Oncology President, US Hematology, J&J

Adam Lenkowsky, EVP, CCO, BMS

Suhas Krishna, Global Head, Product Dev., Devices & Packaging, Sanofi

Jot Chahal, VP, Global Digital Health, J&J

Teshtar Elavia, CTO, Integra LS

Shantanu Baruah, President, Hexaware

James Simon, Distinguished Professor of Plant Biology, Rutgers University

Scott Kachlany, Associate Professor, Rutgers University School of Dental Medicine

Victor Shengkan Jin, Professor, Rutgers University

Ray Chen, President, Life Sciences Group, GenScript

Ryan Saadi, CEO, Tevogen Bio

Sangita Tripathi, Head, Integration-Americas, L’Oreal

Syed Husain, CEO, Made Scientific

Fernando Muzzio, President, Integra CMS, AcumenBiopharma; Faculty, Rutgers

Raghu Rao, CEO, Sonnet BioTherapeutics

Raj Devalapalli, President, Manufacturing, Ingenus Pharmaceuticals LLC

Donna Konicek, Sr. Director, Research, Insmed

Bob Rossilli, CCO, Kedrion Biopharma

Tyler Bryk, Head of AI, PTC Therapeutics

Vinod Das, Associate Director, Bayer

Bridget Conway, Associate Director, R&D, UFS NA

Ajit Rajasekharan, CTO, nference

Christopher Whitfield, CEO, Antigenix Therapeutics

Louise Liu, CEO, Hill Research

Melindah Sharma, Managing Director – Life Sciences, Manatt Health

 

Healthcare     

Beth McCombs, EVP/CTO, BD

Warren Moore, President/COO, Inspira

Debbie Hart, CEO, BioNJ

Edward Maule, CIO / CISO, Advocare, LLC

Arvind Gurnani, CEO, Synergy Medical Laboratory

Michael Sheldon, Sr. Director, Research Collaborations, Sampled

Amy Murtha, Dean, Rutgers RWJMS

Shawna Hudson, Vice Chancellor, DIS, Rutgers RWJMS

David Alland, Professor of Medicine & Director PHRI, Rutgers

Balpreet Grewal-Virk, SVP, RWJ Barnabas Health

Adam Alonso, CSO, Hudson Regional Health

Jennifer D’Angelo, COO; EVP, Healthcare, NJII, NJIT

Kedar Ganta, Chief Product, Technology & AI Officer, Caregility

Naveena Yanamala, Translational AI, Rutgers RWJMS

Gloria Vanderham, Managing Director, Highwire Health

Kamya Elawadhi, Cofounder/President, Doceree

Sandi Ko, VP HR & Chief Compliance Officer, Springpoint Senior Living

Geeta Fofandi, CEO, Faith Home Healthcare

Bryan Price, founder, Top Mental Health

Shiv Bhavnani, Partner, GIMBHI/evio.vc

Natanya Wachtel, founder, New Solutions Network

 

Academia      

Rutgers: Wendie Cohick, Vice Chancellor for Research

Dunbar Birnie, Faculty

Eusebio Pires, Sr. Manager, Technology Transfer

Rowan: Neal Lemon, AVP, Innovation

Cortney Bolden, Rowan College of South Jersey

George Lecakes, Jr., Director, Dreamscape Learn

FDU:    Annie Rohan, Dean, Henry Becton College of Nursing and Allied Health

Hyunah Cho, Professor and ED, Health innovation and Strategy, FDU Health

Carolynn Julien, Associate Provost, Grants and Sponsored Programs

Princeton:  Tom Griffiths, Director, AI Lab

Edgar Choueiri, Faculty

Nena Golubovic, Director of Innovation

Stevens: Edmund Synakowski, Vice Provost for Research and Innovation

Jennifer Kang Mieler, Chair, Biomed Eng. Dept/Director, Semcer Center

Marouane Temimi, Professor, Dept of Civil, Env. and Ocean Engineering

NJIT:   John Pelesko, Provost

Senjuti Basu Roy, Panasonic Chair in Sustainability

Tom Villani, VP, AI and Machine Learning, NJII

 

Hilary Link, President, Drew University

David Birdsell, Provost/SVP Academic Affairs, Kean University

Scott Shaw, President, Lincoln Educational Services Corp.

