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Morris Business Cabinet

The Morris Business Cabinet was launched with a private invitation-only dialogue with then Senator Jon Corzine on November 17, 2003.  Senator Corzine was very impressed by the depth and breadth of the business community’s focus on key issues and encouraged the Cabinet’s continued strategy.  Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen and Senator Frank Lautenberg have joined as Honorary Members of the Cabinet and have demonstrated strong support for our mission. 

Businesses today are all facing the need to bring our resources together to provide a competitive advantage, develop our people, fulfill our personal and corporate missions and to truly make a difference in our county as a unified voice.  The Cabinet provides access to corporate peers, government officials, community leaders and Statewide initiatives.

To date there are eight Morris Business Cabinet members with the goal a maximum of fifteen members.   

For more information, please contact Morris County Chamber of Commerce President, Florence Block.

Honorary Members

Senator Frank R. Lautenberg
Rodney P. Frelinghuysen, United States House of Representatives

Charter Members

	Cushman & Wakefield
	InSitech, Inc.
	Pfizer Inc
	PricewaterhouseCoopers
	Saint Clare’s Health System
	Schenck, Price, Smith & King, LLP
	Solix Inc.
	State Farm Insurance Companies

Cabinet Member Biographies

Edward W. Ahart
Partner
Schenck, Price, Smith & King

Business Organizations Department

ewa@spsk.com

Edward W. Ahart is a partner with Schenck, Price, Smith & King’s Business Organizations Department, and has chaired the Corporate Practice Group. He practices primarily as a transactional attorney, concentrating in mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, finance and banking, and general corporate law. Mr. Ahart also is the firm’s managing partner and serves as chair of its Management Committee.

Mr. Ahart has extensive experience in the purchase, sale and financing of businesses and related commercial transactions, including the structuring and restructuring, negotiating and closing of complex asset and stock sales and acquisitions. He has represented numerous financial institutions, both large and small, including JP Morgan Chase Bank and The Bank of the Somerset Hills in commercial loans and has served as counsel to Hooper Holmes, Inc., Basking Ridge Golf Course, Inc., Allied Oil, LLC, Duke Farms Foundation, Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of New Jersey (the “IIABNJ”), Millington Quarry, Inc. and Damon G. Douglas, Inc. in general corporate matters.  Mr. Ahart has been listed in “Who’s Who,” and “Who's Who in American Law.”  He is a frequent speaker on corporate governance, transactional and financing matters and is an active participant in the Rothman Institute of Entrepreneurial Studies at Fairleigh Dickenson University.  He also speaks often at programs sponsored by the IIABNJ on issues of interest to insurance agents, and a considerable percentage of his practice is comprised of the representation of closely held and family-owned businesses, including many insurance agencies.

Mr. Ahart is admitted to both the New Jersey and New York bars, is a member of the Morris County, New Jersey State and American Bar Associations, Business Law Section, and has served on the New Jersey District X Ethics Committee, and the Board of Directors and as a counselor in the Morris Essex Inn of Transactional Counsel.

Active in the community, Mr. Ahart is a member of Lafayette College's Board of Trustees and its Executive Committee, and has served as the President of the Lafayette College Alumni Association. He has also served for several years as Chair of the Morris County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and is currently a member of both its Executive Committee and the Morris Business Cabinet.  He has been the Vice President and a member of the Harkers Hollow Golf and Country Club Board, and is active in various other organizations.  He acted as the attorney for Pohatcong Township in Warren County and its Board of Education.  He was also Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Warren County ARC.  In addition, Mr. Ahart has served as an Elder and President of the Board of Trustees of the Greenwich Presbyterian Church in Stewartsville, and President of the Greenwich Cemetery Association.  The Association has a large endowment program, substantial staff, diverse Board of Trustees, and is currently engaged in a multimillion dollar planning and development process. 

After receiving an undergraduate degree with honors from Lafayette College in 1969, Mr. Ahart attended the Cornell Law School where he was graduated in 1972.  Prior to joining Schenck, Price, Smith & King, LLP in 1973, he served as Law Secretary to the Honorable Joseph Halpern, Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division.

 

Gary J. Blan, F.A.C.H.E.
President/Chief Executive Officer
Saint Clare’s Health Services

Gary J. Blan, FACHE, is President and Chief Executive Officer of Saint Clare’s Health Services.

He oversees operations of one of the state’s premier healthcare providers, a system which serves residents of Morris and Sussex counties. Saint Clare’s operates four hospitals in Boonton Township, Denville, Dover and Sussex Borough. The system also includes centers for behavioral health, physical rehabilitation, adult day care, primary care, senior housing, a nursing home facility and a variety of ambulatory services.

Mr. Blan joined Saint Clare’s in 2001, bringing with him more than 25 years’ experience in healthcare, 19 as President/CEO of hospitals and healthcare systems. He has won a reputation as an effective leader and agent for change and has a proven track record for institutional turnaround, with emphasis on financial areas, employee and community relations, physician recruitment and relations and managed care.

For 20 years, Mr. Blan was an executive with the Mercy Health System, the second largest not-for-profit health system in the United States. He first served as associate administrator at St. Edward Mercy Medical Center in Fort Smith, Ark., his hometown. After two years as senior vice president for St. John Medical Center in Tulsa, Okla, he returned to the Mercy system as executive vice president for Mercy Hospital in Fort Scott, Kan. He later was President/CEO for  Mercy Health System of the Gulf South in New Orleans and Mercy Health Center in Oklahoma City.

