X Close Ms. Barker is a trustee of Bowdoin College, The Pingry School and the Student/Partner Alliance. For ten years she served as a college counselor at the Chad Science Academy. She has been active in numerous charitable causes in New Jersey. Until 1995, Ms. Barker was a Managing Director of Prudential Securities Inc. Ms. Barker received a B.A. cum laude from Bowdoin College and an M.B.A. from Harvard University.

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Joel Benenson is the President of the Benenson Strategy Group, which he co-founded in 2000. He has served as a strategic analyst and adviser to heads of state, senior members of Congress and other national political leaders, business leaders, and major advocacy and charitable institutions.

Benenson offers clients a unique combination of communication expertise and an aggressive analytical approach to produce messaging strategies that work in the most difficult situations. His extensive experience, prior to his becoming a pollster in 1995, includes working as a political journalist for the Daily News in New York and serving as communications director for Gov. Mario Cuomo’s 1994 campaign. He was previously a vice president at the New York ad agency FCB.

Benenson was the lead pollster and a senior strategist for President Barack Obama during the 2008 election, and he continues in that role today. He has also been a pollster and strategist for U.S. senators, governors and mayors from around the country. He played an integral role as a pollster for the DCCC in 2006, when the Democrats won back the majority in the House of Representatives. The team Benenson was on won eight of 10 races, including three in which incumbents were defeated.

During his career, Benenson has worked directly on research projects for some of America’s most prominent CEOs, including Procter & Gamble’s A.G. Lafley, General Electric’s Jack Welch and AOL’s Bob Pittman. He has also helped guide corporate clients through some of the most notable communication challenges in the past decade. He was the lead strategic researcher for Procter & Gamble’s launch of Olestra, the fat substitute; he was instrumental in helping AOL manage its capacity crisis in the late ’90s; and he helped a New York City coalition block Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s plans for an Olympic stadium in Manhattan.

Benenson is also the co-founder of iModerate Research Technologies, an innovative research company that uses highly trained moderators to conduct real-time surveys among online respondents. These one-on-one sessions provide deep analysis within quantitative surveys.

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Victor Boyajian serves as chair of SNR Denton's Venture Capital/Emerging Growth Company practice. A recognized leader in his field, Victor focuses on representing emerging growth technology companies and Fortune 500 companies in a broad array of venture capital, securities and strategic transactions from Silicon Valley to Boston to New York and around the globe.

He counsels senior executives, Boards of Directors and venture firm principals on a wide range of issues including business strategy, finance, mergers and acquisitions, executive compensation, board governance, intellectual property and litigation strategy, and has been recognized for his deep network among venture firms and investment banks. His clientele reflects a cross-section of industries, including information technology, telecommunications, medical devices and life sciences. He also devotes a significant amount of time advising universities, federal labs and corporations seeking to commercialize technology and protect their IP rights.

Victor has been recognized by Chambers USA as one of the leading practitioners in the sector. Under his leadership, SNR Denton has been ranked among the top 10 nationally in venture capital deals, as reported in Dow Jones Private Equity Analyst.

X Close Dr. Brown has been the Director of Enrollment and External Marketing at Dwight-Englewood since 2002. Before that she was Director of Admissions for the College of Arts and Sciences at New York University. She holds a Ph.D. in Education Leadership from the University of Pennsylvania, a Masters in Public Administration from the Wagner School and a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from the College of Notre Dame of Maryland. She is a member of the New Jersey Association of Independent Schools.

X Close Born and raised in New England, Mr. Conard grew up in Vermont and attended The Mountain School, which was founded by his parents. After earning an MBA from the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth, Mr. Conard worked as a strategic management consultant with Bain & Company. Since then he has served as Director of External Affairs, Chair of the Math Department and Director of Development at Chapel Hill-Chauncy Hall School. More recently, he has taught math and served as the Assistant Head for Academics at the Emma Willard School.