Mary Kate Naatus, Associate Provost, Seton Hall University

Lori Tarke, Executive Director, Latino Institute, Seton Hall University

Emily Vandalovsky, Dean, Math, Sci, Tech, Bergen Community College

Valerie Aloe, Director, Strategic Planning, Feliciano Center Montclair State

Marc Austin, Vice Provost/Managing Director, Montclair Unbound, Montclair

David McGee, Faculty, TCNJ; cofounder, Vector Scribe

Margaret McMenamin, President, Union County College

Augustine Boakye, President Essex County College

Eric Friedman, President, Bergen Community College

Barbara Gaba, President, Atlantic Cape Community College

Linda Scherr, Chief Academic Officer, NJ Council of County Colleges

Elvira Vieira, Dean of Community, Essex County College

Michelle Van Noy, Director, Education & Employment Research Center, Rutgers

Jonathan Hart, Superintendent, Readington Township School District

Rosetta Treece, Superintendent, Hopewell Valley Regional School District

 

Government  

John Pulomena, County Administrator, Middlesex County

Beth Rooney, Port Director, Port Authority NY/NJ

Energy

Kim Hanemann, President, PSEG

Stacy Ho Richardson, Deputy Director, Clean Energy, NJ BPU

Doug Mokoid, President, FirstEnergy New Jersey

Raghu Menon, Head, HYCO Syngas Global, Matheson/Nippon Sanso Holdings

Steven Cocchi, SVP/COO, South Jersey Industries

Deepak Chandran, President, Iris Energy

Andrew Hendry, Region President, Atlantic City Electric

Jacqueline Shea, SVP/CIO, New Jersey Natural Gas

Joe Wilson, SVP, Trinity Solar

James Toomey, Head of Commercial Innovation, Turtle

Angela Fasnacht, COO, Princeton Critical Minerals

Jamar Tyndale, Senior Manager, PSEG

 

Food  

Linda Doherty, President, NJ Food Council

Adam San Miguel, CEO, Cortaditos Coffee

Lily Angelico, cofounder, Angelico Winery

Juan Salinas, founder/CEO, Pnuff

Alexa La Barbiera, founder/CEO, Pastamalfi

Kun Yang, founder/CEO, Pricklee

 

Manufacturing       

John Huang, CEO, TheWell Bioscience Inc.

Jim Davis, CEO, Whirl Construction

Taylor Scicchitano, Marketing Manager, COIM USA

Bill Scull, Continuous Improvement Manager, South Jersey Glass

Ted Toth, Sr. Technical Advisor, Rosenberger NA

Nathaniel Banks, CEO, PolyGone Systems

Steve Tice, VP Operations, Lamatek

Ricardo Guerrero, Director of Manufacturing Operations, Safer Textiles

 

Finance/Accounting 

John Genz, Senior Tax Partner, Citrin Cooperman

Annette Tolentino, Director, Citrin Cooperman

Arda Ural, Americas Sector Leader for Life Sciences, EY

Tom Angelo, CEO, HBK CPAs & Consultants

Michael Hadjiloucos, Natl Pharma/Med Devices Leader, EisnerAmper

Matthew Walsh, Partner, Withum

Paul Peterson, Managing Partner, Wiss & Company

Chenelle Manley, Partner, PwC

Gary Berletti, Global CISO, KPMG

Alexander Gero, Chief Financial Officer, Port53 Technologies Team

Brian Kirkpatrick, VP, Admin/Finance, NJCU

Diane Campagna, Principal, The Green Group

Robert Dunn, President/MP, Novi Wealth

Brian Feeney, Director, Tyton Partners

Don Ayers, CEO, Innovative Wealth Partners

 

