Countdown to the NJBIZ Best 50 Women event A look back at the Class of 2011

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NJBIZ is celebrating the 10th anniversary of our Best 50 Women in Business event with a countdown to this year’s ceremony, to be held Monday, March 23, at The Palace at Somerset Park.For the nine business days leading up to the event, we’ll take a look back at a previous class, giving you a sneak peek at their answers to a class-only poll question and a class-only open-ended question based on topics involving women in the workplace.

Today, we’re featuring the Class of 2011.

But before we get to our answers (below) and a listing of the members of the Class of 2011 (even further down), we feel the need to remind you to get your tickets first.

This event always has capacity crowds and we’re expecting another sellout. If you haven’t made a reservation, click here now.

And if you want to start tweeting about the event today, please use #Best50WomenNJ on your tweets.

And now, the answers from the Class of 2011:

Poll Question: Is it more difficult for a woman to get funding/capital to start a business than a man?

Yes: 83 percent
No: 17 percent

Open-ended question: What’s keeping women from holding or gaining more leadership positions?

1. Maureen DeCicco, partner, WithumSmith Brown P.C.: Women have more responsibility at home than most men, and this limits their ability to focus solely on their careers which can limit their ability to achieve high level leadership positions.
2. Kathleen Ellis, COO/executive vice president, New Jersey Natural Gas: Two factors: the majority of organizations are run by men — many of whom are still more comfortable working with and depending upon other men; and, too many women still feel uncomfortable overtly lobbying for themselves — regardless of their qualifications.
3. Rina Parikh, president, AASKI Technology: My experience is directly related to this issue. The main reason for me to start my own business and leave the Federal Government’s employ was to remove myself from an environment dominated by white males. So much so that male managers also dictated who was promoted, and as a minority woman with young children, those promotions never came to me. That frustration led me to start my company, and my main goal has been to ensure equal opportunity for all, not just women. We have a tremendous employee base that are in categories typically thought to lag the industry norms, and many of them are in highly responsible positions and are very successful. So for me, what is keeping women from holding or gaining leadership positions is the suppression we women have had through our cultural norms, is that we don’t take our destiny in to our own hands. And as more and more women do that, we are breaking the old barriers that existed.

More answers will be in our special supplement covering the event.

Want more NJBIZ news? Check out items in Breaking Glass, our women in business blog. Interested in everything else NJBIZ has to offer? Click here to get our daily e-mail newsletters and news alerts. Want NJBIZ’s award-winning print coverage and Book of Lists, click here to subscribe.

Looking for the answers from other classes? Click the year:

The Class of 2006

The Class of 2007

The Class of 2008

The Class of 2009

The class of 2010

And finally, a look back at the Class of 2011:

• Jeanne Achille, CEO, The Devon Group
• Anne Marie Almasi, President, Almasi Companies, LLC
• Alka Bahal Esq., Partner & Co-Chair, Corporate Immigration Practice, Fox Rothschild LLP
• Judith Barbieri, President, Designer Sign Systems
• Heather Boshak, Partner, Fox Rothschild LLP
• Linda Bowden, Northern New Jersey Regional President, PNC Financial Services Group
• Pam Boyd, co-founder & president, Thomas/Boyd Communications
• Sue Boyle, Senior Environmental Practice Leader, GEI Consultants, Inc.
• Kimberly Brennan, Senior Managing Director, New Jersey Region, Cushman & Wakefield, Inc.
• Suzanne Cerra Esq., Co-Founder & Managing Director of Client Services, Nukk-Freeman & Cerra, P.C.
• Lena Chang PhD, President, CURE Auto Insurance and NJ PURE
• Helen Cooke, Managing Director, Cooke Consulting Group, LLC
• Jeanie Coomber, Owner, Transition Enterprises, LLC
• Maureen DeCicco, Partner, WithumSmith Brown, PC
• Christine DeGraff, Partner, Websketching, LLC
• Tanuja Dehne, Deputy General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, NRG Energy, Inc.
• Kathleen Ellis, Chief Operating Officer, New Jersey Natural Gas
• Emily Goldberg, Pro Bono Director, McCarter & English, LLP
• Elizabeth Henry, Dr., New Brunswick Pediatric Group
• Mary Hildebrand, Member of the Firm, Lowenstein Sandler
• June Inderwies, Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer, Gibbons P.C.
• Carol Kenner, Vice President & Chief Financial Officer, Solix, Inc.
• Sheila Klehm, Executive Director, Private Wealth Management Division, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney
• Randi Kochman, Shareholder, Cole, Schotz, Meisel, Forman & Leonard
• Barbara Koster, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer, head of Global business & Technology Solutions and a member of Prudential’s Senior Management Committee, Prudential Financial, Inc.
• Jeralyn Lawrence, Equity Member, Norris McLaughlin & Marcus, P.A.
• Michelle Lee, Northeast Region President, Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.
• Jennifer Madera Safier, President, The Career Finders
• Cheryl Marraffino, Director of Business Development, Skanska USA Building Inc.
• Cynthia Matossian, M.D., F.A.C.S., CEO, Matossian Eye Associates
• Rosemarie Moeller, CFP®, CLU, CDFP, Financial Planner, EisnerAmper Wealth Management Corporate Benefits; Division of EisnerAmper Accountants and Consultants
• Valerie Montecalvo, President, Bayshore Recycling Corp
• Brenda Nyce-Taylor, Senior Associate, Gensler
• Mollie O’Brien, Senior V.P. & General Counsel, Emergency Medical Assoicates & Superior Insurance Company, RRG
• Rina Parikh, President & CEO, AASKI Technology, Inc.
• Renée Rubino, Esq., Rubino Law Group, LLC
• Lori Ryan, MBA, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation
• Michelle Schaap Esq., Member of the Firm, Wolff & Samson PC
• Carolyn Slaski, Managing Partner, New Jersey, Ernst & Young LLP
• Angela Snyder, President and CEO, The Bank
• Bernadette Sohler, Vice President – Corporate Affairs, Middlesex Water Company
• Georgia Solotoff, Owner, PIP Printing & Marketing Services
• Rose Suriano,Esq., Partner, Podvey Meanor, P.C.
• Debra Taeschler, President/CEO, GráficaGroup
• Lisa Walker, Vice President-Condensed Soup, Broth, and Campbell’s Kitchen, Campbell Soup Company
• Jayne Warne, PE, President, Matrix New World Engineering, Inc.
• Bethanie Warnock, Co-Owner, The Warnock Automotive Group, Inc.
• Sandi Webster, Principal, Consultants 2 Go, LLC
• Ali Weiselberg, D.D.S., General Dentist; owner, North Jersey Dental Group, P.A.
• Rita Williams-Bogar, President & CEO, Personal Development Solutions, LLC and PDS Institute, LLC