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Mr. Correa analyzes and evaluated Regent Private Capital’s investment decisions and is involved in the day-to-day management and interactions with portfolio companies. Prior to joining Regent, Mr. Correa worked in the Latin America M&A Advisory group at J.P. Morgan Securities where he focused on mergers and acquisitions and capital structure advisory for the firm’s public and private clients. Previous to his employment at J.P. Morgan Securities, Mr. Correa worked in the Financial Analytics and Structured Transaction (FAST) group at Bear Stearns & Co.

Mr. Correa is a graduate of the SEEDS program. He attended Dwight-Englewood High School and graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Information Systems with an additional major in Business Administration.

X Close Mr. Cox retired from Summit Bancorp in 2000, twenty years after being appointed President, COO and Director of Summit Bank. He became CEO and President of Summit Bancorporation in 1987. Upon the merger of UJB Financial Corporation and Summit Bancorporation, Mr. Cox became President of the newly formed Summit Bancorp. Born in Watertown, NY, Mr. Cox attended Mohawk Valley College, graduating with a degree in banking, insurance and real estate. He has been active in numerous business and community service organizations, serving as former Chairman of the New Jersey Bankers Association, Director of New Jersey Manufacturers Insurance Company, Director of New Jersey Reinsurance Company, Trustee of New Jersey Business and Industry Association, Director of Stronghold Technologies, and Director of Bay View Capital Corporation and Bay View Bank. Mr. Cox is currently a Director of Ryan Beck & Company, is Chairman of the Board of New Jersey SEEDS and co-chaired the SEEDS Capital Campaign. He lives in Far Hills with his wife, Christine.

X Close Dr. DeRosa began his career as an Assistant Professor of Economics at Rutgers University, after which he joined the Federal Reserve Bank of New York as an economist. He served in a variety of positions at Citicorp (Vice President, Division Head) and E.F. Hutton (Senior Vice President – Capital Markets Division), before becoming Managing Director and then CEO of Eastbridge Holdings, Inc. In 1998, Dr. DeRosa assumed the responsibility for managing fixed income investments for Mt. Lucas’s Peak Partners Hedge Fund. Dr. DeRosa holds a B.A. from Hobart College and a Ph.D. in economics from Columbia University.

X Close Janene Edlin is delighted to be on the Board of Trustees as a member of the College Preparatory Committee, the Alumni Committee and a CPP mentor. Janene has been an active member of her community for 20 years, as Director of the After School Enrichment Program in the Alpine Public School, President of the Alpine Parents Association, elected member and Vice President of the Alpine Board of Education for 6 years, Chair of the Education and Membership Committees of Temple SInai of Bergen County and President of that congregation for three years. Before her three sons were born, she worked at MTV Networks on the original team that launched VH1 and CBS NEWS. Janene is a magna cum laude graduate with a B.A. in English from Tufts University and lives in Tenafly.

X Close An attorney specializing in trust and estates, real estate and private foundations, Mr. Engel was a driving force behind the founding of SEEDS, and is currently the Development Committee Chair. A graduate of The Pingry School, Mr. Engel was a Pingry Trustee for many years and served as the School’s Board Chair from 1995-2002, during which he helped to build the strong relationships SEEDS currently enjoys with the Pingry community. Mr. Engel has served on many non-profit Boards, including Kent Place School, NJN Foundation, and Rensselaerville Institute. In addition, Mr. Engel is a Trustee of the Council of New Jersey Grantmakers, The Hyde & Watson Foundation and Charles E. & Joy C. Pettinos Foundation. He is Executive Director of the E. J. Grassmann Trust, Vice President of the N. R. Leavitt Foundation, and President of the Standish and Union Foundations. A graduate of Princeton University and University of Virginia Law School, Mr. Engel lives in Basking Ridge.

X Close Mr. Farber is a member of The RVH Group at Merrill Lynch, a team of financial advisors serving high net worth clients with investment management, as well as retirement, tax and estate planning solutions. Prior to joining RVH, Mr. Farber spent 20 years building and managing entrepreneurial companies in various industries, including investment banking, office equipment, movie theaters and cosmetics. He is on the Editorial Advisory Board of CFO Magazine and the Board of Directors of Atlantic Business Products.

