New Jersey CEO Council Joins Choose New Jersey

On Oct 31, 2022

The New Jersey CEO Council (CEO Council) has been integrated into Choose New Jersey, creating a partnership that will strengthen the latter organization’s mission to grow the state’s economy.

The creation of the CEO Council was announced in October 2020 as part of Gov. Phil Murphy’s COVID-19 Restart and Recovery Commission. At its inception, the CEO Council’s mission was to leverage the resources of some of the state’s largest companies to aid those communities disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly minority communities.

The Choose New Jersey board of directors formally approved the integration of the CEO Council into the organization on Oct. 27. Current CEO Council members, Becton Dickinson (BD), Campbell Soup Company, Johnson & Johnson, Merck & Co., and Bristol Myers Squibb have joined Choose New Jersey at the Ambassador level.

The other CEO Council members, Verizon, PSEG, Prudential Financial, RWJBarnabas Health, Hackensack Meridian Health, and American Water, through its New Jersey American Water subsidiary, are existing Choose New Jersey board members, several of which are founding members.

“The integration of the New Jersey CEO Council into Choose New Jersey will bolster the organization’s effort to grow New Jersey’s economy, while leveraging the resources of additional major players in the New Jersey corporate community,” said Murphy. “The CEO Council is a prime example of the public and private sectors working together to address structural inequality across the state. Its effort to provide employment opportunities for underserved communities, as well as to support women and minority-owned businesses, reflects New Jersey’s values of fairness and equality.”

“Since its inception, Choose New Jersey has been committed to attracting businesses to New Jersey and growing its economy,” said Ralph LaRossa, chairman of Choose New Jersey, and president and chief executive officer of PSEG. “By adding the CEO Council and four new board members, Choose New Jersey is gaining valuable experience and influence from some of the state’s leading corporate citizens. I’m excited to continue the work PSEG has done with the CEO Council and to see how the mission of Choose New Jersey can be supplemented by the addition of these globally recognized brands.”

“For more than a decade, Choose New Jersey has shown businesses domestically and abroad why New Jersey is the best state in the country to grow and expand,” said Wesley Mathews, president and CEO of Choose New Jersey. “I am excited to welcome the New Jersey CEO Council to our organization. The addition of these globally recognized business leaders to our already distinguished board will greatly enhance our ability to market the state and recruit businesses to New Jersey.”

Phillip Loureiro, business development officer at Choose New Jersey, will have day-to-day management of the CEO Council.

Highlights of the CEO Council’s work over the past two years include:

• Commitments to increase diversity in both hiring and procurement practices within their organizations, pledging to hire or train 30,000 New Jersey residents by 2030 and spend an additional $250 million on procurement with state-based, diverse companies by 2025.
• In partnership with the State of New Jersey, the CEO Council established and financially contributed to the Pay It Forward Program, the first-ever publicly funded career impact bond program in the country.
• The CEO Council funded the Diverse Procurement Center of Excellence program in partnership with the Rutgers Center for Supply Chain Management. The aim of this program is to assist CEO Council member companies in their diverse procurement goals.

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