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NJBIA Picks Kim Guadagno for Its Highest Leadership Honor in New Jersey

Prime Highlights

  • Kim Guadagno becomes the top honoree at New Jersey’s premier women business leaders event this year.
  • She stands out as one of the few leaders to bridge top state office and nonprofit executive roles in New Jersey.

Key Facts

  • Guadagno served as New Jersey’s first Lieutenant Governor from 2010 to 2018.
  • She currently leads Mercy Center Corporation as President and CEO.

Background

The New Jersey Business and Industry Association will honour Kim Guadagno, the state’s first Lieutenant Governor, with the Caren Franzini Leadership Award at the 12th Annual Women Business Leaders Forum, set for September 23 and 24 in Atlantic City. The award recognises her decades of work across public office and nonprofit leadership.

Guadagno served as New Jersey’s first Lieutenant Governor and 33rd Secretary of State between 2010 and 2018, where she led economic initiatives that drew business investment and supported job growth across the state.

A former federal prosecutor and county sheriff, she later moved into nonprofit leadership, first as head of Fulfill, the food bank serving Monmouth and Ocean counties, and now as President and CEO of Mercy Center Corporation, which provides food, education and social services to families in need. She also works as a partner at law firm Connell Foley.

NJBIA President and CEO Michele Siekerka said Guadagno’s leadership has consistently centred on community service, spanning her role in New Jersey’s Superstorm Sandy recovery efforts to her current work at Mercy Center Corporation, which also runs a tuition-free middle school for girls from underserved backgrounds.

The award carries the name of Caren Franzini, former chief executive of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, who worked with seven governors between 1994 and 2012 to drive entrepreneurship and economic growth in the state’s largest cities.

Five other leaders will also be recognised at this year’s forum: Chrissy Buteas of the HealthCare Institute of New Jersey, Christina Renna of the Chamber of Commerce Southern New Jersey, Reshma Saujani of Moms First, Rick Thigpen of Public Service Enterprise Group, and news anchor Briana Vannozzi of NJ Spotlight News.