Business Briefs

Attorney Wendell A. Smith, Holmdel, has been named chairperson of Bayshore Community Hospital Foundation, Holmdel. Smith is a senior partner at Greenbaum, Rowe, Smith & Davis LLP, Woodbridge, and has served as chair of the board of trustees at Bayshore Community Hospital, Holmdel. The Bayshore Community Hospital Foundation is dedicated to the development and cultivation of philanthropic relationships with individuals, organizations, foundations and corporations on behalf of Bayshore Community Health Services.

Employees at L’Oreal, South Brunswick; Target, Milltown; and Wachovia, North Brunswick, raised more than 30 boxes of food during April for 70 food pantries throughout the area served by the Middlesex County Food Organization and Outreach Distribution Services. The United Way of Central Jersey also gave tomato plants purchased at Mike’s Country Market, Milltown, and gave the plants to participating companies so the companies could continue the effort. There is still a need for food, and for more information on conducting a food drive or to get involved in helping the community, call Gloria at 732-247-3727 or visit, www.uwcj.org.

Zusette Dato, East Brunswick, received the Middlesex County College (MCC) Alumna of the Year Award, and was honored for professional and volunteer work at a ceremony in mid May

Following graduation from Woodbridge High School in 1966, she work as a legal secretary for area attorneys, and it took her 11 years to get her degree at MCC, Edison. She volunteered with the Domestic Violence Response Team in North Brunswick, the North Brunswick Parks and Recreation Committee, and the North Brunswick Open Space Committee, the Middlesex County Cultural and Heritage Commission, the South Amboy Planning Board and the South Amboy Library Board.

Dato works as a paralegal/officer manager with her husband, Robert Dato, a Woodbridge attorney. She is also an aide to Freeholder Director Stephen “Pete” Dalina. She has two sons, Christopher and Craig Casale.

Arthur M. Greenbaum, Long Branch, an attorney at Greenbaum, Rowe, Smith & Davis LLP, has been named New Jersey Best Lawyers Real Estate Lawyer of the Year for 2009 by the publication, Best Lawyers. Greenbaum focuses on real estate brokerage and trade association law, and is a fellow of the American Bar Foundation.

Greenbaum, Rowe, Smith & Davis LLP has offices in Woodbridge and Roseland.

Business and nonprofit professionals who want to increase their publicity, credibility and revenues with social media, public relations and marketing are invited to a seminar titled “Get Publicity Now! How to Use Social Media to Create a Massive Surge of Business” from 10 a.m. to noon on Thursday, June 11, at the Edison Main Public Library, 340 Plainfield Ave., Edison.

The two-hour program will be taught by award-winning news and communications expert Susan Young, president of Get In Front Communications Inc. The program will include “Social Media 101,” 15 ways to create a “buzz” with technology, public relations and networking, blogs, pitching news stories and marketing your own personal brand.

Public relations “speed coaching” is available following the program.

Refreshments and networking are included, along with a free resource list.

The event is open to the public, and the cost is $49 per person. Registration is required by June 9.

For details and registration, visit www.prtoolbox.net or call 908-208-7234.

Joe Accardi of New Providence has joined The Provident Bank’s Woodbridge location as vice president of Middle-Market Lending. Accardi is responsible for providing creative financial solutions to companies with revenues of more than $10 million in the central New Jersey region. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Rowan University and a Master of Business Administration in finance from Fairleigh Dickinson University, and is a graduate of the American Banker Association Stonier Graduate School of Banking.

The Edison Elks No. 2487 installation of officers ceremony was held on March 28 at the lodge. Madelyn Lenox was installed as exalted ruler for April 1, 2009, to March 31, 2010, by her husband, Cliff Lenox, past district deputy. Madelyn was also exalted ruler for 2005-06. She will be representing her lodge at the State Convention in Wildwood and at the Grand Lodge Convention in Portland, Ore.

Other officers who were installed are: leading knight, Howie Parusa; loyal knight, Kim Farinick; lecturing knight, Ed Kane; tiler, Bob Dice; secretary, Nancy Dunham, past exalted ruler; treasurer, Mike O’Connor; chaplain, Joan Gage; inner guard, Bob Tomaszewski; justice, Ken Vercammen; and five-year trustee, Pete Fresco.

The lodge awarded George Yusko, past district deputy, the Elk of the Year award, and Howie Parusa received the Officer of the Year award. The lodge gave Outstanding Service Commendation awards to Helen Holeman and Scott Dunham, past exalted ruler.

The Ladies Auxiliary’s officers were also installed that day: president, Gloria Tighe; first vice president, Joy Hoffman; second vice president, Bobbie Cies; corresponding secretary, Chris Gregis; recording secretary, Chris Parusa; historian, Fran Snyder; treasurer, Nina Berner; chaplain, Mary Conway; flag bearer, Claire Mack; guard, Terri Kraemer; threeyear trustee, Fran McDonnell; two-year trustee, Barbara Durkin; and one-year trustee, Marge Santos.

Carolyn Gioia, of Metuchen, has been appointed community coordinator for this region by the Program of Academic Exchange (PAX), a nonprofit educational organization that invites international high school students to the United States for an academic home-stay. Gioia was selected to represent PAX due to her demonstrated enthusiasm, interest in foreign cultures, and desire to become more active in the community.

She is currently interviewing families interested in sharing their lives with a young person from another country for the coming academic year. Anyone interested may call Gioia at 732-484-1921 or the PAX headquarters at 800-555-6211.

Megan S. Murray has been appointed co-chair of the Young Lawyers Subcommittee of the New Jersey State Bar Association Family Law Section. Her appointment was announced on May 14 at the state bar convention in Atlantic City.

Murray practices law with the law offices of Paone & Zaleski in Woodbridge, where she handles divorce and family law matters. She is a member of the Middlesex County and Monmouth County bar associations and is an editor for Dictum, the newsletter for the Young Lawyers Division of the state bar.

Murray has written articles on family law-related matters that have been published in New Jersey Lawyer and Middlesex County Advocate. She received her Bachelor of Science degree from Boston University and her juris doctorate from Wake Forest University Law School. She is a former law clerk to the Judge Paul Kapalko, who was presiding judge of Family Court in Monmouth County.

Darren M. Gelber, a shareholder and certified criminal attorney at Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer, P.A., was presented with the 2009 Lawyer Achievement Award by the Middlesex County Bar Association at its annual installation of officers and trustees dinner on May 20. The award is given annually to the bar member whose actions best exemplify what the practice of law is all about and serves as a model for others to emulate.

Gelber concentrates his practice in the area of criminal law and civil rights law, and serves as co-chair of the Criminal Law/Civil Rights Team. He also serves as vice president of the Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers of New Jersey.

He is a frequent guest commentator on CourtTV (now known as truTV “In Session”) and has served as an adjunct professor at St. John’s University.

Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer, P.A. announced that commercial real estate attorney Bruce M. Kleinman and employee benefits and trusts and estates attorney Edwin Leavitt-Gruberger have joined the firm.

Kleinman will joining the firm’s Commercial Real Estate team and brings his experience in structuring complex real estate, financing transactions, commercial leasing and the purchase and sale of businesses.

He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Rhode Island, and Doctor of Laws and Master of Laws degrees from Georgetown University Law Center.

Leavitt-Gruberger will be joining the firm’s Trusts and Estates team and brings a background concentrating his practice on employee benefits and trust and estates, as well as representing large estates before the Internal Revenue Service.

He was a cum laude graduate from the State University of New York at Buffalo and received a law degree from Brooklyn Law School and a Master of Laws degree from New York University School of Law.