A lot of business leaders worry about finding and hiring qualified employees. The International Union of Operating Engineers Local 825 is doing something about the labor shortage. In this edition of NJBIZ Conversations, IUOE Local 825 Business Manager Greg Lalevee describes the genesis of its apprenticeship program with Hudson County Community College, how it works, and what participants and the union get out of it. Lalevee also provides an update on several major infrastructure projects around the state, including Gateway.

This edition of NJBIZ Conversations continues a series of mid-year assessments from leading executives around the state. Pete Dontas, who leads commercial banking in New Jersey for Wells Fargo, talks about how 2024 has unfolded thus far and what businesses need to know about what’s coming in the second half.

The 9th Annual Jersey City Summit for Real Estate Investment convened on the Hudson River waterfront at the end of May 2024.

NJBIZ was on hand at the summit, and served as a media partner of the event. Topics explored throughout the daylong program included: areas driving investment and development in the city, placemaking, capital markets, operations & design, emerging neighborhoods and more.

Listen below for a special edition of NJBIZ Conversations, recorded live at the event.

Sax LLP Partner Eric Lewandowski, who serves as the firm’s Transaction Strategy and Transformation leader, offers his assessment of where private equity has been most active, the factors driving dealmaking and the outlook for the second half.

Caldwell University President Jeffrey Senese, who took on the role in July 2023, talks about his efforts at the university this past year, what the school and the higher education system in general can do to make college more affordable and the role of the university president during such tumultuous times.

Anthony Attanasio's experience with transportation and infrastructure issues is deep and wide. Before founding Hawk Strategies, a Somerville-based consulting and marketing firm, he held senior roles at the center of policymaking in New Jersey. Here, Attanasio talks about his consulting work now, what the state's priorities should be, particularly with regard to NJ Transit, and what New Jerseyans can expect to see on the roads, rails and bridges over the next 12 to 24 months.

Mama’s Creations rebranded from MamaMancini’s last year to highlight its move beyond prepared Italian foods — for which the company and its founder, Daniel Mancini, had become widely known. Under CEO Adam Michaels, Mama’s Creations is on course to do just that in a big way. In this edition of NJBIZ Conversations, Michaels discusses how the East Rutherford-based company plans to expand, what sort of acquisition targets he is looking for and why he thinks the company is well-positioned to meet consumers where they are in the grocery store and on the dining table.

For more than 80 years, Siciliano Landscape Co. operated as an independent, family-run business. The company is now part of Mariani Premier Group – a much larger business – but the family continues to run it. Karen Siciliano, a former Wall Street banker, is still in charge after selling to Mariani. In this edition of NJBIZ Conversations, Siciliano talks about the sale, how it unfolded and what the integration process was like.

Brendan Heegan, the founder and CEO of Secaucus-based Boxzooka – an ecommerce fulfillment technology provider – and Tom Behnke, the company’s senior vice president for sales and marketing, explain the ramifications of Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse and how the Northeast region is coping.

Karthik Krishnamurthy, CEO of Basking Ridge-based software engineering company Ascendion, discusses what artificial intelligence can do for businesses, how Ascendion helps clients use the technology and how to address the questions that arise around the deployment of AI.