New Jersey Symphony Announces Board Appointments
NEWARK, NJ—The New Jersey Symphony announces board appointments, including a new co-chair of the board.
At its recent Annual Board meeting the Governing Members of the corporation approved the appointment of Craig Silliman as Co-Chair of the Board, sharing these duties with Robert C. Garrett, Hackensack Meridian Health’s CEO. Silliman is Executive Vice President and President of Verizon Global Services, where he leads the company’s central support services operations and is responsible for most shared services teams within Verizon, including information technology, real estate, sourcing, supply chain, fleet, finance operations, human resource operations, reporting and insights, learning and development, public policy and information security. Silliman has served as a trustee of New Jersey Symphony since 2011, and throughout that time has been very active on various committees.
Silliman says, “I am honored to be given the opportunity to serve as Co-Chair of the Board for the New Jersey Symphony, a statewide organization that plays an important role in the cultural life and communities of New Jersey. I have a deep commitment to the Symphony as a subscriber, donor and trustee. The musicians of the New Jersey Symphony are a state treasure, and the work the Symphony and its musicians do is vital to improving the lives of all New Jerseyans. I look forward to working with Bob as co-chair, along with the other trustees and senior leadership at the Symphony.”
New Jersey Symphony President & CEO Gabriel van Aalst says, “The future of the New Jersey Symphony is a bright one with two very strong leaders of the New Jersey business community as co-chairs of board. Their perspective and knowledge will help the New Jersey Symphony achieve its high goals and continue to deliver its mission to even more New Jerseyans. I have had the honor of working with Craig since I started at New Jersey Symphony, and throughout that time, he has been extremely generous with his time and guidance. He truly loves the programs and work of the New Jersey Symphony. I look forward to working with Craig in his new role as co-chair, and I know that he and Bob, along with the rest of the board, will continue to do great things for New Jersey Symphony.”
Also announced at the Annual Meeting was the appointment of two new trustees.
- Robert Gordon, Vice President at Stevens & Lee Public Relations, and a former Board of Public Utilities Commissioner, NJ Transit Board Member and New Jersey State Senator.
- Jonathan Kushner, President of KRE Group
Gordon and Kushner join a board of 47 total members who help to guide the symphony leadership and fundraise for the Symphony. A list of current New Jersey Symphony board members can be found here: www.njsymphony.org/trustees.
Craig Silliman, Executive Vice President and President of Verizon Global Services
As Executive Vice President and President of Verizon Global Services, Craig leads the company’s central support services operations and is responsible for most shared services teams within Verizon, including information technology, real estate, sourcing, supply chain, fleet, finance operations, HR operations, reporting and insights, learning and development, public policy and information security.
Under Craig’s leadership, the Verizon Global Services team manages Verizon’s partner ecosystem, which includes tens of thousands of vendors that provide services to the company.
Craig was previously Verizon’s executive vice president and chief administrative officer. His responsibilities included managing the company’s supply chain, real estate, public policy, legal, regulatory and security groups. He has also held a number of other senior management roles at the company.
Craig has a law degree from the University of Virginia. He is married with three sons and in his free time enjoys reading, cycling, traveling and vegetable gardening.
Robert Gordon, Vice President at Stevens & Lee Public Relations
Robert (Bob) Gordon currently serves as a Vice President of Stevens & Lee Public Affairs, a New Jersey-focused government relations firm that assists private companies and nonprofit organizations in their interactions with state and local government. Gordon recently completed a board position at New Jersey Transit, as well as a five-year term as a commissioner of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities.
Prior to his appointment to the BPU, Gordon had served more than 14 years in the Legislature, ten of those in the Senate where he attained the positions of Majority Conference Leader, and Chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, the Legislative Manufacturing Caucus and the Senate Legislative Oversight Committee.