Legal

Frank Giantomasi, Member, CSG Law

Christopher Costa, Co-Chair, Real Estate, Stevens & Lee

Jayashree Mitra, IP Lawyer, Carlton Fields

Kathryn Van Deusen Hatfield, Partner, Hatfield Schwartz Law

Patricia Kolaras, CEO, PLK Law Group

Derrick Maultsby Jr., Managing Associate

Neer Gupta, Managing Associate General Counsel, Verizon

Min Kim, Partner, Chugh, LLP

Tom Onder, Chair, Shopping Center & Retail Development, Stark & Stark

Lou Magazzu, Managing Member, Louis Magazzu Law Office

Marc Citron, Partner, Saul Ewing

 

Real Estate   

Peter Bronsnick, Executive Regional Director for NJ, PA, DE, Cushman & Wakefield

Moshe Gross, CEO, Reset Locations

Greg Dell’Aquila, CEO, JDA Group

Nancy Kelley, CEO, Nancy J. Kelley + Associates

Paul Silverman, Principal, SILBERMAN

Ryan McAndrew, Associate, NAI James E. Hanson

 

Architecture/Design 

Edgar Jimenez, Senior Associate, Gensler

Tarek Khouri, CEO, Hydro Tech Engineering

Michael Mudalel, Managing Partner, MFS Engineers

Yogesh Mistry, founder, Mistry Design LLC

Won Hee Ko, Faculty, Hillier College of Architecture & Design, NJIT

Mohab Hussein, Geotechnical Engineer, NJ Department of Transportation

 

Insurance      

Carol Voorhees, President/CEO, NJM Insurance Group

Bob Bastian, Chief Data & AI Officer, Prudential Financial

Jim Weiss, Div Chief Risk Officer, Commercial & Executive, Crum & Forster

Julie Lane, Head, Customer Experience & Marketing, Chubb

Luis Alamo, CEO, Alamo Insurance Group

Melissa Cooke, Director of Sales, Rue Insurance

 

Sports

Keli Zinn, Director of Athletics, Rutgers University

Lenny Kaplan, Vice President of Athletics, NJIT

Carly Gruenberg, VP, Marketing, FIFA World Cup 26 NYNJ

Roswell Hobbs, VP, Operations, Collectors

Pat Toland, founder, RecruitingTape.com

Bill Larson, Announcer, Philadelphia Eagles

 

Marketing/PR

Joseph Perello, CEO, Props

Phil Swibinski, COO, VMMI

Beth Brody, founder, BrodyPR/River Communications Group

Madhan Gounder, HCP Marketing, Otsuka US

Jack Pires, CEO, SocialJack Media

Daniel Johnson, Account Director, Violet PR

 

Nonprofits     

David Bishop, CEO, Pillar Care Continuum

Kiran Gaudioso, CEO, United Way of Northern New Jersey

Laura Houston, Executive Director, Animal Welfare Association

James Steward, Director, Princeton Art Museum

Danielle Gletow, CEO, One Simple Wish

Gary Schneider, CEO, Grounds For Sculpture

Althea Ford, VP, Government Affairs, NJBIA

Melissa Tenzer, CEO, Dress for Success Central NJ

Kep Short, Director, GOTrenton! EV Rideshare, Isles, Inc.

Bruce Morgan, President, NAACP, New Brunswick Area Chapter

Laura Silverstein, CEO, Rising Kitchens

Natalia Osorio Quintero, COO, HISPA

Nina Moukova, Operations Director, Seeds to Sew International

Nicole McGrath Barnes, CEO, KinderSmile Foundation

Kyle Matthys, CEO, TRIIBE

 

