NJBIZ Best 50 Women in Business event honored those who have made a difference

Over 650 attended the NJBIZ Best 50 Women in Business event Monday evening at The Palace at Somerset Park to celebrate this year’s 50 honorees — and, Lifetime Achievement Award winner, Sally Glick.Over 650 attended the NJBIZ Best 50 Women in Business event Monday evening at The Palace at Somerset Park to celebrate this year’s 50 honorees — and, Lifetime Achievement Award winner, Sally Glick.

No surprise then that the sold-out event achieved record attendance – Glick, the first woman principal and chief growth strategist at Sobel & Co., a certified public accounting and consulting firm in Livingston, knows how to get New Jersey’s attention.

But Glick — in her signature way — was quick to elevate the honorees’ success over her own.

“Deep wisdom and immeasurable success fills this room coming from those who have yet to be named or may never be named to this list or to any list but make important and relevant contributions to our lives everyday,” she said.

The 11^th annual event honored those women who have made a difference to their businesses, their communities, their families and to themselves via their career accomplishments, leadership, vision, community service and mentorship.

“Their stories of recognition raise the level of awareness and respect for all businesswomen in New Jersey,” David Schankweiler, owner and CEO of Journal Multimedia, said.

This year’s honorees were selected by a prestigious group of business leaders in the state: Cheryl Biron, president & CEO of One Horn Transportation; Mary Clare Garber, vice president and principal of Princeton Legal Search Group; Angela Scheck, executive director of the New Jersey State Bar Association; Sandra Schler, senior market manager, community engagement, for the American Cancer Society; Judith Sheft, associate vice president, technology & enterprise development, for the New Jersey Innovation Institute @ NJIT; and Sharon Waters, program manager for the Feliciano Center for Entrepreneurship at Montclair State University.

Perhaps the most well known woman business leader in New Jersey was also in attendance last evening to not only congratulate the honorees but also to call the business community to action for women in the workforce.

“My job is to make sure all of you get what you need in order to be successful,” Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno said. “Which is really not that easy in the world that we all live in as women.”

Guadagno admitted that the fact that two women have finally run in a presidential campaign and that unemployment numbers in New Jersey have decreased are absolute signs of positive change.

“The unemployment numbers went from 9.8 percent the first time I appeared before NJBIZ and now they are at 4.5 — which is lower than New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and oh, North Carolina, for all of you that think people are moving south,” Guadagno said.

“They’re staying here in New Jersey and that means opportunity for all of us – more jobs mean that women will be more often recognized in the workforce.” 

However, she said that in order to achieve that, the business community must continue to look at ways to make their companies more family- and balance-friendly.

“We also need more affordable, reliable, quality daycare so that when we go to work our children are not at risk,” Guadagno said. “As our unemployment numbers go down let’s make sure that we bring all women up and we do it by fighting for things that will make women better in the workforce – that will make it easier for us to be ourselves.”

Throughout her career, Glick has exemplified such needed mentorship.

“What I do is unique to Sobel & Co. because of the way they’ve embraced my skills,” she said. “My firm has afforded me the freedom to create a career around my ability to network while making friends and building relationships that benefits the firm as well as me personally.”

After more than three decades of building a career by acknowledging and promoting others and their accomplishments, Glick was chosen to be this year’s recipient of the NJBIZ Lifetime Achievement Award.

“I truly appreciate NJBIZ honoring me with their Lifetime Achievement Award more than my words could ever say,” she said. “I am so thrilled that each and every one of you is celebrating with me tonight.”

After multiple rounds of applause, cheering and standing ovations, Glick thanked her coworkers and fellow partners at Sobel & Co., the Association for Corporate Growth — of which the board was in attendance in its entirety to honor their president — and her son, David, who traveled from Chicago to Somerset to attend the event with his mother last evening.

“I learned early on from my father long before we began our nearly two decades of working together that building a meaningful relationship begins by being genuinely interested in others, asking important questions and listening, mindfully, about what matters to them,” Glick said. “It means caring passionately about your community and raising your hand to volunteer your most precious commodity – your time. It means being present and thoughtful, seeking ways to make an impact when your resources might offer just the perfect solution to someone else’s situation. And it means being a giver instead of a taker.”

Every business, Glick said, is relationship driven — so is, it turns out, happiness.

“It has been proven over and over again that happiness is not impacted by gender, race, age, where you live, by how much you earn, whether you’re attractive or unattractive, tall or short, or even whether you are in good or poor health,” Glick said. “The only factor that persistently and significantly impacts the happiness quotient is the existence of relationships. Those people who have friends, who have built meaningful, personal, social and professional connections always report being much happier than those who do not.

“Instead of being concerned about finding our own happiness, we will be much better off if we can identify ways for others to find theirs.”

Last evening’s event was sponsored by Comcast Business, WithumSmith Brown CPAs, Cancer Treatment Centers of America, Archer & Greiner P.C. and Wells Fargo.

To see more from the event, search for #Best50WomenNJ on Twitter.