NJBIZ Conversations

A creative agency with a unique name

The co-founders of creative agency Dead Lizard talk about their expansion plans and the experience of running such a business in New Jersey. Plus, they explain the origin of the company's name.

How can you keep insurance premiums under control?

Homeowner's insurance in states affected by climate change is becoming increasingly unaffordable. Many residents in Florida, for example, are simply "self-insuring" — meaning they don't pay for an insurance policy, they just put aside some cash and hope for the best. So is New Jersey going the way of Florida? Possibly. In this edition of NJBIZ Conversations, Bill Martin, the president and CEO of Plymouth Rock Assurance, discusses the factors that caused the crises in other states, what might be in store for New Jersey, and what homeowners and businesses can do to keep insurance premiums under control.

What challenges are NJ’s commercial real estate firms facing?

Greek Real Estate Partners' David Greek discusses the firm's growth, the state of the commercial real estate market in New Jersey and the challenges firms like his face doing business in a high-cost, rising interest rate environment.

How does the higher education system need to evolve?

County College Morris President Anthony Iacono discusses the school's efforts in workforce development and how the higher education system in general needs to evolve.

New Jersey Equitable Opportunity Scorecard grades members of NJ’s Legislature

Tomas Varela, the founder and executive director of the New Jersey Black Empowerment Coalition, discusses the group's legislative scorecard and its work on other economic issues.

What’s it like running a union manufacturing shop in New Jersey?

Everyone knows it's impossible to run a thriving manufacturing company in New Jersey. Right? And with union workers? Dream on. Well, Mitch Cahn, the founder and president of Newark-based apparel maker Unionwear, will beg to differ.

’The pandemic’s assault on education’ in New Jersey

A recent report from JerseyCAN – an education research and advocacy organization – found that reading scores are falling in New Jersey. In this episode, JerseyCAN Executive Director Paula White discusses the report, its implications for businesses and strategies to remedy the situation.

What do businesses need to know about the employee retention tax credit?

Gina Perrone, senior tax manager at Sax LLP, explains what's going on with the employee retention tax credit, what the IRS is looking for and what businesses should be doing now.

What’s ahead, economically, for New Jersey?

Chris Maher, chair and CEO of OceanFirst Financial, analyzes the factors driving the economy now and identifies areas of potential trouble.

Catch up on New Jersey’s infrastructure developments

Dennis Toft, a member of CSG Law and chair of the firm's Environmental Law practice, discusses the latest moves on the infrastructure front in New Jersey, permitting, new flood rules and brownfields redevelopment.