Community Leaders

Rajeev Krishna, President, Asian Indian Chamber of Commerce

Lisa Falbo, Partner, Media First Group; ONNJ

Michel Boufadel, Director, Center for Natural Resources, NJIT

Sho Islam, Director, Business Engagement, Middlesex County

Tyler Lange, Director, NJ Plug and Play

Lucy Partman, Tech Innovation Partnerships, NJEDA

Ari Fox, Head of Economic Impact, Audible

Albert Chun, CEO, AI Circle

Adam Connors, founder, NetWorkWise

Christy Johnson, cofounder, The Haven Collection

Skip Carter, Director, Rutgers Makerspaces

Peter Weedfald, CEO, Gen One Ventures

Mary Jane Durkin, Director, Venture Studio, NJII, NJIT

Raphael Husbands, Organizer, NJ Code and Coffee

Janet Alicea, Director, TechWalk Jersey City

Tiffany Aliche, founder, The Budgetnista

Timothy Eatman, Dean, Honors Living-Learning Community, Rutgers-Newark

Elisa Charters, founder, Juegos AI Lab

Jeffrey Oakman, Strategic Manager, New Jersey AI Hub

Don Grust, Organizer, Quantum Driven New Jersey Meetup

Peter Chmiel, Team Leader, Founder Institute

Valerie Mason-Robinson, Board Member, Girl Scouts of Central NJ

Brian Kurisky, ED, Collaborative Center for Community Engagement, Rutgers

Tiffany Slowinski, Publisher, Garden State City Lifestyle

Jessica Vattima, Director, Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship, Rowan

Trifon Liakopoulos, PSMA; Eneira LLC

Ramon Ray, Head, Zone of Genius

Marcellis Counts, founder, Apiary in the Sky

Sumitra Kanungo, Co-Chair, TiE Women, TiE New Jersey

Anna Payanzo-Cotton, COO, Center for Family Services

 

Innovators to Watch

Ashlyn Lackey, Director, Emerging Tech & Innovation, Prudential Financial

Kwaku Agyemang, Growth Strategist, Google; cofounder, BrownMill Co.

Amanda Blake, Associate Director, HCP Marketing, Otsuka US

Emily Wacha, General Manager, EWR9, Amazon

Gregg Lester, Co-CEO, Balcony

Daniel Silverman, Co-CEO, Balcony

Tina Onikoyi, CEO, Wellness Meets World

Rebecca Neill, COO, Verasoni

Kelly Outing, Chief Programming & Community Officer, EqualSpace

Millie Peralta, Chief of Staff, NJCU

Laura Bustamante, Chief of Staff, Jersey City Mayor

Tiolora Lumbantoruan, Fellow, Economic Recovery Corps

Matt Wells, Regional Director, NJSBDC, Fairleigh Dickinson University

Tyler Simays, Director of Marketing, KrellTech

Aashish Khandelwal, Head of Engineering, PCM

Tejas Kaushik, Product Manager, Capital One

Zachary Johnson, Founding Partner, ProfVal LLC

Archana Raghuraman, founder/CEO, CarnaticON

Sohini Sarkar, Research Engineer, Nokia Bell Labs

Andre Cepeda, CEO, Lotus

Nadia Bodkin, CEO, Rare Love Ventures

Ojobo Agbo Eje, Lead, AI Initiatives, Rutgers University–Camden

Michael Skinnider, Assistant Professor, Princeton University

Graham Simpson, Data & Policy Director, New Jersey Innovation Authority

Daniel Weinstein, CEO, Lura Health

Jeffrey Palermo, General Manager, At Earth’s End

Max Notis, founder, CoMission

Sharde Singleton, Product Innovation Manager, Verizon

Russ Abdrakhmanov, CEO, Nekey Technologies

Davidson Hang, Head, BD, Untap Your Sales Potential

Anya Dillard, Writer/Director, Jenevesque Media

Daniel Kopp, cofounder/CEO, Queens Carbon

Joe Colangelo, founder/CEO, Boxcar

Garrett Blitz, Senior Project Manager, DEVCO

Genoa Warner, Assistant Professor, Chemistry & Environmental Science

Jorge Villar, Senior Accountant, Withum

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