CM IT Solutions of Mid Central New Jersey, Marlboro, has joined forces with Symantec, Intuit and Dell to offer customers information technology services. CM IT Solutions is now an authorized reseller of Intuit’s QuickBooks, Quicken and TurboTax software products, and a lead referral agent for Intuit’s payroll and credit card processing services. It is also a reseller of Symantec’s integrated security, secure remote control and backup recovery solutions, and is a reseller for all of Dell’s products. CM IT Solutions is based in Austin, Texas, and is a franchise system offering services designed for small and medium-size businesses.
Gary Rygiel of Colts Neck has been elected vice president of the Professional Insurance Agents of New Jersey Inc. Rygiel is executive vice president of Liberty Insurance Associates in Millstone Township.
An active member of PIANJ, Rygiel is chairman of the Legislative/Regulatory Committee and the Availability Task Force. He is also a member of the Executive/Budget and Finance, Technical/Company and Special Olympics Golf Classic committees. Rygiel is a member of the PIANJ Auto Task Force and the Central Advisory Council.
Rygiel was appointed co-chair of the Producer Working Group with the Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Committee. He is also president-elect for the New Jersey Chapter of Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters.
Active in his community, Rygiel received the Business Partnership Award from the Monmouth County Workforce Investment Board. He has served on fund-raising committees for the American Red Cross, Girl Scouts of America and the Colts Neck Board of Education. He also was involved in the funding and building of a playground for the children in his community and sponsored the scholarship for the Liberty Bell High School choir competition.
PIANJ is a trade association representing professional, independent insurance agencies, brokerages and their employees throughout the state.
Professional and Business Singles Network will host a seminar and dance social July 8 at a restaurant in Mercer County. The topic of the seminar is “Succeed with Online Dating” with Gayle Crist, life coach. The fee is $25 to attend the seminar and dance, or $15 to attend just the dance. Membership is not required; walk-ins will be welcome. For more information, call (888) 438-5544 or e-mail PBSN@aol.com.
Wegmans has awarded scholarships to 19 employees of its Manalapan store. The local recipients are among 1,336 Wegmans employees across the country who will receive support for the upcoming school year.
Part-time employees may receive up to $1,500 a year for four years, and full-time employees are eligible to receive up to $2,200 a year for four years. The students must work at Wegmans for a specified number of hours over a certain period and must maintain a high academic standard and a good work record. Employees may choose whatever educational path interests them.
The Manalapan employees are: Riana Ackley, Mary Barna, Christopher Becker, John Boulos, Alexandra Corsillo, Nicholas Fargione, Drew Ferris, Amanda Freier, Henry Goh, Daniel Gonzalez, Kyle Jewusiak, Geoffrey Levine, Jason Levine, Pamela Lipnicky, Jamie Manzo, Samuel Marchese, Jonathan Rose, Chris Targia and Donna Volkert.
Seth Ptasiewicz, a Manalapan resident and attorney with Wilson, Elser, Moskowitz, Edelman & Dicker LLP, Newark, received the Pro Bono Award of the New Jersey State Bar Association at the organization’s annual meeting held recently in Atlantic City. The award is presented to an association member who has performed exemplary pro bono services during the preceding year.
Nominated by the Essex County Volunteer Lawyers for Justice (VLJ), Ptasiewicz has been volunteering with the program since 2002 and has devoted approximately 340 hours handling divorce litigation matters. In addition to his work for VLJ, Ptasiewicz serves as secretary to the District VB Ethics Committee and has volunteered approximately 75 hours per year in that capacity since 2001.
CentraState Medical Center, Freehold Township, announced that its cancer program has received an Outstan-ding Achievement Award from the Amer-ican College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer, which sets the standards for cancer care programs nationwide. The award is based on the program’s perfor-mance during its October 2004 reaccreditation survey by the Commission on Cancer. The survey resulted in the program receiving a three-year accreditation as a Community Hospital Compre-hensive Cancer Program.
Only 39 of the 445 cancer programs nationwide surveyed in 2004 received the award, according to a press release from CentraState. Based on last fall’s survey, the cancer program also was reaccredited at a higher level than in the past, reflecting, among other things, the program’s rising patient volume, involvement in clinical trials and attention to pain management.
Collier Services announced that High Point, a New Jersey private passenger auto insurance company, is a new corporate contributor to Collier’s 2005 Campership campaign. Campaign funds will be used to pay for disadvantaged children in Monmouth County to attend Collier’s Kateri Day Camp in Marlboro.
More than 400 children from low-income families are expected to attend Kateri Day Camp this summer, and all of the children will receive Campership support, according to Jackie St. Angel, development director of Collier Services.
Kateri Day Camp, founded in 1977, devotes its services to children from low-income families who live in Monmouth County.
CentraState Healthcare System, Freehold Township, announced that internal medicine practitioners Osama Ghanem, M.D., and Leslie Sojka, M.D., have been selected by their peers on the medical staff of CentraState Medical Center as this year’s Physicians of the Year. Pulmonologist John DeTullio, M.D., of Monmouth Ocean Pulmonary Medi-cine, has been selected Physician of the Year by CentraState’s nursing staff. The awards were announced last month at CentraState’s third annual Physician Recognition Evening at the Grand Marquis in Old Bridge.
The medical staff selected Robin Siegel, M.L.S., A.H.I.P., the hospital’s medical librarian, and urologist William Kohlberg, M.D., for “Surprise Awards” for their extraordinary service and support. Siegel was recognized for “consistently scoring 99 percent on any physician survey. She is the ‘go-to person’ for all of our esoteric questions. She makes us look intelligent.” Kohlberg was honored for his 25-plus years of service as chair of both the Credentials and Bylaws committees.
More than 400 physicians are on CentraState’s medical staff, and board certification is required for all.
James K. Valenti, P.E. (professional engineer), general counsel and executive vice president of Schoor DePalma Inc., Manalapan, has been appointed as president of the New Jersey State Board of Professional Engineers and Land Sur-veyors for the 2005-06 session. Initially appointed to the board in May 2002, he is concurrently fulfilling a five-year term.
The board oversees the regulation and practice of engineering and land surveying in the state of New Jersey. There are approximately 20,000 licensed professional engineers and surveyors that are subject to the board’s regulations. Valenti and his wife, Laura, reside in Colts Neck with their two children. Schoor DePalma is an engineering and consulting firm based in Manalapan.
OceanFirst recently opened its newest branch in Freehold, the bank’s 18th location in Monmouth County. Longtime employee and Freehold resident Cheryl Goode serves as branch manager. Goode is a member of the Ladies Auxiliary of Freehold, the Western Monmouth Chamber of Commerce and the Optimist Club of Free-hold. She also works on a community housing project and serves as a youth mentor for the Western Monmouth County YMCA. Goode joined OceanFirst in 1991 as a teller and later went on to be a customer service representative, after which she was promoted to assistant branch manager at OceanFirst’s Spring Lake office.
The Women in Business Committee of the Western Monmouth Chamber of Commerce will meet June 30 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Our House Restaur-ant, 420 Adelphia Road, Howell. Guest speaker is Dr. Edwin M. Hartman, director of The Prudential Business Ethics Center at Rutgers University. For reservations, call (732) 462-3030.