Leadership Spotlight: Mark Guglielmelli, Chair, New Jersey City Group

Mark Guglielmelli, Graphics Business Manager - All-State Legal

1.  How did you get involved in the New Jersey city group initiative?

Metro New York Chapter President, Jennifer Johnson, and President-Elect, Despina Kartson, asked me if I would help them get the New Jersey City Group started, and I delightfully accepted their recommendation.

I've been an active member in the LMA for nine years in a service-provider role.  From 2003 through 2006, I served on the Board as the Financial Officer for the Metro New York LMA Chapter and also, have been a member of the Sponsorship Committee.  During my years on the Board, the topic of how we can best serve the members who are not in Manhattan, has often been on the agenda.  Even though we had a large number of members in New Jersey and Connecticut, and lots of activities to choose from in New York City, many members were unable to attend because of the time commitment required to travel to and from the City.  For years, we talked about how to bring these members into the fold and have them take advantage of the programs and benefits that the Chapter provides.  We spent time collecting information on how best to tackle this.  After many conversations and having several people serving as advocates, the timing and infrastructure were right to rollout the New Jersey City Group, just as the Connecticut City Group has done this year as well.

2.  What's the response been so far?

This summer, the Board formally announced the creation on the New Jersey City Group and asked the members to let us know who'd like to get involved.  We received an impressive 20 responses from New Jersey members from firms and service providers.  We held our first meeting in August to establish the committees. We're going to rely on all the resources from the Metro New York Chapter, including its committees, and also form our own subcommittees to handle administration, registration, sponsorship, etc.  Once we start conducting programs in New Jersey, on a regular basis, we are going to have teams assigned to those tasks, just as they are handled in New York.  Many members from New Jersey have previously been involved in the Metro New York Chapter's leadership roles, so we are not starting form scratch.

 
3.  When do you expect to formally kick things off?
 
The New Jersey City Group officially met in August at Sills Cummis' Newark office.  Jennifer Johnson joined our first meeting with the members who have expressed interest in volunteering on the Group's committees.  We are currently working with the Board and the Programming Committee to schedule our first official program in New Jersey for November 2008.

 
Several firms in New Jersey have offered to host the program meetings at their offices, which is greatly appreciated and a testament of support to the Metro New York Chapter and the new New Jersey City Group.

For more information regarding joining the New Jersey City Group, please contact Mark Guglielmelli at markg@aslegal.com.