Princeton Regional Chamber Names Annual Honorees
A bank president, the founder of a management consulting firm, a flower shop owner and the head of a city community development organization will be recognized for their achievements next month at the Princeton Regional Chamber of Commerce Annual Business Leadership Awards Gala.
Roma Financial Corp. CEO and President Peter Inverso has been named business leader of the year by the Chamber; Caliper CEO and Founder Herb Greenberg has been named innovator of the year; Monday Morning Flower & Balloon Company President and Co-owner Georgianne Vinicombe has been named entrepreneur of the year, and Isles, Inc. Founder and President Marty Johnson has been named community leader of the year.
The gala honoring the four will be held November 28 at the Tournament Players Club Jasna Polana. Tickets are $250.
Inverso, a Hamilton resident, led Roma through a public offering in 2006 and has grown the company’s assets from millions to billions during his tenure. He will retire this year after leading Roma Bank as president and CEO since September 2000. A state Senator from1992 to 2008, he was known for his responsiveness to his constituents.
Greenberg created an international management consulting firm that has assessed the potential of employees and job applicants for more than 28,000 companies around the world. Headquartered in Princeton, Caliper has more than a dozen offices. A recognized authority on the relationship between personality and job performance, Greenberg developed the Caliper Profile, a personality assessment that identifies an individual’s potential, motivations, and strengths.
Vinicombe, the president and co-owner of Monday Morning Flower & Balloon Company, started her flower company out of a spare bedroom of her rented condo in 1988 after reading a book on easy-to-start businesses. She thought delivering balloons and flowers to corporate offices for their lobbies on Mondays would be fun, along with event decorating. From there, the idea for Monday Morning Flower and Balloon Company was born. Vinicombe is an expert marketer who is known for her generosity in offering marketing advice to would-be entrepreneurs.
Johnson, the founder and president of Isles and a former visiting fellow and frequent lecturer at the Princeton University Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, has been working to improve the community in the Trenton area for more than 30 years. Isles trains and educates underserved youths and underemployed adults and contractors throughout the state in green careers. The non-profit also helps grow tens of thousands of pounds of food on vacant land each year, and makes homes and commercial buildings more energy efficient. Isles also builds parks, plants trees, and installs roofs in urban neighborhoods.
Krystal Knapp is the founding editor of Planet Princeton. Follow her on Twitter @krystalknapp. She can be reached via email at editor AT planetprinceton.com. Send all letters to the editor and press releases to that email address.