Newark leaders Shané Harris and Marjorie Perry have been named to the board of trustees for the Foundation for University Hospital, it was announced Friday.
Harris is head of social responsibility and partnerships at Prudential Financial and the president of the Prudential Foundation. Perry is the CEO of MZM Construction & Management Co. Their appointments bring the number of trustees to seven.
Foundation Chair Michael Curi, who also serves as University Hospital’s director of vascular and endovascular surgery and Rutgers New Jersey Medical School’s chief of the division of vascular surgery, said they will be a welcome addition to a board that is preparing to expand its scope and fundraising efforts.
“We are delighted to welcome such accomplished individuals to our board,” Curi said in a statement. “The wealth of experience and community engagement they bring will help carry us to a new level in fundraising success.”
University Hospital CEO Shereef Elnahal said Harris and Perry will help take the hospital to the next level.
“The recruitment of these highly esteemed members of the Newark business community to our foundation’s board is another indicator of the hospital’s potential for progress,” he said. “Our Strategic Plan and new vision statement call for partnering with our communities to improve health for generations to come. The addition of these new trustees to our foundation will go far in helping us realize that vision.”
Curi and Elnahal thanked the new trustees for their willingness to serve on the foundation’s board, and for their continued commitment to the Newark community.
Harris’ responsibilities at Prudential include overseeing Prudential’s philanthropic strategy, disaster response, managing the foundation’s relationships with nonprofits and assisting with the distribution of more than $35 million in grants and charitable contributions annually. Additionally, she manages Prudential’s skills-based volunteering and multicultural partnership programs, and also works to improve access to education, training and jobs for young people aged 15 to 29 worldwide.
Perry left a career in education to pursue a dream of becoming a self-made entrepreneur. She and two partners founded MZM Construction & Management, which has sustained a multimillion-dollar bottom line over the last 28 years. She now serves as sole principal of the company.
In addition to Curi, the existing trustees include:
- Cecilia Lassiter, member, Sills Cummis & Gross;
- Calvin Ledford Jr., president and director of corporate social responsibility, PSEG Foundation;
- Jim Leonard, senior vice president, government relations, at Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment;
- Joseph Muscarelle, chairman of Jos. L. Muscarelle Inc., one of New Jersey’s largest regional owner/operators of commercial real estate.
The Foundation for University Hospital raises funds to advance University Hospital’s mission of improving health care, education and wellness in greater Newark. Contributions to the Foundation for University Hospital sustain and enhance the critical clinical and community outreach programs of University Hospital.
For more information about how you can contribute, please contact the Foundation office at 973-972-1873.
