Morris County Chamber Honors Community And Business Leaders

FLORHAM PARK, NJ — The Morris County Chamber of Commerce honored community and business leaders Margaret Nordstrom and Jane Kurek at its 101st Annual Meeting Luncheon at the Parsippany Hilton.

Nordstrom was honored with the Alex DeCroce Public Leadership Award. She is the administrator of Borough of Chester and immediate past executive director of the New Jersey Highlands Council. She also served as a Morris County commissioner from 1999 to 2012, including as Commission director 2006-08. Nordstrom has received numerous awards for her activities in environmental protection, citizenry, and government leadership and sits on a number of councils and commissions.

Nordstrom said she tried to retire but was drawn back to work after a few months of not being busy enough for her liking. "This is a lifetime achievement award but I'm still working," she said, joking. "And I will continue working for as long as God allows it."

Kurek was honored with the Saint Clare's William P. Huber Award for Outstanding Community Leadership. She is the former executive director of The Provident Bank Foundation, where she was responsible for implementing the foundation's vision and strategies. Throughout her career, Kurek focused on providing leadership to nonprofits to help them achieve their missions and continues her involvement in retirement. She is a trustee of CASA of Morris and Sussex Counties, board treasurer of The Compassionate Friends Foundation, an advisory board member of First Night Morris County and serves on numerous other nonprofit councils and committees.

Kurek looked back fondly on her time as executive director of The Provident Bank Foundation, with its mission of enhancing the quality of life in the communities The Provident Bank serves, including nonprofits, which she said hold a special place in her heart.

"Together we can truly make changes in the years ahead," she said.

The meeting also featured keynote speaker Kevin Nepveux, vice president, launch excellence, at Pfizer, Inc., who discussed the unprecedented effort of the pharmaceutical industry to jointly work to find a vaccine for COVID-19, accomplishing what usually takes five to 10 years in just over 12 months.

He said the company achieved this by taking steps in parallel instead of sequentially, by selecting a formula quickly and streamlining the government review process, by accelerating the manufacturing process, including expanding from three sites to 20 and by innovating, such as building an electric substation for power, making their own dry ice and attaching GPS devises to every shipping package.

"We took a normal business paradigm and smashed it," Nepveux said. "We bet everything on this. We believed we had the vaccine."

Chamber President and CEO Meghan Hunscher shared highlights from the organization's centennial year, 2021, and discussed the chamber's vision for the future.

"The pandemic brought us closer together in many ways and the lessons we have learned will endure as we continue to fulfill our mission to connect, convene, facilitate, inform, collaborate and advocate for our members," she said. "At the Chamber, we are committed to providing the opportunities for members to raise their visibility."

Additionally, Tayfun Selen, director of the Morris County Board of County Commissioners, spoke of the county's Small Business Grant Program, which is providing $10 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to county small businesses negatively impacted by the pandemic.

"It is all of our responsibility to spread the word about this grant program," he said.

Selen encouraged small businesses in need of COVID-relief funds to visit Morris County's small business grant webpage.

The Morris County Chamber of Commerce has more than 750 member organizations that range from entrepreneurs and small businesses to large corporations and Fortune 500 companies.

The Chamber's mission is to collaboratively advance the interests of its members to champion a thriving business and community environment. The Chamber is dedicated to the advancement of Morris County's businesses and community by providing services, information, and advocacy to support the success of its member organizations. They are headquartered in Florham Park.

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