Gordon’s career has spanned the public and private sectors. In his public career, he has served at every level of government. He was drawn to public affairs by a life-long interest in environmental issues, and his first job was at the President’s Council on Environmental Quality. During his early career in Washington he worked on the economics staff of the Brookings Institution, a public policy research institution, and later, at the inception of the Congressional Budget Office, joined that agency as an analyst focusing on natural resource programs. At the state and local levels, Gordon served as an aide to Governor Jim Florio and spent ten years as Mayor and Council Member of the Borough of Fair Lawn. He is the author of Governing New Jersey, a 300-page book describing the skill requirements of key executive branch positions.
Gordon’s business career is equally diverse. Much of his private sector work was with large management consulting firms, where he led engagements of a strategic nature. He conducted marketing strategy assignments for Fortune 1000 clients in the U.S. and Europe, and later, worked with the nation’s largest hospital consulting firm facilitating the merger of provider organizations. He managed the family textile factory in Paterson, New Jersey, and most recently, worked as a broker with one of the largest commercial real estate organizations in the world.
Gordon earned his undergraduate degree in political economy and environmental studies from Williams College, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude. He also has a Master of Public Policy degree from the University of California at Berkeley and an MBA in finance and health care management from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Gordon resides in Fair Lawn with his wife Gail.
Jonathan Kushner, KRE Group
Jonathan Kushner is President of KRE Group. Founded in 1979 and headquartered in Jersey City, NJ, KRE Group is a full-service real estate, investment, development, and management company with properties in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and the Southeast. Kushner is responsible for overseeing the company’s operating portfolio which exceeds 9,000 existing apartments, with an additional 7,000 in various stages of approval and construction. The company also owns and manages more than 6,000,000 square feet of office, warehouse, and retail space.
Kushner has played an integral role in KRE’s ascension into a leading position in the multi-family arena. The firm’s success stems from its ability to execute large-scale projects that expertly blend well-conceived residences with extensive amenities and supportive street-level retail space, often in key urban centers near mass transportation. KRE’s current development activities include Journal Squared, a three-tower, 1,840-unit mixed-use project in the Journal Square section of Jersey City; Bay 151, a 625-unit rental community that has helped further the transformation of Bayonne, NJ’s waterfront peninsula into a new Gold Coast destination; and The Noble, a 13-story, 360-unit residential tower that will seamlessly integrate Philadelphia's Northern Liberties and Old City neighborhoods.
New Jersey Symphony
The Emmy and Grammy Award-winning New Jersey Symphony is redefining what it means to be a nationally leading, relevant orchestra in the 21st century. The Symphony is renewing its deeply rooted commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion by championing new, and often local, artists; engaging audiences for whom the inspiring depth and breadth of classical music will be a new experience; and incorporating the broadest possible representation in all aspects of our organization-all to better reflect and serve our vibrant communities. Since 2021, Music Director Xian Zhang has worked together with composer, violinist, educator and social-justice advocate Daniel Bernard Roumain, the orchestra's Resident Artistic Catalyst, to offer programming that connects with diverse communities in Newark and throughout New Jersey.
Internationally renowned Chinese American conductor Xian Zhang began her tenure as the New Jersey Symphony's current Music Director in 2016. Since her arrival at the New Jersey Symphony, Zhang has revitalized programming with an industry-leading commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion in mainstage concerts. In its second century of bringing concerts to the people of New Jersey, the Symphony will present audience favorites in 2023–24 including Dvořák's "New World" Symphony, Orff's Carmina Burana, Vivaldi's The Four Seasons and pianist Daniil Trifonov playing Gershwin's Concerto in F. New Jersey Symphony co-commissions include Anna Clyne's ATLAS and Jessie Montgomery's Snapshots. Composers Rob Kapilow and Daniel Bernard Roumain will present world premieres.
For more information about the New Jersey Symphony, visit www.njsymphony.org or email information@njsymphony.org. Tickets are available for purchase by phone 1.800.ALLEGRO (255.3476) or on the Orchestra's website.
Press Contact
Geoffrey Anderson, New Jersey Symphony, Vice President of Marketing & External Affairs
973.735.1713 | ganderson@njsymphony.org
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The New Jersey Symphony's programs are made possible in part by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, along with many other foundations, corporations and individual donors.
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