Corrections or additions?
These articles by Barbara Fox were prepared for the September 29,
2004 issue of U.S. 1 Newspaper. All rights reserved.
On the Move
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Start-Ups
Kathie De Chirico had been long eying a setting like Rob Lyszczarz’s
Orchard Road office/farm (see page 45), as a spot for Visionary
Marketing and Management Strategies, her one-year-old branding and
licensing firm for fashion apparel. "My vision was that we would work
in an environment that allowed us to work intuitively," she says. "It
was such a positive energy environment, and I kept thinking what a
great place it would be to have an office."
In May she moved from Princeton Forrestal Village, where her husband,
William D’Arienzo, has his own company, WDA Marketing and Management,
at HQ. Her new quarters is the 1,500 square-foot carriage house. "We
can be very hectic and since we are by ourselves, our creative area
can be a mess. We also have the opportunity to move into additional
space next door, for support staff."
De Chirico and her husband (who was her supervisor in their previous
jobs) have a son who is doing a film internship in Manhattan and a
daughter who will graduate this year from Montgomery High School. A
big plus for De Chirico’s new office is its proximity to the school,
so she can maximize her time with her daughter’s during her last year
at home.
"And Rob has been an incredible landlord," she says. "Over the summer
he would invite our company on Thursdays, and he would cook on the
grill."
A 25-year veteran of the fashion industry, she grew up in Piscataway,
where her father was the chief of police and her mother the
transportation supervisor. She went to Douglass College, Class of
1976, and has worked for such companies as Macy’s, Basic Elements, and
Kids Headquarters.
A previous project for the firm had paired Jaytex, a Canadian firm,
with Union Bay, a junior and young men’s company. Her current project
is to do lifestyle branding for department stores for the singer,
Carlos Santana, and his wife. The market, she says, is men and women,
ages 25 to 44. "We are in the middle of launching a fragrance license,
and have in place a successful shoe license by Brown Shoe." These high
fashion style shoes for women are sold in New York City as "impulse
buys," she says, "for the woman who is a leader, not a follower, and
very self confident. It is high fashion styling for the price point."
De Chirico puts herself in that category. Asked to inventory her
outfit working "in the country" on the day of this telephone
interview, she said she was wearing a denim Gap jacket, a sleeveless
Banana Republic teeshirt knotted at the waist, a DKNY black skirt with
pleats at the end, and pink and black mesh Carlos Santana shoes with
very high heels. Never mind comfort; fashion must prevail. "I would
wear this in the city, too," she says.
Road, Skillman 08558. Kathie De Chirico. 908-281-3833; fax,
908-281-3834. Home page: www.visionarymms.com
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Start-Up Planner
Lisa H. Jantorno has opened a fee-only comprehensive financial
planning and financial management office on Emmons Drive. With both
the comprehensive financial planning and chartered financial advisor
designations, she is on the board of the National Association of
Personal Financial Advisors.
Jantorno, whose maiden name was Fullhart, grew up in Hopewell, where
her mother sold advertising for the Trenton Times and WPST, among
other media. After graduating from George Mason University in
Virginia, Class of 1986, she worked for Bank of Mid Jersey (a small
bank in Burlington County that is now Fleet Bank) while earning her
MBA from Rider. She and her husband, a home builder in Wrightstown,
have two daughters and a son.
"I was pregnant with my eldest child when I started the CFP program
home study course," she says. "By the time I took the two-day
comprehensive exam, I was six months pregnant with my second child."
Jantorno felt frustrated by a previous job in the trust/new business
development department at United Jersey Bank. "I wasn’t very good at
it. I was supposed to hand off the new client to the portfolio
managers. But I had established relationships with the clients, and
they would call me to solve their problems." Taking time to do this
was detrimental to making her "new client" numbers. So she moved to
the financial planning arena and worked at a "fee only" office in
Princeton.
As a fee-only practitioner, clients pay by the hour for her expertise.
This eliminates any conflict that might arise from selling products,
she says. "I don’t have any minimum fee," says Jantorno, "because I
don’t want to dissuade anyone from seeing a financial advisor. The
initial consultation is free, and we talk about our services to see if
it is a match."
C-40, Princeton 08540. Lisa H. Jantorno CFA CFP, president.
609-919-0006; fax, 609-919-0220.
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Contracts Awarded
Princeton 08540. Mort Collins. 609-921-8896; fax, 609-921-8703.
Battelle Ventures led a $16.4 million Series C financing round for a
California-based developer of gene expression analysis technology.
Genospectra Inc. develops products and technologies for Parallel
Quantitative Biology and supplies QuantiGene branched DNA gene
expression analysis technology. Battelle focuses on commercializing
seed and early stage technologies, particularly those from the U.S.
Department of Energy National Laboratories.
