September Kick-off Program and Registration

Wednesday, September 23rd is the date for the start of our sixty first year.

We are honored to have as our guest speaker, Jerold Zaro, Chief of the Governor's Office of Economic Growth.

Jerold Zaro

TOPIC

During his address, Chief Zaro will provide an overview of New Jersey’s business climate and discuss the Office of Economic Growth’s efforts to make the state more business friendly by supporting the creation of pro-business legislation and a variety of financing, incentive and assistance programs. Working hand in hand with the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, the office serves as a one-stop shop to expedite the delivery of state benefits and products to the business community. Under Jerry’s leadership, the office has implemented a “concierge service” through which all inquiries are addressed within 48 hours.

SPEAKER PROFILE

Jerry Zaro was named Chief of the Office of Economic Growth by Governor Jon S. Corzine in October 2008. In that capacity, he also serves on the board of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority. Zaro brings to state government more than 33 years of experience in the law, business, banking, real estate and transportation fields.

The Office of Economic Growth was established as a permanent part of the executive branch in January 2007 by Executive Order 50, to coordinate the state's economic development efforts across all sectors and departments. As Chief, Zaro oversees the implementation of the state's Economic Growth Strategy, and coordinates efforts to improve the business climate while working to attract and retain jobs.

Prior to joining the Corzine Administration, Zaro served for more than two decades as president and managing partner of the law firm of Ansell Zaro Grimm & Aaron, one of the 50 largest law firms in New Jersey. During that time, he served as a Commissioner of the New Jersey Highway Authority for more than 12 years, with the last two years of the term as Chairman. More recently, he concluded a four-year term as Commissioner of the New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority.

Zaro has been involved in numerous business and corporate affairs throughout his career. He began his law career as a judicial secretary to the Honorable Thomas F. Shebell, Jr. in the Superior Court of Monmouth County and is a member of the Monmouth, New Jersey and New York Bar Associations. Among his many professional highlights, Zaro was one of the initial stockholders and served as Chairman of the Board of Ocean Independent Bank, a state chartered banking institution. He has served as a director of several other stock exchange listed companies, and as a principal in numerous real estate development and management firms. He also served as a member of the Board of Directors of Denholtz Holdings, LLC, a privately held national real estate company that develops, owns and operates office, industrial, flex and retail properties.

A lifelong philanthropist, Zaro served as Chairman of the board of trustees of Joan Dancy and P.A.L.S., Inc., which provides financial assistance and emotional support to people with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). He also serves on the boards of the American Cancer Society's Special Gifts Unit, the Monmouth Medical Center Foundation, the Mental Health Association Foundation and a myriad of Jewish organizations.

Born in 1951 and raised in Teaneck, Zaro has a bachelor's degree in history and government from Boston University and received his juris doctorate from Boston College's School of Law in 1976. He lives in Ocean Township and has three grown sons.

SCHEDULE

5:00..................Reception at Restaurant

5:30..................Dinner Program Begins

6:15.............................Dinner Is Served

DINNER PROGRAM LOCATION

Lobster Shanty
82 Channel Drive
Point Pleasant, NJ 08742
(732) 899-6700

DIRECTIONS

From the North:

• Take Garden State Parkway Exit 98, Manasquan / Point Pleasant exit.
• As you exit you will be on Route 34 South.
• Continue on 34 South to the second circle where you will pick up Route 35 South.
• Continue on 35 South about 2 miles over a large bridge, bear to your left and take the first left after you cross the bridge (sign reads Broadway/Beach area).
• Follow the turn through and bear right over the railroad tracks, make you first left onto Channel Drive.
• We are three blocks down on the left.

From the South:

• Garden State Parkway Exit 90.
  
• At the end of exit make a right onto Chambers Bridge Road.
  
• At the first light, go around the jug handle and then make a left onto Chambers Bridge Road.
  
• Take it to the first traffic light and make a right onto Route 88 East.
  
• Take Route 88 East about 10 miles until you enter Point Pleasant Beach.
  
• 88 East turns into Route 35.
  
