New in IT Recruiting: JobReq.com
Corrections or additions?
These articles were prepared for the December 6, 2000 edition of
U.S. 1 Newspaper. All rights reserved.
Jamieson Disperses
After a decade that saw big firms from Pennsylvania
— Fox Rothschild, Morgan Lewis Bockius, Reed Smith, Buchanan
Ingersoll,
and Dechert Price & Rhoads — gaining firm footholds in Princeton,
smaller firms find it difficult to offer competitive salaries to their
associates. That’s the chief reason why Jamieson Moore Peskin & Spicer
decided to sell out and merge with a bigger firm, says Thomas P.
Weidner,
one of the partners.
Pepper Hamilton, a 400-attorney firm based in Philadelphia, is leasing
Jamieson Moore’s Alexander Park office building and will add 18 of
the firm’s attorneys to its staff. Meanwhile 13 attorneys from
Jamieson
Moore will join the 120-attorney New York-based firm, Windels Marx
Lane & Mittendorf, which on January 1 will open an office at 104
Carnegie
Center (Suite 201, 609-720-0005; fax, 609-720-0070).
Associates will get better pay and more varied assignments under the
new arrangements, to take effect on January 1. The change is expected
to cut down on the administrative workload for the partners, who
retain
ownership of the Alexander Park building.
This is not the first time Jamieson Moore had entertained a sale;
Pittsburgh-based Reed Smith Shaw & McClay had tried to buy Jamieson
Moore in 1994. Windels Marx had been negotiating to buy Jamieson Moore
this summer but that deal was reportedly supplanted by Pepper
Hamilton’s.
One of the firm’s prestigious alumnae is Deborah T. Poritz, now New
Jersey Supreme Court Chief Justice and a former state attorney
general.
Thomas C. Jamieson Jr. is the son of one of the founders of the
73-year-old
firm.
Windels Marx already has an office in New Brunswick, led by its
principal
for New Jersey, Anthony Coscia, who is also the chairman of the New
Jersey Economic Development Authority. “Our firm has had a growing
practice in New Jersey, and Princeton is a location we have wanted
to have for some time because of our expanding corporate and
technology
business,” says Coscia.
Coscia explains his pick: “This was an opportunity for us to
acquire
a very profitable component of an existing firm, a group that in our
view represented the heart of one of Princeton’s strongest practices.
We feel we have created a middle market firm with a regional presence
and a dual hub — New Brunswick and Princeton. This group will
be financially viable from the start.”
Weidner is at the top of the list of attorneys who will move to the
new Windels Marx office, and he will be on the executive committee.
Weidner went to Princeton, Class of 1969, and the University of
Wisconsin,
and he focuses on insurance regulation.
“We saw the advantages of a larger firm of 120 lawyers, which
would enable us to triple our litigation capacity, offer higher
associate
salaries, and provide contacts on both the Democratic and Republican
side of New Jersey politics,” says Weidner. One Jamieson Moore
partner, Samuel G. Destito, was in charge of Governor Christie
Whitman’s
reelection campaign.
Windels Marx has an existing office in New Brunswick with about two
dozen attorneys and is known for having good Democratic connections.
“At the same time, the culture of Windels was close to the culture
that we have at Jamieson Moore — open doors, first name basis,
informal, and friendly. It’s the difference between a 450-attorney
firm and a 120-attorney firm,” says Weidner. “And Windels
offered us a seat on the executive committee without our even asking
for it.”
Other shareholders moving to Windels Marx and their specialities are
Ross A. Lewin (environmental issues), Timothy J. O’Neill (employment
litigation), and Robert A. Schwartz (corporate work and IPOs). Also
moving are Charles M. Fisher, Karen M. Spano, David F. Swerdlow, Julie
R. Tattoni, Jared M. Witt, Elizabeth Boyd, Marcy Silva, and Tara A.
Jones.
Founded in 1890, Pepper Hamilton has 10 regional offices including
one in Cherry Hill. It has apparently been quietly testing the
high-tech
Princeton market by dispatching its attorneys to speak and network
at various technology meetings and conferences (www.pepperlaw.com —
Warning: this site does not allow for easy transfer back to the
original document.)
In addition to Jamieson, the following lawyers will join Pepper as
partners: Dennis R. Casale, Edwin Leavitt-Gruberger, Thomas M.
Letizia,
Michael J. Mann, Jonathan M. Preziosi, Mark A. Solomon, John W.
Verlaque
and Audrey D. Wisotsky. Michael F. Spicer, a name partner of the
Jamieson
firm, will be of counsel to Pepper. The Jamieson Moore associates
joining Pepper are Michael J. Canavan, Monica N. Mardikian, Daniel
G. Murray, Michael G. Petrone, Donald R. Readlinger, Ian W. Siminoff,
Angelo A. Stio, III and Nancy J. Truesdale. Nine legal assistants
and approximately 20 other employees also will join Pepper from
Jamieson
Moore.
