RWJBarnabas’ Davis honored with Thurgood Marshall Award

RWJBarnabas Health’s Michellene Davis was honored with the Thurgood Marshall Award of Excellence for New Jersey recently by the Thurgood Marshall College Fund.

Davis, executive vice president and chief corporate affairs officer of RWJBarnabas Health as well as immediate past president of Executive Women of New Jersey, was given the annual award for exemplifying the late Supreme Court justice’s passion for civil rights, justice and education.

The 19th annual award was presented at a recent event in Belleville.

“This award means so much to me, because Justice Marshall embodied that which the premise of my life’s work is premised upon, such as advocacy, education, justice and civil rights,” Davis said in a prepared statement. “I am honored that my very small contributions were deemed worthy of this amazing award.”

Others honored at the event included the late former Gov. Brendan Byrne; Ron Chen, former New Jersey public advocate and co-dean of Rutgers University’s School of Law; and Richard Thigpen, senior vice president, corporate citizenship, for Public Service Enterprise Group.

The Thurgood Marshall College Fund, established in 1987, provides support for historically black colleges and universities and predominantly black institutions. The award event raises funds to support students at those institutions and raise awareness of the fund’s mission.