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Our President

Florence Block currently serves as the President of the Morris County Chamber of Commerce, the 11th largest Chamber of Commerce in New Jersey with membership of over 700 companies and organizations in the Morris County Area representing over 150,000 employees.

Before January 2006, Florence Block was in the forefront of NJ Corporate Real Estate Project Management and the Office Planning Industries for over 25 years, most recently serving as Senior Vice President of Project Management for the Trammell Crow Company – a national real estate development firm based in Dallas, Texas.  Florence’s credits include the founding of New Jersey regional architectural offices for two national firms based in California – Interior Architects LLC and Space LLC.  Client list includes major project work for AT&T, AVAYA, Prudential Financial, Bristol Myers Squibb, Staples and Morgan Stanley. Prior to that, Florence was part of AT&T's Real Estate planning team from 1985 to 1997 located at their NJ Corporate Offices in Basking Ridge, NJ. 

Upon the diagnosis of Florence’s youngest son Steven with Autism, Florence embarked on a search for treatment and appropriate education as well as evolving as advocate for these children.  In February of 1999, Florence founded the Somerset Hills Learning Institute in Gladstone, NJ, which is a dissemination site of the world renowned Princeton Child Development Institute in Princeton, NJ.  Florence organized five founding families and recruited world-class executive director Dr. Kevin Brothers, filed and was granted the State Certifications for Private School for the Handicapped, and related Federal and Tax approvals.  The waitlist currently exceeds 300.  Florence served as board president and now serves as trustee and parent advocate. 

Florence has served on an number of fundraising Committees which include The Dope Open (Daytop), St. Clare’s (Safetytown), St. Joseph’s Hospital (Eva’s Village), Sunrise House, Picatinny Committee, Patriots Path, Boys and Girl’s Scouts,  Women’s Cancer Walk, PBA Golf Tournament, and Shepherds of Youth.  Florence also sits on the NJ Stem Cell Research and Education Foundation (NJSCREF) roundtable in affiliation with NJIT, UMDNJ, and Corielle.

Florence currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Morris County Economic Development Corporation, Morris County Visitor Center, Advisory Board of Fairleigh Dickenson’s Silberman School of Business, and FDU’s Institute of Sustainable Enterprise, and is a Trustee of the Somerset Hills Learning Institute.

Other memberships and affiliations include New Jersey Business and Industry Association (NJBIA).
 
First year out of college, while working as designer at Office Design Associates in NYC, Florence was nominated and won the title of NJ Young Career Woman by the NJ Chapter of the National Federation of Business and Professional Women and represented NJ at the National Conference in Miami in 1973. 

Florence has lived in Basking Ridge, NJ for over 10 years.  She has three wonderful children; Karen, a graduate of SUNY College, Purchase, NY, Jared, a high honors student at Ridge High and Steven, a student at the Somerset Hills Learning Institute.