X Close Dr. Frankfort earned her Ph.D. in history and the history and philosophy of education from New York University while teaching at Brooklyn College’s School of Education. In 1978, she founded Sandbox Industries, for premier infant accessories. She served as President of the Tenafly Board of Education, is a Board member of NJ Teach for America and New York City Center. She is the Chair of the New Jersey SEEDS Board. Dr. Frankfort lives in New York City with her husband, Lew.

X Close Mr. Green has devoted more than 30 years to independent education, teaching at the Fessenden School in Massachusetts and Western Reserve Academy in Ohio, before joining the faculty at St. Paul’s School in 1986. At St. Paul’s, he served in a variety of capacities, including Chairman of the History Department, Admission Director, Director of Senior College Counseling and Chair of the Rector’s Summer Committee. Mr. Green, a graduate of Wesleyan University with a Master’s of Education from Harvard, was installed as the Head of School at Peddie in 2001, where he lives with his wife Allison Zaeder and their children Alexander, Nathaniel and Garrett.

X Close As the Chairman of David Jeffrey Associates, Mr. Jeffrey provides quality training programs for a wide variety of financial institutions as well as in-depth financial analyses for corporations. He founded David Jeffrey Associates in 1979, after leaving Morgan Guaranty Trust Company of New York, where he had worked since 1968. Mr. Jeffrey is a Director of The Jeffrey Company of Columbus, Ohio. Mr. Jeffrey is a former Chair of the New Jersey SEEDS Board of Trustees, and currently serves as Honorary Vice Chair and chair of the Long-Range Planning Committee. He holds a B.A. from Williams College, M.Div. from Union Theological Seminary, and an MBA from Columbia University.

X Close Vincent Lima is a Managing Director at Moelis & Company. Mr. Lima has over 18 years of experience in investment banking, most recently at Christopher Street Capital, where he was a founding partner of the US credit business and a Managing Director in charge of capital markets.

Prior to Christopher Street Capital, he worked at Citigroup and Salomon Brothers for 17 years and was a Managing Director and Head of High Yield Syndicate. In that role, he was responsible for overseeing a team that structured, underwrote and distributed high yield transactions for leveraged buyouts, recapitalizations and refinancings. Previously, he was the Head of North America High Yield Sales at Citgroup.

Mr. Lima holds a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from Rutgers College. He is a Board member of NJ SEEDS and previous Board member of The Daniel Murphy Scholarship Foundation.
 

X Close Blair MacInnes taught second grade in the Trenton public schools for three years, then developed a reading program at St. Columba's School in Newark where she taught for 10 years. Blair earned a Masters degree from Drew Theological School, New Jersey. She has three sons, one of whom, Alex, is on the NJ SEEDS PR and Marketing Committee. Enthusiastic about running, cooking, reading, needlepoint, eight delicious grandchildren and NJ SEEDS!

X Close Mr. Meisels is a Principal for Kildare Enterprises, LLC, and served as an investor and counselor for the Avenir Groups, Inc. Mr. Meisels is a Trustee of the Metropolitan President’s Organization and the New Jersey President’s Organization. He holds a B.S. from New York University’s School of Commerce.

X Close Mr. Okun co-founded The Watermark Group, a fixed income relative value trading hedge fund, in 1988. Mr. Okun is also a Trustee of the Princeton Day School and McCarter Theatre. Mr. Okun is a graduate of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

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Abby O’Neill joined the Fannie E. Rippel Foundation in December 2008. As Vice President of Communications and Programs, she is responsible for establishing effective communications strategies and programs that advance the Foundation’s mission to seek better health, better care and lower costs for all citizens.

