Raymond Hopp Award Finalists

On Sep 29, 2016

Mitch Cahn
President, Unionwear

Mitch Cahn, president of Newark-based Unionwear, is a strong advocate for growing Newark’s manufacturing sector. He serves as a lecturer, teaching manufacturing, supply-chain management and entrepreneurship at Newark-based institutions of higher education and charter schools, plus various educational enrichment programs. During the redrafting of Newark’s Master Plan in 2013, Cahn played an active role in preserving space for manufacturers in the city. He is involved in many organizations focused on workforce and economic development in Newark, including: the Newark Workforce Investment Board (chairman); Newark Regional Business Partnership (director); and Made in Newark (founder), an organization of 75 manufacturers organized to promote Newark’s manufacturing base. Unionwear, with 155 full-time employees, is a manufacturer of promotional gear – workwear, headwear, bags – for unions and political campaigns, and is a principle textile supplier to various state and federal government agencies.

Clifford F. Lindholm III
President & CEO, Falstrom Company

Clifford f. Lindholm III, president and CEO of Passaic-based Falstrom Company, is responsible for protecting the legacy of a family business that was founded more than 146 years ago and, today, employs 40 full-time workers. The company is a respected defense contractor, supplying precision components for sophisticated US military technologies. Lindholm has moved the company forward during trying economic times, while adhering to long-established values of commitment to customers, employees and the community. An advocate for the state’s manufacturing industry, Lindholm has worked with the New Jersey Community College Consortium and the state’s Department of Labor to develop a Metal Fabrication Skills course that is administered at several county colleges. He co-chairs the New Jersey Business & Industry Association’s Manufacturing Network and is an active member of the NJ Manufacturing Coalition.

Karen Primak
President & CEO, IPAK, Inc.

Karen Primak is president and CEO of IPAK, a fast-growing Women-Owned Small Business that provides highly differentiated education, strategic communication and marketing tools. The company offers personalized printing, packaging and technology solutions that enhance a product’s use and bottom line. Since Primak joined the company some 20 years ago, IPAK has grown from a 2,000-square-foot facility in West Deptford (an additional facility is in Camden) to over 150,000 square feet. Since 2013, its workforce has grown by 40 percent. With an understanding that diversity drives innovation, the ratio of female to male workers at IPAK is 56 percent to 44 percent, with that diversity breaking down to 33 percent of workers Caucasian, 58 percent Hispanic, 11 percent Asian, and 5 percent African American. Primak is a member and advocate for the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM). She is also part of NAM’s and the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council’s Rethink Red Tape Initiative.