INSIGHT
Continued from page 12
opportunity to restore confidence in the country’s direction.
“The country always yearns for change when one party has
been in power for too long,” Medina says. “There’s a period after
that change has been brought about when the country feels more
optimistic. The fact is the way people feel does have an impact on
their actions, which has a direct impact on the the economy.”
While Houston agrees that Obama must restore credibility and
confidence in business, he notes that much rides on the President-elect’s pick for Secretary of Treasury. One of the names tossed
around at presstime was former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Vol-cker but, Houston points out, “he headed up the Fed many years
ago [from 1979 to ’87] under Presidents Carter and Reagan.” For his
part, Houston would like to see less focus on the Federal government and more emphasis on making New Jersey competitive again.
“Most of what needs to be done to help New Jersey’s economy,
from a Federal standpoint, has been done,” he says. “I would hope
Obama would let this continue and also make certain that the preferred stock money current Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson has is
used to make loans and pay dividends, and not to buy other banks.”
While Houston doesn’t necessarily see any of this changing under
Obama, he does note that the President-elect should nix raising taxes
and putting up barriers to imports, but should work to encourage
immigration. “Everybody always says we shouldn’t have all these
illegal immigrants here, but if we didn’t allow immigrants to work in
New Jersey we would be so short of labor we wouldn’t know what
to do,” Houston says, adding that while immigration should be
fostered, those who come here illegally should not receive benefits.
Zangari, meanwhile, predicts that New Jersey will play a meaningful role in an Obama presidency. For starters, at presstime, former
New Jersey DEP Commissioner and current Corzine chief of staff
Lisa Jackson had been named to the President-elect’s transition team
and was on the short list for the position of EPA Administrator.
“We’re excited about the possibility of Commissioner Jackson
playing a role in Washington because she is one of the most practical administrators in Trenton,” Zangari says. “During her tenure
at NJ DEP, she struck the right balance between adherence to
environmental sensitivities and concern for the practical realities
of real estate development. It’s exciting to think that she might be
leading the environmental effort at the national level.”
In addition, Seton Hall law professor Mark Alexander is an
old friend of Obama’s and played an influential role in the campaign as a senior policy advisor. And Obama’s national campaign
manager, David Plouffe, has New Jersey roots going back to his
days as senior counselor to then-US Senator Torricelli.
“On top of all that, our New Jersey congressional delegation will
continue to move up in seniority on strategic committees—
including Congressman Bill Pascrell on homeland security and Congressman Steve Rothman on appropriations,” Zangari says.
Hopefully, Stern says, the Obama administration will conduct a
vastly better economic policy than the Bush administration. “The
Republicans have proven to be the deficit spending party of the
late 20th and 21st centuries, not the Democrats as the Republicans
would have you believe. It is the Republicans who spent their way
into one of the biggest balance sheet problems this country has
ever faced, and now the capital environment is very ugly.”—RENJ
DIFFERENT STROKES
Continued from page 48
shuttled between 5: 30 a.m. rowing sessions in Princeton and
Normandy’s Morristown office, and eventually, says Teti, “I
had to pull back on work. I stayed in contact with brokers via
e-mail and conference calls, but once I was in China, I was
basically unreachable. During the previous two Olympics, it
was almost a foregone conclusion that if anything got in the
way it was going to be eliminated. This was a much different
experience and ultimately a very rewarding one.”
A large part of the credit goes to Teti’s colleagues who, he notes,
were the reason he was able to compete in the first place. “Beijing
never would have been possible if the Normandy team hadn’t
been supportive,” he says. “I didn’t have an athletic entourage,”
he says. “I had an entourage of brokers. It was very much a shared
experience, to the point where I had brokers calling and asking
about time trials and terminology.”
That said, it’s not surprising Teti finds certain parallels between
his athletic endeavors and his day job.
“Rowing is the ultimate team sport,” he explains. “It’s not
about individual achievement, but rather getting the most
speed out of the boat by working together with your teammates
in perfect unison. It’s very much a team effort. One of the
reasons I love the sport is because of the clear connection
between the training you go through and the results you
achieve. I consider myself very lucky to be part of a great team
both in the boat and at Normandy.”
While Teti says he is most appreciative of this latest Olympic
run, competitive rowing is not likely to show up on his list of
future plans. “The sport has given me quite a bit and, while I’ll
never say never, I’m most comfortable with this retirement.”
Along those lines, he’s now looking to re-focus on real estate,
specifically managing leasing activity for Normandy’s properties
in the Mid-Atlantic region.—Alyson Grala
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CB Richard Ellis, Cover II
Columbia Bank, 27
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Crown Properties, 17
Cushman & Wakefield, 25
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Environmental Waste Manage-
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Farer Fersko, 24
Gibbons PC, 6
Grubb & Ellis, 33
Herrick Feinstein, 10
ICREW, Cover IV
Kislak Co., 42
Langan Engineering, 35
NJ-NAIOP, 23
NorthMarq Capital, 9
Price Meese, 3
Provident Savings Bank, 1
RJ Brunelli & Co., 16
Rockefeller Group, 24
Silbert Realty Management, 44
This advertising index is provided as
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