Previously, Ms. O’Neill was Senior Vice President and Market Development Manager in New Jersey for Bank of America until she retired from the Bank in June of 2007. She was responsible for maximizing the Bank’s ability to leverage its philanthropic and business resources throughout the community. Previously, she oversaw the New Jersey corporate giving, sponsorship and employee volunteer programs of the Bank’s predecessor, Fleet. In over eleven years at both institutions, she directed the awarding of nearly $40 million in investments to non-profits focused on economic development, arts and culture, and education.

During Ms. O’Neill’s tenure, Fleet was named the 2002 Outstanding Corporation for Excellence in Philanthropy by the New Jersey Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, and Corporate Philanthropist of the Year by the Community Foundation of New Jersey in 1999. Ms. O’Neill founded the New Jersey chapter of Fleet’s employee volunteer organization - Fleet Works - which donated thousands of hours of service to non-profit organizations throughout the state. She was with Bank of America and its predecessor banks, Fleet and NatWest, since 1995.

Prior to that, Ms. O’Neill managed public relations for Christie’s Auction House, Burston-Marsteller and Drexel Burnham Lambert in New York City.

Ms. O’Neill has been an active social sector volunteer and in addition to her role as a member of the Board of Trustees of New Jersey SEEDS, she serves on the Boards of Trustees of the Newark Museum, the Union Foundation, and the Council of New Jersey Grantmakers where she is co-chair of that body’s collaborative philanthropic initiative, New Jersey Together. She recently completed a six-year term as President of the Board of Trustees of the New Jersey Theatre Alliance.

Ms. O’Neill is a recipient of Newark Now’s 2005 Spirit of Newark Corporate Leadership Award, the 2003 Aletha Wright Volunteer Leadership Award from the Graduate Organization of Leadership New Jersey for her role in developing the annual LNJ Forum on the Future of New Jersey, and the Executive Women of New Jersey’s 2002 Salute to the Policy Makers Award. She also was awarded the New Jersey Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners’ 2002 Salute to Women Leaders Award, and the 2001 YWCA of Bergen County’s Tribute to Women and Industry Award, which honors outstanding women in executive, managerial and professional roles.

A fellow of the Class of 2001 of Leadership New Jersey, Ms. O’Neill holds a B.A. from Vassar College. She is a resident of Hunterdon County.

X Close Susan Present, a magna cum laude graduate of Tufts University, is a former Vice President/Marketing Director of Christie’s Inc., the international auction firm. She later joined Bratskeir & Company, a full-service consumer marketing and public relations firm as a Vice President. After 2000, Susan worked as a freelance consultant to a diverse client base of corporations and not-for-profit organizations. Susan currently chairs Friends of SEEDS, a volunteer group that helps support, enhance and enrich the experience of SEEDS’ scholars and alumni. She is also on the Fund Development Steering Committee for Project Morry, a year-round, not-for-profit youth development organization, and is a docent at the Visual Art Center of New Jersey in Summit. She is former board member of the South Orange-Maplewood Education Foundation, having chaired its marketing committee.

X Close Mr. Sandler has been involved in the investment business for almost forty years, serving as Senior Advisor to Lyster Watson since 1992. Prior to that, he was a Managing Director of Donaldson Lukfin and Jenrette and a Partner of Bear Stearns. Mr. Sandler is a founding trustee of SEEDS. He has also served as a trustee of Northfield Mount Hermon School, Amherst College, and the Community Foundation of New Jersey, where he also served as Board Chairman. Mr. Sandler also serves on a number of corporate boards. Mr. Sandler holds a BA from Amherst College and both law and business degrees from Columbia University.

X Close Andy Schwartz is a partner at Bleakley, Schwartz, Cooney & Finney, one of the leading Financial Services Firms in the New York/Metropolitan area. Specializing in Insurance, Estate Planning and investment management to small and mid-sized closely held businesses, Mr. Schwartz and his firm have established themselves as leaders in the development of new planning techniques, as well as the creative application of established concepts. Within Andy’s primary broker dealer, Northwestern Mutual Financial Services, he is ranked 10th all time career producer. After earning a B.S. Degree in Finance from Rowan State College in 1984 and his Certified Financial Planners designation in 1987, Mr. Schwartz has become a nationally renowned speaker and writer within the insurance industry. In addition to many athletic activities, he is active in raising funds for the United Jewish Appeal, and serves as co-chair of the New Jersey SEEDS annual golf outing.

