Crunching Numbers
$50,000
The amount that South Jersey Industries (SJI) raised for the American Heart Association during last month’s Heart Walk of Southern New Jersey.
$161 million
What Camden County plans to spend in 2025-26 across an array of projects to improve its roads and dams, including sections of eight major roads.
36
How many NJ hospitals received an “A” in national nonprofit Leapfrog Group’s Spring 2025 Hospital Safety Grade, with five more hospitals in the state earning the highest grade than in the previous round.
292 acres
The size of the newest Netflix production studio, located in Fort Monmouth. In mid-May, the streaming giant officially broke ground on its future East Coast hub, which is planned to open in 2028.
45th
Where New Jersey ranks nationally in per-capita commercial construction spending, per construction aggregate supply company Twisted Nail’s report released last month. The state also ranks 22nd in total commercial construction spending
$28.1 billion
How much NJEDA’s Net Operating Loss Program—which supports emerging technology companies with early growth capital—contributed to the state economy in 2024, according to a recent assessment.
123.7 million
Per the New Jersey Division of Travel and Tourism’s recently released 2024 Economic Impact of Visitors to New Jersey, how many people visited the Garden State last year—a 2.7% increase from 2023.
43,000+
How many robot-assisted surgeries Virtua Health has performed since 2006, when it first integrated surgical robotics into its hospitals.
Breakdown
A statewide hike of electricity prices went into effect June 1.
What Happened: The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) runs an annual auction for power-generation companies, which determines yearly pricing for roughly one-third of New Jersey’s supply and layers it with the previous two years’ pricing. This year’s auction yielded an increase of at least 17.23%—a spike that coincides with regional grid operator PJM Interconnection’s own capacity auction cresting record highs and reflects influences like an imbalance between more demand and less supply growth.
What It Means: South Jersey residents and businesses will feel the impact of the increase depending on their electric utility, with Atlantic City Electric customers’ bills set to rise by 17.23%, PSE&G bills going up by 17.24% and Jersey Central Power & Light bills increasing by 20.2%. Those enrolled in their utility’s balanced billing program most likely won’t see an immediate difference in their bills.
What’s Next: State lawmakers have offered differing perspectives on the root causes of the pricing increase and have been introducing legislature that approaches the issue from a range of angles, including changes to how state regulators set profit margins for utilities, a bill that would create training requirements for those regulators and requiring the BPU to study the impact that data centers have on electricity prices. In the meantime, efficiency experts advise solutions and strategies like regular building and HVAC maintenance, undergoing business-energy audits to identify further savings opportunities and actively shopping for a new electricity supplier.
On the Move
Jefferson Health recently announced Michael P. Harrington, CPA, MBA, as its new executive vice president and chief financial officer (CFO). Harrington brings more than three decades of experience in financial leadership to the role and will help guide the organization’s financial strategy and operations. He previously served as CFO for Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York.
Inspira Health has named several new appointees recently. New leadership for its Foundation Board of Trustees include: Kevin R. Gibala, chair; Carol J. Musso, vice chair; and Glenn M. Dragon, M.D., secretary. Additionally, effective last month, Ankur S. Patel, MD, MBA, FAAFP, is the new president of Inspira Living Independently for Elders.
It was recently announced that Rider University’s board of trustees unanimously appointed John R. Loyack as the private college’s next president, a role he will officially take on this summer following the retirement of Dr. Gregory G. Dell’Omo.
The New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute executive committee saw some changes last month: John Leyman has been elected board chair, while Gary Mann has been named vice chair and Andrea Martinez-Mejia is now board secretary; Don Bryan was reelected as treasurer and finance committee chair.
Pepco Holdings, a subsidiary of Exelon that includes Atlantic City Electric, recently appointed two new executive leaders to meet the changing needs of customers and communities across New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and the District of Columbia: Effective this month, Rodney Oddoye is now chief operating officer and Morgan O’Donnell is chief financial officer.
Duly Noted
When the Senator Walter Rand Institute for Public Affairs at Rutgers–Camden hosted its 23rd annual Walter and Leah Rand Awards and Scholarship Dinner April 29, the organization also honored its three 2025 South Jerseyans of the Year: Judith Persichilli, Liz Thomas and The Domenica Foundation.
Last month, Cooper University Health Care announced the recipients of its 2025 Nurses of the Year Awards: Raymond Duma, BSN, RN, received the William A. Schwartz Jr. Nurse of the Year Award while Yulia Schaffer, BSN, RN, CMC, CCRN, was honored with the Charles and Barbara Dalrymple Nurse of the Year Award. Additionally, the Cardiac Catheterization Unit at Cooper University Hospital in Camden was named 2025’s Team of the Year.
The Engineers’ Club of Philadelphia has recently announced that Zenaida Otero Gephardt, Ph.D, PE, professor emeritus of chemical engineering at Rowan University, has been selected as the 2025 Delaware Valley Engineer of the Year.
At the Rowan College of South Jersey (RCSJ) May 6 board of trustees meeting, Brenden Rickards, Ph.D., was appointed interim president of the college, a role he officially assumes July 1. Dr. Rickards has been an RCSJ employee for 17 years, and replaces outgoing president Fred Keating, Ed.D., who is pursuing a new leadership position at Rowan University.
