Corrections or additions?
These articles were published in U.S. 1 Newspaper on March 11,
1998. All rights reserved.
Life in the Fast Lane
For Nike to sponsor a sports event is nothing new,
but this sport is basketball for girls and this event — the Nike
Lady Footlocker 3 For All contest — is being staged by a firm
at 55 Princeton-Hightstown Road. It’s also one more example of how
a business can capitalize on donations to women’s health issues,
particularly
breast cancer (see “Clothes for a Cause,” page 13).
“We are trying to promote a healthy life style in young
girls,”
says Tina Dhondt, an account executive at the National Media Group.
Three full-timers and two interns from the events planning division
left Manhattan last fall to move to Princeton. The office will empty
out this week when everyone goes to Orlando to supervise the 3 For
All finals.
Founded by Peter Kaplan and Michael Goldberg (a sports attorney) in
1980, the National Media Group retains its 25-person office at 1790
Broadway in Manhattan. It works with the NBA, the NHL, and the NFL
on such projects as a videoconference that beams basketball stars
to children’s hospitals — which serves as a technology showcase
for Lucent Technologies. NMG also does public relations and
hospitality
work for Fleer/SkyBox and customer hospitality at All-Star events
for Schick and IBM. Robyn Stein, an alumna of the University of
Vermont,
Class of 1988, is senior director of events management.
When the final bell sounds the shoemaker and the shoe retailer will
have donated more than $400,000 to the girls’ basketball contest.
“Studies have shown that girls who play sports in high school
have less risk of breast cancer,” says Kathryn Reith, spokesperson
for Nike. Other possible benefits: fewer teenage pregnancies, improved
self esteem, and less exposure to abusive relationships.
More than 10,000 young women have entered this contest, and although
none will get a cash prize (the most they can get under the rules
is a free trip to Walt Disney World) they do get free tickets to a
women’s basketball game and the chance to compete in three skills:
the speed dribble, the free throw, and a timed shooting event called
the supershot.
Last fall young women from ages 10 to 17 picked up entry blanks (and
vouchers for free tickets to a women’s collegiate basketball game)
from Lady Footlocker stores. Regional contests were held at the
Lawrenceville
Intermediate School on December 13 and in Trenton on January 10.
High-scorers
competed at halftime of the women’s college basketball game at St.
Joseph’s in Philadelphia on February 14. Winners from each age group
in 12 markets (Princeton is in the Philadelphia market) are competing
in Orlando and might even get to be on television. The “More Than
a Game” show airs Saturdays at 1 p.m. on Channel 4. (No date has
been set for the airing of this segment).
And what do the sponsors get for their $400,000? “The girls and
their parents are exposed to Nike and Lady Footlocker, and they
understand
that these are two companies that are putting some time and money
and energy into their sport,” says Reith.
There is no comparable Nike contest for boys. “Historically girls
have not had as many opportunities,” says Reith. “This is
one of the few chances they get to show their stuff.”
National Media Group Inc., 55 Princeton-HightstownRoad, Suite 109, Princeton Junction 08550. Robyn Stein, seniordirector,event management. 609-716-6200; fax, 609-716-6165.Top Of PageBloomberg’s BackupWhen 700 College Road was built it was equipped withredundant systems suitable for computers at the back office of a bank.But currently Credit Suisse/First Boston occupies only the thirdfloor,and now Bloomberg Financial Markets hopes to take advantage of thesturdy systems to install a backup computer.”We are in the process of signing a lease for the second floorand part of the first floor,” says Bloomberg’s Stuart Bell.”Wethought it was very good to have a backup computer center, and then,because we are taking the whole floor, another 100 people could betraining there during the day.” Trainees would come fromPrinceton,New York, or around the globe, for two or three-week training coursesin financial reporting, operations, or sales.Permanent employees at the site would number 150, but because of thetraining center Bloomberg has submitted an application to expand theparking area to a total of 521 spaces. Jay Biggins, of the ColemanCompany and Arete Capital Advisors, represents the prospective tenant.Bloomberg has 1,079 workers on Business Park Drive; it provideson-line,real-time information, analytics, news and trading systems for allfinancial markets. Credit