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Deborah Heart and Lung Center
Browns Mills

Founded in 1922, Deborah Heart and Lung Center is a teaching hospital aimed at the prevention, diagnosis, research and treatment of heart, lung and vascular diseases. Throughout its more than 100-year-history, Browns Mills-based Deborah has treated more than 2.3 million hearts from around the country – and globe – including performing the first adult and pediatric open-heart surgeries in New Jersey.
As the organization continues to grow and evolve, Deborah offers leading-edge surgical techniques and non-surgical procedures for diagnosing and treating all forms of cardiac, vascular, and pulmonary diseases in adults, as well as congenital and acquired heart defects in adults and children.
Deborah has a belief in partnerships and collaborations with organizations that share its commitment to improve the health of the community. Its fundraising entity, Deborah Hospital Foundation, was established in 1974 – relying on the generous support of donors to support the life-saving care provided by the center, which does not issue a bill to patients.

Elizabethtown Gas
Union

Elizabethtown Gas, a subsidiary of SJI, aims to deliver safe, reliable, affordable natural gas to over 300,000 customers in New Jersey and serves residential, commercial, and industrial customers in parts of Union, Middlesex, Sussex, Warren, Hunterdon, Morris, and Mercer counties.

Elizabethtown Gas prides itself on upholding the company’s values of safety, service, community, inclusion and innovation, while providing service and support to its customers through various programs and initiatives.

Conserve, a program designed to empower customers with energy efficiency resources and tips, offers customers a comprehensive portfolio of energy-saving incentives and tools aimed at reducing energy consumption, saving money, and minimizing environmental impact. Elizabethtown Gas also provides energy solutions through energy efficiency and assistance programs.

Elizabethtown Gas helps build strong community relationships through local programs and volunteer work. It manages the First Responders Grant Program, which provides safety training and lifesaving efforts conducted by local fire, police and EMS; and the Game On Grant Program, which provides support to sustain local, community-centered youth sports programs. Through SJI’s Employee Resource Groups, Elizabethtown Gas also supports various events, including food drives, volunteer activities, and community events.
Elizabethtown Gas continues to create a meaningful, lasting impact in the communities it serves.

GAF
Parsippany

Founded in 1886 as the Standard Paint Co., GAF is North America’s largest roofing and waterproofing manufacturer. The company is headquartered in Parsippany and employs more than 5,000 people throughout the country. GAF boasts a number of innovative products and accessories. In fact, 1 in 4 homes in the country is protected by a GAF roof.

In January 2025, GAF announced a first-of-its-kind alliance with the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety to increase access for homeowners to FORTIFIED roofs, a voluntary beyond-code construction and re-roofing method to protect homes against severe weather.

In June, GAF appointed John Barkhouse as its next CEO. He joined the company in fall 2024 in the newly created position of president to oversee operations and R&D for the company’s Residential and Commercial divisions.

Garden Communities
Short Hills

Garden Communities is a leading New Jersey-based real estate owner, builder and operator in the luxury multifamily niche. The firm’s robust project pipeline will introduce dozens of new rental apartment and townhome communities in the New Jersey-New York-Connecticut tri-state area over the next several years – with vertically integrated operations providing full in-house support from site acquisition to leasing and property management, across infancy to stabilization. The team targets highly accessible, top-tier locations in the most desirable communities and highly amenitized product that responds to the needs and desires of modern renters. With roots dating back to 1954, Garden Communities’ continual, thoughtful evolution involves providing fresh, next-generation inventory while constantly improving existing communities to serve demand and support changing lifestyle needs. The firm’s residential portfolio spans multiple states across the U.S., also including Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts and Minnesota.

Gellert Global Group
Elizabeth

A third-generation family-run business, the Gellert Global Group comprises many of the leading North American food-importing companies and has been importing food products for over 100 years. The combined revenues of the group exceed $1.7 billion. The combined resources of its companies provide strength in sourcing, finance, logistics, food safety and information technology. GGG imports over 4,500-plus unique food items from over 60 sourcing-countries through 30,000 TEU containers annually. GGG has more than 1,000 approved manufacturing sites worldwide.

Gellman Images
Spring Lake

Spring Lake-based Gellman was established more than 35 years ago. It moved down the shore in 2025, expanding the business’s reach in Monmouth County. For over 17 years Gellman Images has been the official photographer for the New Jersey Hall of Fame annual induction ceremony. During that time founder Gary Gellman has photographed some of New Jersey’s greats including Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, Yogi Berra, Buzz Aldrin, Queen Latifah, Mary Higgins Clark and others. The company covers corporate to education and everything in between. Recently, a Gellman Images’ photograph was chosen to cover The Monmouth County Tourism 2026 Travel Guide.

