2024 Director of the Year Awards Honor Exemplary Board Leadership

By Anthony Birritteri, Editor-in-Chief On May 8, 2024

Three individuals, known for their expertise and contributions to board governance, plus two complete boards of directors were honored this past Tuesday with Director of the Year Awards (DOYA).

Bestowed upon them by the New Jersey chapter of the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD), the fifth annual event, held at the Pleasantdale Château in West Orange, recognized directors of public, private, and nonprofit boards who have made valuable contributions to the organizations on which they serve and shown advanced exemplary board leadership.
The honorees included:

• Joseph Rigby, Lifetime Achievement Award
• Denise M. Morrison, Leadership in Public Governance Award
• John E. Harmon Sr., Leadership in Nonprofit Governance Award
• Wedgewood, Private Company Board of the Year Award
• American Water, Public Company Board of the Year Award

Rigby, who currently serves as the nonexecutive chairman of South Jersey Industries (SJI) and is on the board of Dominion Energy, was a past president and CEO of Pepco Holdings.

In accepting his Lifetime Achievement Award, he said, “This award has little to do with whatever I have done as a board member. It is more reflective of the incredible organizations I have had the honor to serve and the amazing talented and dedicated people I have been blessed to work with.

“These energy companies provide an essential service. They keep the lights on, they keep people safe and warm. They provide energy to hospitals, and they power communities and the economy. They contribute millions of dollars and countless volunteer hours to the communities they serve. All the while, they do so with integrity, a laser focus on safety, demanding excellence of ourselves, and returning a competitive return to our investors,” Rigby said.

When receiving her award for Leadership in Public Corporate Governance, Morrison, who served as the president and CEO of Campbell Soup Company from 2011 to 2018 and is currently serves on the Visa, Metlife, and Quest Diagnostics board of directors, recalled how she wanted to serve on a public company’s board of directors some 22 years ago when she was a vice president and general manager of Kraft Foods. Doors slammed in her face, she said, when she travelled to New York City to try and discuss such opportunities with recruiters. “One recruiter said I couldn’t be on a board unless I was a CEO. At that time, there were only two women CEOs in the country.

“Fast forward to today and 27% of public board directors on the Russell 3000 index are women. Additionally, 25% to 30% of committee chairs are women, so we are making progress,” Morrison said. “I’m proud to be a part of that because diversity of thought, racial diversity, and gender diversity are an important part of who we are in the world today … it makes boards better.”

Harmon, who is the founder, president and CEO of the African American Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey (AACCNJ), said he was humbled to receive the Leadership in Nonprofit Governance Award.

“This is the most prestigious award I have ever received, and I take it to heart, but there are so many people to thank,” Harmon said. Paraphrasing former President Barack Obama, Harmon said that no one is successful by themselves. “So, I want to thank a great organization and its members who have been part of my success. … The work we do every day is all about improving New Jersey’s competitiveness,” he said.

Harmon added that in today’s volatile world, “every effort to incentivize inclusion is being challenged, notwithstanding the enormous amount of data that supports this strategy as imperative.” He said, “We should never stall efforts to create a more competitive society, even when schemes arise to short circuit a more equitable coexistence.”

As Private Company Board of the Year, Wedgewood, the nation’s largest provider of compounded veterinary medications and clinical pharmacy services, was honored for its board of directors which has been pivotal in steering the company’s recent growth and expansion.
Kevin Vasquez, lead operating director and member of Wedgewood’s ESG Governance Committee, credited Wedgewood’s original founders, its board of directors and current CEO, Marcy Bliss, for its growth, including its merger with Blue Rabbit, a leader in veterinary prescription management and pharmacy solutions, and expansion of the company to 1,200 employees, 500 of which are based in New Jersey.
“Being recognized as good corporate citizens means that the board and management team are doing the right things to make sure we are responsible in the industry,” Vasquez said. As the former chairman, president and CEO of Henry Schein Animal Health, Vasquez said that Wedgewood has “the most competent board I have ever been associated with.”

Speaking on behalf of American Water, which received the Public Company Board of the Year Award, President and CEO M. Susan Hardwick discussed the nation’s largest regulated water and wastewater utility company’s support for the city of Camden.

“We are proud to call Camden home. Our corporate headquarters is here where we have some 600 employees. The partnership we have with the mayor and his team continues to make a difference in the community. It is an example of how corporations can be part of their communities,” Hardwick said, adding that the American Water board of directors takes governance seriously. “As a public company, we have to. It’s an important part of our responsibility.”

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