Suisse/First Boston did not return calls.Top Of PageBase 10’s SpinoffStrategic Technology Systems, 1 Electronics Drive,Trenton 08619. Edward Klinsport, CEO. 609-584-0202; fax, 609-584-0505.When Strategic Technology Systems spun off from BaseTen earlier this year, more than just strategic defense interestswere saved. After Base Ten decided to devote its manufacturingexecutionsoftware solely on pharmaceutical and healthcare services –lettinggo of the defense wing of the business — five Base Ten executives,including then-CFO Edward Klinsport, stepped in, got financial backingin New York City, and purchased Base Ten’s assets for $5.5 million.As Jeffrey Billie explains, the principals of Strategic also savedjobs. “There was another bid by a company in New York, but allthey were interested in were the contracts and designs,” he says.”They weren’t interested in the facility or the people, so ineffect we saved 100 jobs in Hamilton Township.”Along with a New York-based investment banking firm, five principalsof Base Ten were involved, including Klinsport, Strategic’s presidentand CEO; Billie, vice president of customer support; Rod Wurst, seniorvice president of operations; Peggy Cole, senior vice president,programsand engineering; and Ed Struble, vice president of marketing.”While Base Ten has decided to go full bore into medical software,we have decided to continue the tradition of defense building thatwe have practiced for the last 32 years,” says Billie. Thisincludeselectronic warfare equipment like data recorders (“blackboxes”)on Apache helicopters and interference blanker units on BoeingF/A-18s.And, Billie adds, much of Strategic’s work would be featured in theevent of a bombing campaign against Iraq. That would include weaponscontrol systems on the Apache, cruise missiles, Tornado aircraft,and the A-10 “tank-killing” aircraft.All of Strategic Technology Systems’ 85 employees were formerlyemployedat Base Ten. The companies still share the 84,000-square-footheadquartersat 1 Electronics Drive.Top Of PageNew in TownAptech Worldwide Inc., 5 Independence Way,PrincetonExecutive Center, Princeton 08540. Giuseppe Dragone, regionaldirector.609-951-9195; fax, 609-951-9638. E-mail: gdragone@aptechworld.com.Home page: https://www.aptechworld.com.Aptech has a new office on Independence Way, one of 1,000 centersin 12 countries that have trained more than a million students overthe past decade. Its clients — students, end-users, andinformationsystem professionals, can take courses in such major areas asmainframeY2K remediation, Microsoft (MSCE), Internet, data communications,client/server applications, and multimedia technologies. It has theISO 9001 International Quality Certification for education supportservices and was the first organization to achieve this.As an authorized testing center, partnered with Sylvan Prometric,it can administer certification tests. It is approved by the stateboard of education.HydroMed Sciences, 8 Cedar Brook Drive, Cranbury08512. Robert Feinberg, president. 609-409-9010; fax, 609-409-1650.The 35-year-old company expanded in a move from New Brunswick. Ithas 20 employees and manufactures pharmaceutical implants.Root Technologies Inc., 14 Wall Street, Princeton08540. Thomas D. Johnson, project manager. 609-430-1320; E-mail:tomj@roottech.com.Home page: https://www.roottech.com.Root Technologies has been in business since 1987 as a generalizedcomputer consulting firm in the town of Middlesex. By 1991 it hadbegun to specialize in document conversion. Last year, when it movedinto Princeton, it began focusing exclusively on the conversion ofpaper documents to electronic forms of all kinds, including, forexample,MS Word, Acrobat PDF, and HTML.Top Of PageStock NewsRCN Corporation, 105 Carnegie Center, Suite 300,Princeton 08540. David C. McCourt, chairman and CEO. 609-734-3700;fax, 609-734-3875.RCN has announced a two-for-one stock split to improve the liquidityand marketability of its shares, which are currently trading at nearly$60. The record date for the transaction is Friday, March 20;stockholderson record will receive one additional share of RCN common stock foreach share held (the distribution date is Friday, April 3). Uponcompletion,there will be 54.8 million shares outstanding.RCN also named Dennis Spina vice chairman of RCN and president ofthe company’s nascent Internet services division. Spina was formerpresident and CEO of Erol’s Internet, the ISP that RCN just acquiredas part of foray into the Internet-via-cable market. Prior to runningErol’s, Spina was CEO of Suburban Propane, and spent the first 17years of his career at Federal Express, working his way up the companyladder from