NJSO adds 7 new members to Board of Trustees

• New board members include Thomas Comiskey, Philippa Girling, Teri Lawver, Martin Melilli, Kei Sasaki, Susan Shiff and Peter Webster
• Carmen Corrales, NJSO cellist Sarah Seiver and NJSO Principal Bassoon Robert Wagner return to board

NEWARK, NJ—The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra welcomes seven new members and three returning members to its Board of Trustees. Charged with establishing policies that assist in the successful implementation of the NJSO’s mission and vision, the board comprises members who are among the most in-demand institutional leaders across the state. Individual members are among the Garden State’s most significant philanthropists, and corporate members hold key leadership positions in industries such as banking, medical, communications, technology and utilities.

The NJSO has a unique legacy of having musicians sit on the board and its committees as full voting members. This season, NJSO cellist Sarah Seiver and Principal Bassoon Robert Wagner return to the board, joining Principal Second Violin Francine Storck, clarinetist Andrew Lamy, Assistant Concertmaster Adriana Rosin and bassoonist Mark Timmerman as NJSO trustees.

New trustees include:

• Thomas Comiskey, New Jersey Regional President of M&T Bank
• Philippa Girling, Senior Vice President, Chief Risk Officer of Investors Bank
• Teri Lawver, Global Commercial Strategy Leader for the Cardiovascular & Metabolism (CVM) Therapeutic Area, Global Commercial Strategy Organization at Janssen Research & Development, LLC
• Martin Melilli, Regional Vice President at TD Bank
• Kei Sasaki, Regional Chief Investment Officer for the Northeast region of Wells Fargo Private Bank
• Susan Shiff, Senior Vice President and Head of the Center for Observational and Real-World Evidence at Merck
• Peter Webster, Resident Managing Director of Aon NJ

Carmen Corrales, a retired partner at Cleary Gottlieb, returns to the NJSO board.

NJSO Board of Trustees Co-Chairs Linda Bowden and David Huber say: “These new trustees bring diverse business, philanthropic and community experience to the NJSO Board of Trustees. We are thrilled to welcome them to a thriving board that is dedicated to the NJSO’s mission to connect with the people and diverse communities of New Jersey through the power of live music to inspire, entertain and educate.”

 

NEW AND RETURNING BOARD MEMBERS

Thomas Comiskey is the New Jersey Regional President for M&T Bank, overseeing the middle market, commercial real estate, healthcare and not-for-profit commercial banking teams.

Comiskey began his career in 1993, holding multiple international marketing, corporate strategy and M&A positions for Amway Corporation and Mary Kay Cosmetics. During this time, he led culturally diverse cross-functional teams that developed a global telecommunications strategy and launched a $100-million color cosmetics line in Japan.

After graduating from business school in 2003, Comiskey joined M&T Bank as a Middle Market relationship manager covering Westchester and Rockland Counties in New York. He then spent two years with Yardville National Bank, helping it expand its commercial business into central New Jersey. Upon returning to M&T in 2007, he spent two years in M&T’s special assets division, managing a number of relationships through turnarounds, bankruptcies, restructurings and asset sales. In 2010, Comiskey was promoted to Group Manager, responsible for the middle market, healthcare and not-for-profit commercial businesses in New Jersey. When M&T completed its acquisition of Hudson City Savings Bank in 2015, he was promoted to New Jersey Regional President.

Comiskey sits on the Board of Directors for the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce. He currently serves as the Treasurer and Executive Committee member for the Board of Trustees of the Special Olympics of New Jersey. He is also the Treasurer of the Board of Trustees for Friends of TEAM Academy (KIPP NJ charter school). Comiskey holds a B.S. from The University of Scranton and a M.B.A. from The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.

 

Carmen Amalia Corrales is a retired partner at Cleary Gottlieb. Corrales’ practice has focused on corporate and sovereign transactions, including securities offerings by sovereign and corporate issuers and sovereign debt restructuring. Corrales has extensive experience in international finance transactions, including representing public and private issuers and underwriters in equity and debt offerings in international markets and in the legal structuring and documentation of derivative transactions and complex commercial bank lending transactions.