“The Jamieson firm has an outstanding reputation, and there is
a very good fit between our firms professionally and culturally,”
said James L. Murray, Pepper’s executive partner. “We have been
interested in Princeton for some time. We already have a number of
clients in the area.”
Adds Tom Jamieson: “Our clients have increasingly complex needs
that can better be met by a larger firm, and we are excited and
challenged
by the breadth and depth of Pepper. The areas in which our lawyers
practice — corporate, real estate, financial services and banking,
trusts and estates, employment and litigation — will mesh
immediately
with Pepper’s practice, and our clients will benefit from the expanded
and integrated services.
“We have talked with many firms,” Jamieson says, “but
the people and practice at Pepper made this combination an easy choice
for us. The institutional sense of the Jamieson firm will continue
because Pepper shares the same values.”
— Barbara Fox
Jamieson, Moore, Peskin & Spicer, 300 AlexanderPark, CN 5276, Princeton 08543-5276. 609-452-0808; fax, 609-452-1147.Home page: www.jamiesonmoore.com.Top Of PageNew in IT Recruiting: JobReq.comIn 1986 Ken Peterson named his computer personnelrecruitingfirm after two of his favorite statesmen from the past: WinstonChurchilland Averell Harriman. Now his Research Park-based firm has spun offa new kind of recruiting firm for the future. Named JobReq.com Inc.,this company is intended to recruit and manage the IT consultantsof the future. It is Internet-based.Edward Zimmerman is president and CEO of JobReq.com Inc., which has4,000 square feet and seven employees so far at 244 Wall Street. Thecompany from which it sprang, Churchill & Harriman, has 2,000 squarefeet and 12 in-house staff members, plus consultants at client sites.It still does some recruiting but most of its business is consulting,and it is a service provider for JobReq.com.Zimmerman calls JobReq.com an Internet-based staffing exchange thathooks up hiring managers with consulting companies nationwide. “Wewill process the open job requirements, provide them to consultingcompanies, screen the candidates, do Internet-based testing, andprovideonly the top candidates back to the hiring company. We do thescreeningprocess for them and manage the vendor relationships with theconsultingcompanies,” he says.The cost for the JobReq service is paid by the providers — theconsulting companies. This comprehensive service can save theconsultingcompanies money, says Zimmerman, by eliminating the need forsalespeopleand marketing costs. “They receive the job requisitions as weget them, and our service is the single point of contact.”Panasonicis the anchor client of the seven-month-old firm.The client specifies, in the job requisition, how much it is willingto pay a consultant. Often, says Zimmerman, clients can hireconsultantsfor 15 percent below market rates, in part because many consultingcompanies have signed on to use his service. “It is almost likea reverse auction,” he says.JobReq offers clients a single source for billing and managementreporting.Another value-added service that JobReq provides for clients isInternet-basedtesting of consultants’ skills, and the testing is done by a thirdparty source.Only one other small company — Vivant, in Texas — is doingwhat JobReq does, says Zimmerman. Bigger competitors, such as Kellyand Volt, have programs that are still managed manually, he pointsout, and the 900-pound gorilla, Monster Board, lacks JobReq’s focuson customer service.Zimmerman grew up in Livingston, where his parents had smallbusinesses— exporting clothing and a neighborhood shoe store. He majoredin computer science at the University of Maryland, Class of 1979,and then moved from Mathematica to Digital Equipment to Nynex Mobile.Ken Peterson, 45, the son of a General Motor executive, studied lawand justice at Glassboro State (Rowan University). In 1982 he wentinto white collar recruiting with Jarvis Walker Group in Florham Park,then with Cal Roberts Associates in Union, before founding Churchill& Harriman Inc. He is married to Megan Peterson, a graphic artistat Princeton University who is the former president of Princeton’sMcIntosh user group.With a staff of 25, Churchill & Harriman is considered a boutiqueagency, yet it has such clients as Johnson & Johnson, Panasonic,Intel,and their affiliates. “In the early 1990s my clients said, `ifyou can take the standard of quality that you have demonstrated tous on a recruiting basis and migrate that to a consulting company,we are here as your clients,’” says Peterson.”Our `value add’ is that we actually do what we say we are goingto do,” says Peterson. “In an age of smoke and mirrors, thatdistinction is becoming more beneficial.”JobReq.com Inc., 244 Wall Street, Princeton 08540.609-921-8142; fax, 609-924-2314. Home page: www.jobreq.com.Churchill & Harriman Inc., 266 Wall Street,Princeton08540. 