courier to vice president of east coast operations.Sal Quadrino, Erol’s former CFO, will become RCN’s chiefadministrationofficer.Top Of PageThe Road to Web ProfitsSome doubt that online businesses pay off, but here’sone that does. Kathleen Tucker’s firm, Independent Traveler,establishesinteractive travel communities on AOL and the World Wide Web. ThoughTucker relies heavily on 50 “hosts” who help out on themessageboards and are paid a nominal sum (amounting to a free subscriptionto AOL) for their services, she has eight full-time paid employees– five in a Pennington office and three who work from their homes.”We are a profitable business,” says Tucker, “and I amdrawing a salary that is more than enough to pay my nanny.”A veteran of 16 years in interactive services, Tucker has had herown business for seven years. The Independent Traveler site reaches800,000 households per month, and its advertisers (including AmericanAirlines, Marriott, and British Airways) pay an average of $40 foreach 1,000 people who view their banner ads. Tucker also collectssignificant licensing fees from AOL.”Travel has always been a passion for me,” says Tucker. Withan aunt who sent postcards from exotic places, Tucker cultivatednumerouspenpals while growing up in Massachusetts as the oldest of sixchildren.In high school she went to France as a Lions Club exchange student.From then on, she was an inveterate traveler.After graduating from Stanford in 1981, she was a consultant on theCompuServe account, doing competitive analysis and business strategy.From there she went to online services at the San Francisco Chronicleand then in a small California office of American Online, which hasits headquarters in Virginia.When she proposed an online travel service, they accepted. She movedto Princeton five years ago with her husband, an administrator atPrinceton Day School, and they have a two-year-old child. Two yearsago she hired her first full-time employee. Soon she will hire herninth, an advertising services coordinator. She recently moved toPennington’s Main Street from a home office.The secret for the success of Tucker’s business could be what mosttravelers have discovered — no one except your doting familymemberswants to hear about your latest trip. It offers the opportunity toshare your travel experiences — maybe boast a little, maybecomplaina little — and certainly help others to avoid your trials or sharein your joys.”We give them a place where they can just tell people about theirtrips,” says Tucker.Contributors can write trip reports or participate in chats wherefirst-hand information is exchanged. Most are American. “It’sgenerally a baby boomer audience,” says Tucker. “They arehanging out with a lot of kindred spirits. They are finding peoplewho love to travel like they do, and they don’t necessarily havepeoplein their own circle who like that. One of the fun things about travelis hooking up with other travelers and exchanging stories.”Her staff does the facilitating or writes the articles(tips, summaries) that are not destination articles. “We try toget people to exchange experiences. We facilitate the exchange ofinformation; we set up the area (a place to recommend hotels in Paris,for example) and promote it in such a way that people contribute toit.””We don’t write travel articles per se,” says Tucker. “Ifyou wanted to go to Nepal, you would check the international messageboards for the threads on trekking, restaurants, and hotels, but itwouldn’t necessarily be an article. It would be all firsthandexperiences.”Go to the German bulletin board and download a list of gooddestinations,or great restaurants, of good places to stay. One writer touts Trier,another insists that Munich is the best tourist spot.Message boards are set up to go back 14 months, and for destinationswhere there is little traffic and even less information (only onereference, for instance, is made to a trip to Albania), messages cansurvive for up to two or three years. Most of the longer stories mustbe downloaded.Particularly popular are the price quotes on air fares when”airfarewars” are taking place. In fact, the three areas that get themost traffic are the Bargain Box, the Travelers’ Resource area forpractical suggestions, the community area, for interaction and chat.Another section has book reviews. “The travel store doesn’t getas much traffic as I would like,” admits Tucker.”It’s a very difficult business to make money in, but there isa lot of potential and we are making a go of it.”