NJBIZ Conversations

NJBIZ was on the scene June 4 at the Jersey City Summit for Real Estate Investment, Placemaking & Innovation. The annual event convenes experts to explore what’s driving local real estate, economic development and innovation, investment, development and placemaking, capital markets, and operations and design.
One of our guests at the event for this special edition of NJBIZ Conversations was Ari Rabban, CEO of Newark-based Phone.com. 

Hackensack Meridian Health President and COO Mark Sparta discusses the grand opening of the Health & Wellness Center at Metropark in Woodbridge, what it means for improved access to healthcare in the state and the challenges facing the industry in general.

OceanFirst President and Chief Operating Officer Joe Lebel and Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Real Estate Officer George Destafney share their regional expertise with NJBIZ as part of our special report on doing business in Monmouth County.
 
Part of our Monmouth County Focus special section: https://njbiz.com/monmouth-county-focus-special-section/

Jim Kirkos and the organization he leads – the Meadowlands Chamber – are helping business owners and executives prepare for a the weeks-long FIFA World Cup 2026 tournament, which will be played at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford this summer. Here, Kirkos discusses those preparations, the lessons learned from previous events like Super Bowl XLVIII in 2014, and how businesses can take advantage of the opportunity.

In February, NJBIZ Editor Jeffrey Kanige and Managing Editor Jessica Perry returned to the Newark Summit – a real estate conference focusing on businesses in New Jersey’s largest city.
During the summit, they interviewed some fellow attendees – business leaders with an interest and affinity for Newark. Listen now!

Atlantic Health CEO Saad Ehtisham took on the role in July 2025 after longtime leader Brian Gragnolati retired. Here, Ehtisham talks about what drew him to New Jersey, the biggest challenges he sees in leading Atlantic Health and the outlook for the industry as a whole.

In May 2025, Bergen County and Hoboken-based Balcony forged an agreement under which the company would digitize 370,000 property deeds for the clerk’s office. The two parties said the move represented the largest blockchain-based deed tokenization project in U.S. history. Here, Balcony CEO Dan Silverman explains how he moved from real estate development into technology, the advantages of Balcony’s system and where the company goes from here.

Michael Maron, CEO of Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck, talks about the lessons he and his staff took away from the COVID-19 pandemic, what last year's $75 million donation from the Douglas M. Noble Family Foundation will allow the hospital to accomplish and what it will take to survive and thrive in what has become a tough climate for health care providers.

A recent study by Prudential Financial found that most workers nearing retirement age with investable assets of at least $100,000 are confident that they will have enough to retire. But the company's Global Retirement Pulse Survey also suggested that these folks – Pru calls them the "mass affluent" – may not be as prepared as they could be.
David Blanchett, Prudential's head of retirement research and a portfolio manager and PGIM – Pru's investment management arm – discusses the survey's findings, its implications and what workers at various stages of their careers should be doing now. 

Think Simplicit works with other businesses to outfit and maintain commercial buildings. Here, founder Matthew Negron discusses his business philosophy, what he looks for in acquisition targets and where he sees the most promising opportunities.