For our list of 106 Jerseyans with the most juice, we went to the experts — The Star-Ledger reporters and Inside Jersey writers who cover and best know the state’s movers and power brokers.
We have divided the list into an array of categories that touch on all facets of Jersey life — from politics to literature to technology and celebrity — profiling the most influential Jerseyans in each area. The lists will be released all week. It’s a select group that we call the 100+ Club.
The schedule is as follows: On Monday, State Politics/Local Politics and Labor/Activism; OnTuesday, Law/Philanthropy and Business/Real Estate; On Wednesday,Technology/Health Care and Literature/Power Couples; On Thursday,Sports/Education and Arts/ Science; On Friday, Entertainment/Music and Food/Celebrity.
Read them each day and don’t forget to take our informal polls at the end of each post.
Technology
Inside Jersey’s Most Influential People in New Jersey
MARIO CASABONA. Founder and CEO, TechLaunch Who better to give fledgling start-up companies an insider’s perspective on how to raise capital than the man who has his name on the sign at Casabona Ventures? The seasoned angel investor is in his third year overseeing TechLaunch, an intense program to elevate New Jersey entrepreneurs who have their eye on making a big splash in the tech industry. Mario Casabona has used his connections in the worlds of finance, technology and business to help his newly minted CEOs and founders make friends in high places.
MARIAN CROAK. Senior Vice President of Domain, 2.0 Architecture and Advanced Services Development at AT&T This Princeton University alum returned to New Jersey in 1982 to take a job at AT&T’s Bell Labs, where she helped shape the company’s voice and data communications technology. Marian Croak, a distance runner and mother of three, was named to her present post in 2013. She holds more than 135 patents, has another 100 in the pipeline and oversees 2,000 innovation experts reshaping AT&T’s next-generation network architecture, advanced technology and innovation. Croak also mentors company employees and works diligently with organizations supporting minorities in her field.
DON KATZ. Founder and CEO of Audible, Chairman of Brick City Development Corp. The Montclair resident founded Audible in 1995 when listening to someone read a book meant visiting a preschool class or juggling a box full of cassette tapes. In 2007, he moved his company’s headquarters to Newark when there were no tax incentives to do so. Don Katz is a man of vision and convictions. He has become a dogged champion for Brick City, leveraging his influence to drive his dream that Newark be reborn as a hub of technology and innovation.
SHREEKANTH MANDAYAM. Executive Director, South Jersey Technology Park; Vice President for Research, Rowan University As someone who has performed research for NASA and GE, Shreekanth Mandayam knows how to unite the public and private worlds in the name of science. The IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Society member climbed the ladder from associate professor to chair of Rowan University’s engineering department, then put the school’s new technology park on the map with tech park tenants studying rare earth metals, injectable man-made cells to ease back pain and 3-D screens that can be controlled with hand gestures.
SIMON NYNENS. Chairman, President & CEO, Wayside Technology Group; Chairman of the Board, New Jersey Technology Council A transplant from Ernst & Young’s offices in Amsterdam, this Harvard Business School graduate has ascended the corporate ladder at Wayside Technology and has been laser-focused on teaching other entrepreneurs how to do the same. Simon Nynens, who has a background in accounting, has made time to visit New Jersey’s business incubators and technology groups to talk about his own missteps in the hope that he will help business founders avoid the same pitfalls. Recognizing his dedication to the industry, the New Jersey Technology Council named Nynens public company CEO of the year in 2012.
Health Care
JOEL CANTOR. Director, Center for State Health Policy at Rutgers University Joel Cantor is the go-to guy for state lawmakers, policy analysts and the media when they need a nonpartisan expert to interpret the complex world of health care. The state awarded federal grant money to the center to study the Affordable Care Act’s impact. Cantor also served on a commission in 2007 that recommended how the state should respond to a crisis in the hospital industry that led to a flurry of closures.
DAVID KNOWLTON. President and CEO, New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute David Knowlton is not afraid to take on hospital executives, health commissioners and surgery center operators. The institute’s data-driven research has shed light on safety issues at same-day surgery centers and astronomical costs at hospitals. Knowlton has enduring political clout as deputy health commissioner under Gov. Thomas H. Kean and a member of Gov. Chris Christie’s transition team. He is part-owner of a medical marijuana dispensary in Egg Harbor.
MARY O’DOWD. Health Commissioner, state of New JerseyIn 2011, 33-year-old Mary O’Dowd was named state health commissioner. But her youth belies her expertise in hospital finance and management, honed at NYU Medical Center and the New Jersey Hospital Association. This will come in handy as she presides over the state’s most frenetic era ever of hospital mergers and acquisitions while the industry fights for its survival, post-Obamacare. The state’s medical marijuana program is finally gaining some traction.
BARRY OSTROWSKY. President and CEO, Barnabas Health Barry Ostrowsky presides over the largest health care system in New Jersey, serving more than 2 million people. He is also a risk taker. Within the past year, Barnabas Health agreed to serve as management consultant to University Hospital in Newark after it was left out of the Rutgers-Rowan merger, and to buy Jersey City Medical Center. In 2015, Barnabas Health will launch its own insurance plan that will be available on the health exchange.
WARD SANDERS. President, New Jersey Association of Health PlansBefore Ward Sanders became president of the New Jersey Association of Health Plans, the lobbying group for the managed care industry, he led the state-run small business and individual health insurance programs. It’s his understanding of how both sides of the health insurance industry work that makes him more than just an industry mouthpiece. Lawmakers wait to hear from him before they pass any laws or change rules.