– Barbara FoxThe Independent Traveler, 65 South Main Street,Building D-2, Pennington 08534. Kathleen Tucker, editor and publisher.609-737-8820; fax, 609-730-9160. E-mail: TheTravler@aol.com.Top Of PageLaw Man: YostembskiBehind the plaque on the wall showing the Juris Doctor,there’s a badge. And underneath his lawyer’s suit is a robe –a judge’s robe.At first Robert H. Yostembski traded in an Ivy League education fora Trenton police badge. Then he traded in his badge for a gavel. Nowhe is trading in his gavel for a shingle on Route 1. But for all ofthe changes, Yostembski remains convinced that some things don’t change.”People and situations change all the time while human natureis constant,” he says.Yostembski’s new law practice, based at 2909 Route in Lawrenceville,will be centered on municipal court law, including drunk driving,domestic violence, assault, hit and run, personal injury, drugs, andjuvenile law.Basically, Yostembski, 46, has done just about everything inside acourtroom except stenography. He got a degree in natural science fromthe University of Pennsylvania (Class of ’72), but chose to attendthe Trenton Police Academy and join the police force instead. “Ihad a close friend who joined the police department and liked thatjob and its opportunities, and I followed him along and was glad Idid,” he says.From 1973 to 1980 Yostembski went to night school and worked the Trentonbeat in a patrol car. He enjoyed “the immediacy of activity, theJohnny-on-the-spot of the situation where your presence and decisionscould make an immediate and important, positive impact on people’slives,” he says. “There is some psychic income there if youlook for it.”Concurrently, Yostembski was working in two graduate school programs,and in 1979 received both a masters in public administration fromRider and a law degree from Seton Hall University.At the advice of friends, he made a career change, getting into privatepractice as a lawyer in Trenton. “I never had a desire to leavethe police department,” he says. “I pursued the educationfor its own sake and once I had the degrees I was advised to makeuse of it.”After four years at Wherry & Yostembski, based at 124 West State Street,Yostembski moved to Destribats, Campbell, DeSantis, Magee & O’Donnellin Hamilton, where he worked until 1986.Then he became a judge in Hamilton Township, where he served for morethan nine years. In 1996, he moved to Hightstown Municipal Court,where he worked until opening his new practice.One criticism of municipal courts stems from the fear that judgesform tacit alliances with the police in the municipalities in whichthey serve. Not if the judge is doing his or her job, Yostembski declares.”If the court is conducted properly it’s not an extension of thepolice department but an independent branch of government that itshould be,” he says.If Yostembski had stayed on the police force, last week would havemarked his 25th anniversary. It would also have given him the optionof retiring along with his colleagues from the Trenton Police Department.Does he miss it? Not really. “It was a good occupation at thetime — when I was younger and physically and mentally better ableto handle it,” he says. “I’d recommend that career to anyone.It’s now simply not a part of me.”– Peter J. MladineoRobert H. Yostembski, 2909 Route 1, Lawrenceville08648. 609-882-3750; fax, 609-882-3537.Top Of PageExpansionsSystems/Link Inc., 2540 Route 130, Cranbury 08512.Diane Sammer, president. 609-409-0909; fax, 609-409-9099. Homepage: https://www.systemslink.com.Systems/Link, a developer of software for wireless telecommunicationscarriers, expanded to 15,000 square feet at 2540 Route 130, Cranbury.It moved from smaller quarters on Route 33 in Hightstown. With 60employees, Systems/Link offers a suite of products that help wirelesscarriers track call detail records and deal with cellular fraud.Its biggest selling product is Roamex, an international, real-timeroamer data exchange network that the company claims covers 95 percentof U.S. markets, plus major markets in Canada, Mexico, and theCaribbean.Other products include FraudTec 200, a real-time fraud profilingsystemwith a graphical user interface, and SwitchLink, a real-time switchdata collector with a billing feed. The firm was founded in 1985.The president is Diane Sammer, a founding partner who became presidentin 1995. Sammer has a BA in psychology from North Adams State Collegein Massachusetts, and had worked in marketing and sales for ComputerSciences Corporation, before becoming Systems/Link’s vice presidentof marketing and sales.Industrial Water Institute, 33 Maitland Road,Yardville08620. Ray Kerollis, president. 