Few can navigate the currents of Newark without coming across the name Aisha Glover. She’s been a namesake of the community for the better part of a decade. Even her recent work in October to help launch Audible’s Global Center for Urban Development has its roots in New Jersey’s largest city; the company does, after all, have its headquarters in Newark.
– WINNING STRATEGIES
Under her watch, the center launched and funded a program paying dozens of primarily black and Latino-owned restaurants to prepare meals for the city’s low-income seniors and families. The program has benefited thousands of Newark’s neediest residents.
Before joining the ranks at Audible, she spent several years at the nonprofit Newark Alliance. She took the helm there just weeks before e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc. announced it would not be selecting Newark as the site of its second North America headquarters.
Still, city and state officials walked away with the assurance that Newark can punch above its weight when competing for new businesses and demonstrating its economic rebound, given that the city was on Amazon’s list of finalists.
Glover’s background includes the redevelopment of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, where she served as vice president of external affairs for the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corp.
With many anchor institutions, Newark has ushered in something of an economic renaissance. Now, with many workers telecommuting, and visitor numbers cratering at the downtown, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center and several of the local universities, that revival has been thrown into uncertainty.
Glover’s voice will be key in how to ensure the city’s boom does not backslide.