Gilbane Building Co.
Newark

Gilbane bills itself as one of the largest family-owned enterprises in the construction industry. In business for more than 150 years, it boasts more than 3,000 employees in 45 office locations – including Newark – and has worked in more than 20 countries.

Its two units focus on construction and investment. Gilbane Building Co is a global, comprehensive construction and facilities-related solutions firm working on geographically dispersed projects across the U.S. and globally. Gilbane Development Co. is the real estate development, investment, and property management arm, engaged in finance, project management, alternative transaction structures, marketing, and project delivery structures to develop award-winning projects and communities.

The company has been involved in two major sports-related projects in recent years. Gilbane renovated Progressive Field, the home of Major League Baseball’s Cleveland Guardians. And the company is part of the group building a new stadium for the National Football League’s Buffalo Bills. Other projects include developing and financing student housing at Centenary University in Hackettstown.

Goya Foods
Jersey City

Jersey City-based Goya Foods Inc. ranks as potentially the most prominent food manufacturer in New Jersey – and perhaps in the Northeast. Its blue and white logo can be seen on shelves in all major supermarkets and has become a recognizable brand even beyond its core customer base.

Founded in 1936 by Spanish immigrants Don Prudencio Unanue and his wife Carolina, Goya has grown into the nation’s largest Hispanic-owned food company. The company makes more than 2,500 products and generates nearly $2 billion in revenue.

Goya has also been active on the philanthropy front, donating food during a variety of crises. The company also seeks to raise awareness of critical mental health issues affecting youth via its Goya Cares initiative. As part of that effort, Goya has delivered hundreds of free preventative education programs in schools across the country, reaching more than 130,000 students.

Hartz
Secaucus

Leading petcare brand Hartz celebrates its 100-year anniversary this year — a hard-earned, well-deserved feat that less than 0.05% of U.S. companies are reported to reach. And the brand plans to celebrate the only way it knows how: by getting up close and personal with furry friends. In honor of this milestone, Hartz will run an extensive lineup of year-round initiatives across digital and social media channels as well as live, in-person events. True to the brand purpose, pet fostering and pet adoption will be at the core of every coordinated effort.

The achievement follows Hartz’s steady evolution over the years. Formerly a one-stop shop for all petcare needs, Hartz transformed its business to solely focus on its signature, nationally trusted dog and cat products. This resulted in an elevated visual look and feel. The modernized rebrand ushered a commitment toward entertaining, educating, and empowering millennial and Generation Z pet families on social media — especially via partnerships with influencers and content creators. Today, the brand communicates and spreads its “Unconditional Love” messaging, an unfiltered lens into the challenges and rewards of pet ownership. Pet enthusiasts can join the pawty and send birthday wishes online with #Hartz100.

Hovnanian Enterprises Inc.
Matawan

In founding his company, Kevork Hovnanian was guided by a principle that still informs the Matawan-based “homemaker” today: that every buyer has the right to a well-built, beautiful residence. Established in 1959, Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. designs, builds and markets a variety of for-sale housing options, including 55-plus active lifestyle communities, townhomes, single-family residences, condominiums and more under the K. Hovnanian Homes brand. A publicly traded company since 1983, the still-family-led organization is in its third generation, with Kevork’s son Ara serving as chairman, president and CEO, while his son, Alexander, is executive vice president for national homebuilding operations.

Growing through acquisitions nationwide, Hovnanian now operates through subsidiaries in Arizona, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia. It boasts nearly 150 residential communities in all and ranks among the largest homebuilding companies in the U.S. Builder magazine ranked the company No. 17 on its 2025 Building 100.

Hudson Community Enterprises
Jersey City

In business for 68 years; HCE trains and employ persons with disabilities. It offersjob training/coaching while operating 10 social enterprise businesses that employ many of the people who receive the training.

HCE’s 1957 founding was inspired by a group of local parents looking to create an organization to assist their children with disabilities to find employment. This effort was also assisted through the National Council of Jewish Women. The passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990 marked a seismic shift for HCE. The organization had already built a reputation for providing vital services and support. Suddenly, businesses, governments, and institutions were mandated to accommodate people with disabilities, creating a surge in demand for our organization’s expertise, particularly in relation to job training.

More In the Lead honorees:
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