"Genospectra’s combination of proprietary, innovative technologies,
and a management team that delivers is a winning one – for both
investors and the life sciences community," said Battelle Ventures’
Ron Hahn in a press release. "As a rapidly growing company with
products already in the marketplace, Genospectra has successfully
commercialized important products, demonstrated exceptional focus and
rapid growth, and targeted critical unmet needs with its future
products."
The company hopes that Hahn, who will serve on Genospectra’s board,
will help it gain early access to what it calls "important external
technologies, including opportunities to accelerate our product
development programs."
L. Drakeman, CEO. 609-430-2880; fax, 609-430-2850. Www.medarex.com.
Medarex announced an important collaboration with Pfizer on Monday,
September 20. In a deal worth a possible $510 million, Medarex will
help Pfizer develop up to 50 antibody products over 10 years. To
receive the maximum, all 50 products would need to obtain regulatory
approval.
Pfizer will pay $80 million in cash and buy $30 million in Medarex
common stock at a premium to the market price. The remaining monies
depend on research milestones. The two companies have also agreed to
cross-license some patents relating to their anti-CTLA-4 antibody
programs.
Earlier this month Medarex announced it would continue a collaboration
with diaDexus, based in South San Francisco, to develop antibodies
against three novel cancer targets outside of the original agreement,
which focused on lung cancer.
08536. Michael Hennessy, CEO. 609-716-7777; fax, 609-716-4747. Home
page: www.mdnetguide.com
Intellisphere LLC has partnered with a new medical education firm,
Scinexa LLC, to provide crossover services for physician audiences.
The firms will share access to each other’s markets without violating
any regulatory firewalls.
Founded five years ago, Intellisphere has both a publications group
and a market research division with access to more than 400 hospitals.
Its flagship publication, MD NetGuide, explores the intersection of
healthcare and technology and – with a print journal, a bi-weekly
E-newsletter, and a website – it offers a map to medical information
on the Internet. Reaching 250,000 physicians, it has nine
practice-specific editions and a waiting room magazine.
Intellisphere’s alliance with Scinexa, a content developer, will
provide useful resources. Scinexa, for its part, is seeking ways to
reach additional doctors.
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Name Changes
Franklin Park 08823. 732-821-6633; fax, 732-821-7916.
The Trust Company of New Jersey changed its name to Norfolk Bank in
May, 2004.
Princeton 08540. Lawrence J. Rubenstein, branch manager. 609-734-0400;
fax, 609-734-0939. Home page: www.opco.com
When Fahnestock bought Oppenheimer last year, it took Oppenheimer’s
name. Now this New York-based firm has 1,600 financial advisors, 11 at
this location and nearly 100 branches. Its clients are high net worth
individuals, particularly those who need corporate and executive
services.
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New in Town
4, Jamesburg. Peter Kamani, distribution manager. 609-409-3333. Home
page: www.sonalsportswear.com
Sonal Sportswear, an importer of women’s clothing, opened a warehouse
in Jamesburg in early fall. The headquarters is at 1385 Broadway,
Suite 711A.
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Management Moves
Brunswick 08901. Graham Lustig, artistic director. 732-249-1254; fax,
732-249-8475. Home page: www.arballet.org
Barry C. Hughson is the new executive director of American Repertory
Ballet in New Brunswick and the affiliated Princeton Ballet School. He
will assume his duties Oct. 1 and plans to move from New York City to
New Brunswick after the first of the year.
Hughson, 36, studied ballet at the Nutmeg Ballet in Torrington,
Connecticut, and danced with Washington Ballet in Washington, D.C.
Forced to give up professional dancing by chronic tendinitis, he
earned a certificate in arts administration from New York University.
He has been executive director of the Warner Theatre in Torrington,
and executive director of Complexions Contemporary Ballet in New York.
Trenton 08608-1176. Dr. George A. Pruitt, president. 888-442-8372;
fax, 609-984-8447. Home page: www.tesc.edu
Thomas Edison State College has reorganized and created seven schools,
each led by a dean. The schools include applied science and
technolgoy, arts and sciences, nursing, professional and continuing
studies, social and behavioral sciences, and the graduate school.
Mary Ellen Caro is the new dean of the newly created School of
Business and Management, which offers four degrees – an Associate in
Science in Management, a Bachelor of Science in Business
ADministraiton, a Master of Science in Human Resources Management, and
a Master of Science in Management.
Caro was a mathematics and sociology major at the College of St.
Elizabeth in Morristown, and she has a master’s degree in applied
statistics from Rutgers and a master’s degree in management from
Stanford, where she was an AT&T Sloan Fellow. After a stint as a
research associate at Mathematica Policy Research on Alexander Road,
she had a 25-year career at AT&T, where she was most recently a vice
president of AT&T Business Services, managing a portfolio with $1
billion in revenue. She was one of the founding managing partners and
origitnal architects of AT&T Solutions.
At the college she will oversee curriculum development, recruit and
lead subject matter experts who will function as mentors, develop
learning outcomes assessment, and establish relationships with
corporations and organizations.
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