X Close Mr. Strickland is a Managing Director of Principal Global Investors. He is a graduate of Seton Hall Preparatory School, where he currently serves on the Board. He received a B.S. from Cornell University, and an M.A. from New York University. Mr. Strickland is active in the Cornell Alumni Association, Cornell Black Alumni Association, and the Griffin-Bridges Scholarship Program at Seton Hall Prep.

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Prior to founding Notch Partners, Andy was Managing Director of Primedia Ventures, where he co-managed two private equity investment funds. Through investments in 17 private companies, the firm generated top-quartile returns. In that capacity, he served on several boards of directors, providing strategic oversight and helping to build top-caliber management teams for the portfolio companies. Previously, he was a management consultant with McKinsey & Company. Andy has been a co-founder or early employee of three successful startup businesses. He was a member of the initial team at Andromedia, Inc., a private equity-backed software startup which sold to Macromedia, Inc. in a 9-figure transaction netting outsized returns for the private equity investment group, including UBS Capital, JK&B Capital, Draper International and Platinum Ventures.

His functional expertise spans strategic planning, private equity investment, and sales & marketing. His executive relationships cover a broad range of industrial and business-to-business fields including business process outsourcing, commercial banking, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, enterprise software, and telecommunications.

Andy is a frequent speaker to senior executive audiences, addressing the topics of career transition and executive relationships with private equity buyout investors. He is on the board of trustees for New Jersey SEEDS, an academic and leadership program for high-achieving, low-income youth. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from Dartmouth College.

X Close Born in Pasadena, California, Mr. Vignolo attended Yale University, graduating in 1965. He worked in the textile industry for several companies, with more than 15 years in senior management positions with a focus on marketing. He attended Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program in 1980. He owned William Blake Associates, a distributor of promotional products until 2004, when he sold the company to Drew & Rogers, where he was a consultant until 2006. Mr. Vignolo is now a resident of Williamsburg, VA

X Close Mr. Weinbach is the past Chairman and CEO of Automatic Data Processing, Inc., a $7.8 billion computerized services firm that provides payroll processing, human resource management systems, benefits administration services, securities transaction processing, investor communications, automotive dealer systems management and insurance claim processing services to approximately 550,000 clients worldwide. He joined ADP in 1980, after serving as partner at Touche Ross, where he was employed from 1966-1979. Mr. Weinbach received a B.S. in Economics and a Master of Science in Accounting from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He serves on the Board of Directors of Schering-Plough Corporation and First Data Corporation, as well as New Jersey Institute of Technology. Mr. Weinbach co-chaired SEEDS’ capital campaign, and is currently chair of the Committee on Trustees and co-chair of the Advisory Board.

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Larry Wieseneck is Head of Global Finance and Risk Solutions at Barclays Capital, a position he has held since September 2008 when Barclays Capital acquired the U.S. assets of Lehman Brothers. Prior to the acquisition, Larry co-created and co-led the Global Finance business at Lehman Brothers from 2003 to 2006 and became sole Head of Global Finance in late 2006. He is a member of the Barclays Capital Investment Banking Executive Committee.

During his tenure at Lehman Brothers, Mr. Wieseneck held various senior roles within the organization including Head of U.S. Convertible Origination from 1997 to 1998, Head of Global Convertible Origination from 1998 to 2000, Head of U.S. Equity Capital Markets from 2000 to 2003 and then Co-Head of Global Finance from 2003 to 2006.

Prior to joining Lehman Brothers in 1997, Mr. Wieseneck worked at Salomon Brothers from 1992 to 1997, The Alcar Group from 1988 to 1992 and Peterson & Company from 1987 to 1988.

Mr. Wieseneck earned his M.B.A. from New York University’s Stern School of Business and a B.S. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.