A graduate of Southern Nazarene University in Bethany, Okla., where he received a bachelor’s degree in business administration, Mr. Blan earned a master’s degree in health administration from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. He is a Fellow of the American College of Hospital Executives.

He has taken an active role in community and professional groups, serving on the boards of banks, the United Way, Boy Scouts, Catholic Charities, state and Catholic hospital associations, chambers of commerce and schools. He also was president of the 16,000-member University Alumni Association and served on the editorial board of the American College of Hospital Executives.

Mr. Blan was a national finalist for the White House Fellowship, recipient of the Southern Nazarene University Outstanding Alumni Award and was selected as one of “82 Outstanding Leaders in New Orleans.”  He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Morris County (NJ) Chamber of Commerce. 

Mr. Blan received the 2004 Distinguished Health and Medical Good Scout Award from the Boy Scouts of America in November 2004.

 

J. Thomas Elliott
Director/Site Leader Parsippany
U.S. and Canada Logistics
Pfizer Inc.
100 Jefferson Road
Parsippany, New Jersey 07054
973-599-2316
tom.elliott@pfizer.com

Tom Elliott was named Director/Site Leader, Pfizer Parsippany in 2006. Tom is a member of the Pfizer U.S. and Canada Market Logistics Leadership Team. Tom had been the Global Logistics Director of Strategy since 2004, involved with numerous global network transformational projects which involved financial, operational and productivity improvement initiatives.  Prior to Pfizer, Tom worked in a number of assignments at several U.S. locations of United Technologies’ Pratt & Whitney aerospace division.  Assignments included design, engineering, manufacturing, research, supply chain, procurement, technical marketing and global logistics positions.  Tom has worked closely with various governmental agencies, commercial customers and local agencies as part of these roles.
Tom holds a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University, a masters in engineering from the Florida Atlantic University and an MBA from the Krannert School of Business at Purdue University.

He is a member of the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals, Pi Tau Sigma & Tau Beta Pi honorary engineering societies, a United Way Inner Circle contributor and a lifetime member of the Penn State alumni association.  Over the years, he has held a number of leadership positions within volunteer and community organizations.

John C. Parry
President & CEO
Solix, Inc.

John Parry was appointed President and CEO of Solix in June 2004, after serving as Executive Director of Program Operations for NECA for 6 years.  He has over 33 years of experience in the telecom industry, including various positions of increasing responsibility with Bell Atlantic Corporation (now part of Verizon).  Prior to joining NECA, he was President of Bell Atlantic Network Systems.

Parry’s educational background includes a BA in English from University of South Carolina and an MBA from Pace University.  He also completed the Tuck Executive Program at Dartmouth College.
 
Parry served two tours of duty in Vietnam while a Lieutenant in the US Navy - completing various assignments in the Surface Warfare, Aviation and Intelligence communities.  He retired from the US Navy Reserve as a Captain in 1990.

Kenneth Sharkey
Managing Partner
PricewaterhouseCoopers' New Jersey practice

Ken is the Managing Partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers' New Jersey practice.  With over 22 years of experience with the Firm, Ken has developed a broad base of business knowledge, including business advisory, transaction, and internal and external audit experience.  He assists clients in improving their operational, financial, and compliance processes as well as the effectiveness and efficiency of their businesses.  He also has significant SEC experience and has advised clients on acquisitions, divestitures, public offerings, and private placements.  Some of his notable clients include:  AT&T, Tyco, Global Crossing, Avaya, Cognizant Technologies, and Virgin Mobile.

He joined the Firm in 1985 and was admitted to the partnership in 1996.  Ken spent three years in the Firm’s National Accounting & SEC office, including one year in the International Capital markets group.  Ken was also seconded to the Prague, Czech Republic office for three years to develop the information & telecommunications practice in the region.

Ken is an honorary board member of the New Jersey Technology Council and a member of both the Morris Business Cabinet and the Board of NJN.  He also participates as a speaker and moderator in numerous business events throughout New Jersey.  Ken is a Certified Public Accountant and a member of the New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Florida Societies of Certified Public Accountants, and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.  Ken also serves as partner advocate on the Firm’s African & Latin American diversity committee

 

Carla Temple
Vice President – New Jersey
State Farm

Carla began her State Farm career in April 1978 in the Life Law Department at State Farm’s Corporate Headquarters. She transferred to our Corporate Law Department in 1980 where she participated in a broad range of legislative and regulatory activities throughout the United States and Canada.

In January 1990, Carla was promoted to Claim Manager in the Westlake Village Region in California. She joined State Farm’s President’s Office as an Executive Assistant in May 1992. In October 1994, she joined the Executive Office in the Northeastern Regional Office in Wayne, New Jersey as Vice-President of Operations.  In 2002, State Farm moved their New Jersey operation to the Morris Centre complex in Parsippany, NJ.

State Farm is the third largest auto insurer and the largest homeowner insurer in the state with 969,824 policies and 486,830 households insured.

Carla is also Chief Operating Officer and Member of the Board of State Farm Indemnity Company in New Jersey, a member of the Board of Trustees at Williams Paterson University, member of the Morris County Business Cabinet.  Carla is also a past member of the Board of the New Jersey Unsatisfied Claim and Judgment Fund, the Tri-County Chamber of Commerce and a former member of the Board of Trustees at Jersey Battered Women’s Service. 

Carla received her Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Illinois, a Master’s Degree from Illinois State University and her Juris Doctorate from the University of Illinois. She has earned her CPCU, CLU, ChFC, FLMI, and AIM designations.

Outside of work Carla is an avid tennis and golf player. She resides with her husband Leo Jordan in West Orange, New Jersey.