Annie D'Agostino, Author at NJEDA

By Christopher Sheldon/Long Branch-Eatontown Patch
July 20, 2012

Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno continued her tour of fast-growing New Jersey businesses on Friday morning when she visited AASKI Technology Inc. in Eatontown.

Guadagno spoke with the business owners and took small tour of the facility located at 1 Industrial Way West and praised it for its growth over the years.

“This is one of many examples of a businesses that can grow in New Jersey,” Guadagno said.

AASKI is an information technology business that specializes in systems and software engineering and project management. Its main headquarters is located in Ocean Township.

Kim Guadagno toured Diversant’s headquarters Wednesday

By Edward Van Embden/Galloway Patch
July 18, 2012

In an effort to learn the strategies employed by those New Jersey companies that have been able to buck recent trends by succeeding in a tumultuous state and national economy, Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno has been making the rounds as part of her fastest growing businesses tour.

Her most recent stop: Monmouth County and DIVERSANT, a national IT staffing and solutions firm and Minority Business Enterprise headquartered in the Greater Red Bank area.

On Wednesday, Guadagno, serving as the state’s acting governor in support of an out-of-town Gov. Chris Christie, learned about how DIVERSANT had grown from its 2005 founding to a company with roughly 600 consultants working throughout the country and $100 million in revenues.

By Stacy Jones/Star-Ledger
July 10, 2012

A new office of seven state employees will help New Jersey companies sell goods around the world and invite foreign firms to do business here.

Eddy Mayen, director of the new Office of International Business Development and Protocol, said his team of agents has already started traveling to spread the word and court potential foreign investors.

“One of my team members is from Taiwan and fluent in Mandarin,” he said. “She’s there right now. The greater China region is a tremendous market for the state of New Jersey.”

The office will concentrate its outreach efforts on nations that already invest heavily in New Jersey, like Germany, Switzerland, Japan, France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Canada.

The state has already hosted 30 foreign delegations and meetings with trade partners, according to Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, who introduced the office a press event in Parsippany yesterday.

Asbury Park Press
July 8, 2012

Recognizing the central role being played by the state’s most innovative businesses in creating jobs and fueling what Gov. Chris Christie has deemed “the New Jersey Comeback,” Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno on Thursday kicked off a monthlong tour of the fastest-growing businesses across the state.

The first visit was to SunDurance Energy, a township-based solar energy company that develops, designs, builds and operates solar power solutions for the commercial, government and utility-scale markets.

“As one of the Garden State’s fastest-growing businesses, SunDurance illustrates the fact that New Jersey has what it takes for businesses to grow and be successful,” Guadagno said.

A meeting of the Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Authority (FMERA) Board has been scheduled for Wednesday, July 18, 2012 at 7:00 pm at the Eatontown Municipal Building, 47 Broad Sstreet, Eatontown, NJ. Formal action may be taken at this meeting. A copy of the proposed agenda can be found 48 hours prior to the meeting at the websites of the Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Authority: www.nj.gov/fmera, and the New Jersey Economic Development Authority: www.njeda.gov.

By Dino Flammia/NJ 101.5
July 5, 2012

Maybe some things are free. In every New Jersey county, businesses and residents can find a place devoted to navigating them to success. The services provided at the Business Resource Centers and One-Stop Career Centers come at no charge.

Once a fragmented system, the state’s One-Stop Career Centers place an array of employment and training services under one roof.

Job seekers can get an assessment of their skills and abilities, as well as a review of their job qualifications, experience and abilities. They can also benefit from an in-house network of volunteers who offer weekly classes in resume and cover letter writing, interviewing skills and networking. Training is also available for eligible participants who are seeking skills in a market they are unfamiliar with.

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority’s next public Board Meeting will take place at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, July 12, 2012 at 36 West State St., Trenton, NJ 08625. A copy of the proposed agenda can be found prior to the meeting at www.njeda.gov/Board. Following the Board Meeting, minutes and the full agenda will also be available at www.njeda.gov/Board.

By Eliot Caroom/Star-Ledger
June 21, 2012

Newark’s Workforce Investment Board will get $3 million in federal funding to implement a first-of-its-kind data program measuring the effectiveness of its job training and placement services, officals said today.

“I think Newark is going to offer a model we’re going to replicate around the United States,” said Deputy Secretary of Labor Seth Harris in remarks at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. “It’s a trial. As far as I know, it doesn’t exist anywhere else in the country.”

The money will be spent on a computer program and analysts to examine the results of different job training initiatives.

By Hugh R. Morley/The Record
June 16, 2012

* Governor says rising employment figures are proof of state’s ‘comeback.’

New Jersey added more jobs in May than all but two other states, yet had the fifth-highest unemployment rate in the nation, according to figures released Friday.

The state’s addition of 17,600 jobs, New Jersey’s largest monthly rise in seven years, was bigger than every state but California, which gained 33,900, and Ohio, which added 19,600, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said.

The state jobless rate, which rose to 9.2 percent from 9.1 percent in April, was higher than all states except North Carolina, California, Rhode Island and Nevada, which had a rate of 11.6 percent — the highest in the nation, bureau figures show. The national rate is 8.2 percent.

The increase in New Jersey’s employment figures, released Thursday, was hailed by Governor Christie as a sign his economic and job-creating policies are working, and the state “comeback” that he promotes is on track.