• Take Route 35 North to the fifth traffic light and and make a right to go over the railroad tracks, then make your first left onto Channel Drive.
• We are three blocks down on the left.

REGISTRATION

Registration prior to programs is strongly recommended to guarantee admittance. Programs often fill to capacity prior to program date which prevents same-day on-site registrations.

Please pre-register to allow us to adequately plan our programs and dinners.

Please note: Walk-in day of programs registrations are subject to availability and are subject to an additional charge.

MEMBER PRE-REGISTRATION RATE - $50.00

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NON-MEMBER PRE-REGISTRATION RATE - $60.00

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Message from the President

Dear Members and Friends:

Welcome back from the summer season. I hope you are well rested and ready for our 2010 program year and the start of MHSNJ’s 7th decade. I have been traveling a lot this summer and spending a fair amount of idle time in planes, trains, and automobiles that has allowed me to ponder a lot of things including the changes to the names of the leaders in our industry.

Well known brand names in our industry have transformed and/or disappeared. Brands such as Kingway, Interlake, Rapistan, Buschman, Jervis Webb, Litton, Matthews. There are also a fair amount of local company names that have disappeared. Certainly some of this is due to inevitable consolidation. But I think it is also due to business changing and not all companies adapting to those new conditions. First of all, I am not singling any of the companies above as not adapting. Some of them did not but some of them have just changed names. I have some thoughts on how and why companies in general do not continue to thrive over longer periods of time.

Most of my travel this summer has taken me to Europe. It has been a great cultural experience, but I have also been able to see many different types of distribution operations as well. The Europeans have a very different way to look at how they plan their distribution centers. They look for the best possible solution before they look at the bottom line. Obviously they have the same financial responsibilities to their companies as we do here in the US, but they address the best solution first.

Spending my career as a solutions provider, I have seen too many situations where companies on both sides of the aisle race to a price and feel successful when they think they have reached it. I am not really talking about individual facilities and systems, I am talking about how they run their business. Sometimes we think if we offer the lowest price to our customer we have done a good job. As competition in global markets heat up, it is not usually the low price provider who achieves long term viability.

We all need to connect with our customers well enough to learn their specific needs. Then we have to figure out how to best fulfill those needs (no pun intended). We must keep learning and rethinking how we approach our customers and our businesses accordingly. You may say that if it worked for our parents it will work today and to keep things. I agree with that theory as long as we keep reexamining our processes and solutions.

Take something as basic as t-shirts. Several years ago in Baltimore, someone figured out that people will pay $40 for a t-shirt that dries quickly and doesn’t stay soggy. I sweat and I wear Under Armour because it is worth it to me. That was a great idea and now they are a publicly traded company worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Under Armour was obviously asking people if there was anything that would make their exercising more comfortable.

Solutions providers must think how they can separate themselves from the pack. Just bidding to someone else’s specification will not guarantee your long term survival. Supply Chain managers should not throw out vague specifications to potential vendors and see can offer the lowest price. There are several solutions providers in Europe that many of us may not have heard of who have built $200-$300 million business. They supply 4-6 solutions per year and support their customers for a life time. In most cases they have technical personnel on the customer’s site full time. These companies do not manufacture very much of the equipment they supply, and they work with their customers from the ground up to develop the right solution and are responsible for the performance of an entire facility when they are done. These European facilities I visited are a fraction of the size of comparable operations in the US. They are also much more efficient from a labor standpoint. They also have a return on investment of 3-4 years, but they add millions of Euros to the company’s bottom line in year 4 or 5. If you do not look past a 12- 24 month return on investment period, you may be costing your company a lot of money over the long term.

We need to rethink how we are getting the best value out of our businesses and what the changing market place will throw at us. This month we will have a special program when our guest speaker will be Jerrold Zaro, Chief of the Office of Economic Growth for New Jersey. He will tell us how he has plans to change the way business is done in New Jersey. This is a great program for anyone interested in business in general in the state. Please take the opportunity to invite your friends and come out for a great dinner and enjoyable speaker.

Dave Lodwig
MHSNJ President