609-585-4880; fax, 609-585-4882.Ray Kerollis moved from an office in the home in Hightstown to newfacilities in Yardville. His firm produces multimedia educationaltools for industrial water treatment for industrial manufacturers.”Water is the only chemical that enters a manufacturing facilitythat can shut a whole plant down in a second — and no ones thinksabout it,” says Kerollis. An industrial chemist with 34 yearsexperience, he had a consulting company, the Water Technology Group,and decided to change businesses when he realized how few trainingmaterials there were on the subject (U.S. 1, July 17, 1996).Top Of PageCrosstown MovesSteven H. Gifis, 65 South Main Street, BuildingD, Pennington 08534. 609-737-7604; fax, 609-818-1458. E-mail:shg68@aol.com.Jeffrey L. Weinstein, 65 South Main Street,BuildingD, Pennington 08534. 609-737-7604; fax, 609-818-1458. E-mail:shg68@aol.com.Steven Gifis moved his practice from Straube Center to 1,000 squarefeet at 65 South Main Street. The fax number is new.Gifis, 52, has a degree from Harvard Law School (Class of 1969) andhas a practice that includes corporate law and real estate work. Hisclients include Ice Land, Thompson Land, Energy Photovoltaics (EPV),the Benefits Group, and a handful of smaller clients. “I liketo work with start-ups,” he says.Gifis got his undergraduate degree from UCLA and Berkeley, and taughtat Rutgers Law School after finishing his law degree in 1969. In 1983he got a job with Chronar Corporation, another solar energy firm inthe Princeton area. He worked for DKM Enterprises, before startinghis own practice in 1990. He lives in the Elm Ridge section ofHopewell,and has five children, 10 to 19.Another lawyer, Jeffrey L. Weinstein, shares the space withGifis, and has another office in Lambertville (609-397-8400).Princeton Area Community Foundation, 188 TamarackCircle, Skillman 08558. Nancy W. Kieling, executive director.609-688-0300;fax, 609-688-0342.The foundation, founded in 1991 to support non-profit groups withthe greatest need and promote a greater sense of community, has movedfrom 15 Roszel Road to Tamarack Circle.Prudential Insurance, 1 Edith Court, Lawrenceville08648. 609-799-9593.Rachel Lei moved her multi-line insurance office from 44Princeton-HightstownRoad to a home office.Top Of PageLeaving TownCelsis Inc., 165 Fieldcrest Avenue, Edison 08818.732-346-5100; fax, 732-346-5115. Home page:https://www.celsis.com.Five people from Cranbury joined 55 people moving from Roselle Parkto set up a Celsis laboratory in Edison. “Our product growth overthe last year was in excess of 40 percent, and our service growthis 30 percent,” says Frank Stellato, vice president and generalmanager at an office based on the Northwestern University campus inEvanston, Illinois (847-467-4814; fax 847-467-6602). “We had toget out of the Cranbury and Roselle operations and really expand.”On the product side, Bob Perry heads the former Roselle Park division;it deals in bioluminescence-based diagnostic system for rapidmicrobialdetection for pharmaceutical firms, for food or beverage companies,and dairies. The minimum cost for one unit is $60,000.On the service side, formerly on Route 130, Celsis Laboratory Groupis a contract laboratory organization that offers chemistry,microbiology,and biology services to the pharmaceutical, personal care, and medicaldevice industries. Jim Brown is in charge.Top Of PageKeller GuiltyDeveloper Eric R. Keller pleaded guilty March 6 in aplea agreement that calls for a maximum of five years probation, 100hours of community service for each of the five years, and restitutionof $102,771.82 owed to Mountainview Partners — his former inlawsin the Gallup and Laughlin families.The charges involved defrauding investors in Princeton Capital CreditPartners, passing bad checks, and trying to record a deed in SomersetCounty with a fraudulent signature. At the close of the hearinganothercharge was revealed — allegedly not paying $2,490 in back childsupport — and Keller was arrested on a warrant from SomersetCounty.Though in court he agreed to pay the entire amount to MountainviewPartners, Keller admitted to stealing no more than $75,000 on thegrounds that the remainder was owed to him for development work onthe family’s Great Road property (U.S. 1, April 30, 1997).Top Of PageDeathsTamara Moore, 77, on February 23. She owned and operatedTamara’s Things, an Oriental antique shop on Route 1 South.Nancy M. Novak, 57, on March 4. She worked at McGraw Hillon Princeton-Hightstown Road.Steven VanZile, 39, on March 5. He worked at the DailyPlan-It on Alexander Road.Neal C. Palmer, 40, on March 7. He was a floral designerat Marazzo’s Manor Lane Florist.Marvin Gandelman, 75, on March 9. He was the founder andpresident of the Gandelman Agency on Whitehead Road.Corrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
