Jumpstarting the New Green Economy

Thanks to the “Jump Starting the New Green Economy” conference my eyes were opened to a new sustainability hero, the independent restaurateur. For the past 17 years, Francis Schott has been a partner in the highly successful, independent restaurant, stageleft, which sits next to the George St. Playhouse in New Brunswick, NJ. What makes the restaurant special is that its management does all it can to use locally grown ingredients for the creation of its entrees and desserts. As Schott sees it, this practice of buying locally adds yet another layer to the networks that restaurants naturally create whereby the fabric of community is drawn together tighter.

One of the ways we’re seeking to leverage the Conference is to provide a launchpad for new initiatives. These initiatives will be presented during 3-hour action-learning workshops on Thursday, May 21 starting at 2 p.m.:
Transition New Jersey
A project of Community Green, the TransitionNJ.org initiative is designed to assist communities to start transition programs in their [...]

Gene Strupinsky, Business Advocate, Hillsborough Township
A native of Brooklyn, NY, Gene has lived most of his adult life in NJ, with a 3-year stint in Charlotte, NC. For the past 25 years he has been residing in Somerset County’s Hillsborough Township where he has been the Business Advocate for nearly 4 years.
Gene is a [...]

Randall E. Solomon is the founder and Executive Director of the New Jersey Sustainable State Institute.
732-932-5475 x695. randalls@rutgers.edu.

Mr. Solomon’s policy experience includes positions as a policy advisor on sustainable development for the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, director of the States Campaign for the Resource Renewal Institute in San Francisco, and policy director for the [...]

Nelson Martinez
Union Green is what happens when a sheep-herder, birder, conservation-minded, advertising professional decides to find some way to help our planet. Nelson Martinez founded Union Green with a simple idea in mind; who better to communicate to the world the issues confronting our planet than a group of dedicated communications experts, who all share [...]

Fred Profeta grew up in Maplewood, New Jersey, and was elected Mayor by the Maplewood Township Committee in 2004. He was Mayor for four years, and now serves as the Deputy Mayor for the Environment.
Prior to his service on the Township Committee, Profeta served on many civic board and committees, including the Planning Board since [...]

David Glynn Roberts, AICP/PP, CLA, CMX, 732-577-9000 x. 1420
David Roberts is a licensed professional planner and certified landscape architect in New Jersey and a registered landscape architect in Arizona, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Maryland and New York, with 28 years of experience in the public and private sectors.
Born and raised in New Jersey, Mr. Roberts has [...]

 Walt Kanzler, AIA, LEED A.P., is the founder of Eco Collaborative a progressive Architectural practice based in Morristown, New Jersey dedicated to providing economical, environmental and socially responsible solutions to meet the growing demand for Green Buildings.  Walter is committed to Sustainable Design Solutions with the goal of assisting in the transformation of the Residential [...]

Robert P. Antonicello, Executive Director, Jersey City Redevelopment Agency
For the past three years, Robert Antonicello has served as the Executive Director of the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency.  The Jersey City Redevelopment Agency, New Jersey’s largest and oldest municipal redevelopment agency, is responsible for project implementation and oversight within the City’s 77 redevelopment areas.  The Agency’s broad area [...]

Paul Miller, Director of Sustainability Programs for the Morristown Partnership
Paul Miller brings more than 20 years of professional experience and a lifelong commitment in the areas of environmental awareness, sustainable communities, social entrepreneurship and catalytic activism.
He currently serves as the Director of Sustainability Programs for the Morristown Partnership and is responsible for the innovative Step [...]