609-921-3551; fax, 609-921-1061. Home page: www.chus.com.Top Of PageName ChangesLaporte, a British conglomerate with three specialtychemical companies, opened its North American headquarters at 22ChambersStreet three years ago. Now its president, Michael J. Kenny, has anew boss — New York-based Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR).KKR bought out the three chemical companies from Laporte —AlfaGaryCop., Southern Clay, and CSI Chemical Specialties — for $1.175billion. The trio employs a total of 3,000 workers and had about$600,000,000in sales last year, which amounted to about 40 percent of Laporte’stotal sales.Among KKR’s other holdings are shares of Primedia (in Hightstown),Borden, RJR Nabisco, and Fleet Bank.Kenny, 54, has been president of NL Chemicals in Hightstown and ofRheox, an NL subsidiary, and he has also run the chemicals businessfor Church & Dwight on Thanet Circle. While he was president of thespecialty products division at Church and Dwight in 1995, he launcheda technically challenging application for sodium bicarbonate —to use it to impregnate Scott Paper’s Cottonelle toilet paper. Hecame to Laporte’s chemical business when it moved to Princeton fromCharlotte, North Carolina.Rockwood Specialties (Laporte Inc.), 22 ChambersStreet, Suite 201, Princeton 08542. Michael J. Kenny, president.609-430-1199;fax, 609-430-1524.Top Of PageNew in TownAKF Engineers, 600 Alexander Park, Suite 203,Princeton08540. Rudy Frank, partner in charge. 609-750-9590; fax, 609-750-9575.Www.akf-engineers.com.Mechanical engineers, based in New York, have divided their formeroffice in Mount Laurel between Princeton and Philadelphia.A.M. Todd Group, 4 Cedar Brook Drive, CranburyRobert C. Lijana, vice president technology. 609-409-7050; fax,609-409-7053.Zink and Triest, an importer and exporter of vanilla beans, is adivisionof A.M. Todd Group in Pennsylvania. Here it is opening a center forthe design of unique flavors.Qusion Technologies Inc., 100 Canal PointeBoulevard,Suite 200, Princeton 08540. Fred Rappaport. 609-951-4270; fax,609-987-9750.Www.qusiontech.com (This website does not allow for easy transfer backto the original document).Formerly known as Advanced Integrative Photonics, this softwarecompanyis due to move to 33,000 square feet in South Brunswick in firstquarterof 2001.Advanced TelCom Group Inc., 993 Lenox Drive, Suite200, Lawrenceville 08648. Carl J. Thompson, general manager.609-844-7608.Home page: www.callatg.com.Carl J. Thompson has opened the Mercer County office for atelecommunicationscompany based in Santa Rosa, California. It is a facilities-basedintegrated communications provider (ICP) that targets the underservedmiddle-sized business markets. It offers one-stop shopping —digitalnetworks including DSL technology, local exchange, high speed dataand Internet services, and domestic and international long distance.For now, it is located at Office Concierge on Lenox Drive.Thompson went to University of Notre Dame and has an MBA from theUniversity of Chicago. He spent 17 years at AT&T Network Systems(LucentTechnologies) in business development, market management, customerservice, and sales. Then, as president and COO, he took North AmericanWireless into the PCS Entrepreneur market. Before moving to ATG hehad been vice president for Daleen Technologies Inc., atelecom-billingsoftware development company in Florida. Here he is responsible forsales, customer service, and operations for a territory that includesmost of greater Princeton.Top Of PageManagement MovesIndustryClick (PRM), 155 Village Boulevard,Princeton08540. Timothy Andrews. 609-371-7700; fax, 609-371-7879.Primedia named Timothy M. Andrews CEO of Intertec Publishing (itsB2B division) on Friday, December 8. Andrews is already presidentand CEO of IndustryClick, Primedia’s online web of B2B sites, andis moving that firm from Twin Rivers to Forrestal Village. Thisadditionaljob will make Andrews the point person for both the publishing armand the Internet arm of Primedia and represents Andrews’ push tointegratethe traditional business with new media business.At IndustryClick he is creating vertical online communities targetedat specific industries (U.S. 1, July 5). His most recent launch isTelecomClick, a business-to-business online site for thetelecommunicationsindustry that covers broadband, IP telephony, ICPs, wireless,satellite,Internet, cable and network support. (www.primedia.com). Beforejoining IndustryClick, Andrews was founding CEO of Dow Jones ReutersBusiness Interactive (Factiva).Top Of PageDeathsLorraine L. Oliver, 57, on December 11. She worked forPrinceton Plasma Physics Laboratory.Joann A. Branzelli Farr, 55, on December 11. She had workedat ETS.Corrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
