No. 5: Gail Friedberg Rottenstrich

Rottenstrich has been CEO of the Newark-based Zago Manufacturing Co. since 2019, a company that produces such components as self-sealing screws, nuts and bolts. Having first joined ZaGo in 1998 as vice president and before that, an attorney at several different law firms, Rottenstrich also sits on NJMEP’s board of directors.

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in April 2020, ZaGo announced it was switching gears to manufacture several key components for medical ventilators and external blood pumps, which were in dangerously short supply in New Jersey at the time. That kind of instant pivoting by New Jersey manufacturers was key to helping the state make it through the pandemic. And the dynamic is being considered as a way to ride out the existing global upheaval of the worldwide manufacturing and supply chain.

“If we can save manufacturers, engineers, purchase managers and distributors precious time by letting them know that we are here for them, hopefully we can play our part in the expeditious production of ventilators and in saving lives,” she said in an interview last year.

Rottenstrich is also a local power player in her hometown. She was elected to the Fair Lawn council in 2017 and has served as both deputy mayor and deputy mayor of community affairs. She won reelection in November.