Corrales’ corporate practice is internationally distinguished by Chambers Global, Chambers USA, Chambers Latin America, The Best Lawyers in America, The Legal 500 US., The Legal 500 Latin America and Latin Lawyer 250: Latin America’s Leading Business Law Firms. In 2013, Corrales was highlighted in Latin Lawyer’s “Women in Law” issue celebrating the most inspiring women in the Latin American legal profession.

Corrales joined the firm in 1990 and became a partner in 1998. She received a J.D. degree from Harvard Law School and an undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

Corrales is a member of the Academy of Political Science’s Board of Directors, the Committee for Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice and a Trustee of Bloomfield College. She is a member of the Bars in New York and New Jersey. Her native language is Spanish, and she is fluent in English and Portuguese.

 

Philippa Girling is Senior Vice President, Chief Risk Officer at Investors Bank. She was previously Chief Business Risk Officer – SVP, at Capital One Commercial Bank. She has more than 20 years of experience in the global financial services industry. She is a recognized risk management leader in the industry and was named one of the decade’s “Top Fifty Faces of Operational Risk.” In addition to authoring two operational-risk textbooks, she is also an active public speaker on risk-management topics.

Holding New York Bar and Financial Risk Manager (FRM) qualifications, she was also recognized in 2014 by Working Mother magazine as one of the top 100 Working Mothers in America. She lives in Montclair, where she and her husband, Joe, raised their five daughters.

Girling received her undergraduate law degree from University of East Anglia, UK, and her PhD in Global Affairs from Rutgers University. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree in ethics and society at Fordham University.

 

Teri Lawver serves as the Global Commercial Strategy Leader for the Cardiovascular & Metabolism (CVM) Therapeutic Area, Global Commercial Strategy Organization at Janssen Research & Development, LLC. Lawver co-leads the Cardiovascular & Metabolism Therapeutic Area and directly oversees a fully integrated team, including dedicated experts in strategic marketing, strategic analytics, market access and medical affairs. Together with the R&D Global Therapeutic Area Head Dr. Jim List, Lawver shares leadership accountability and responsibility to jointly set and execute the Cardiovascular & Metabolism strategy, build disease area strongholds and develop deep therapeutic area expertise.

With more than 20 years of global healthcare leadership experience, Lawver previously served as President of Johnson & Johnson Medical Companies (JJMC), where she was responsible for the Johnson & Johnson portfolio of surgical medical device businesses across Canada. Prior to that, Lawver held leadership roles in marketing, sales and managed care and also served as Worldwide General Manager for Animas Corporation.

Lawver holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Georgetown University and a master’s degree in Business Administration and Statistics from Duke University. Prior experience includes Associate Principal with McKinsey & Company in its Atlanta, New Jersey and Sao Paulo, Brazil, offices, as well as a Derivatives Analyst at Bloomberg, LLC.

 

Martin P. Melilli is a Regional Vice President with TD Bank. He is responsible for managing a commercial banking team serving customers throughout the Union and East Essex region of northeastern New Jersey.

Melilli has more than 25 years of experience in banking, commercial lending and credit administration, with many years in senior management positions. Prior to joining TD Bank, he served as President of The Bank of Princeton in Princeton, where he propelled the de novo bank to profitability in just under two years. He also served as First Vice President in Commercial Lending at Synergy Bank in Cranford and as Regional Manager of Summit Bank/Fleet Bank, also in Cranford.

Melilli serves on the Board of the Union County Economic Development Corporation (UCEDC), Gateway Chamber of Commerce and Union County United Way. He is a 1989 graduate of Seton Hall University. Melilli resides in Basking Ridge with his wife and two children.

 

Kei A. Sasaki is the regional chief investment officer for the Northeast region of Wells Fargo Private Bank. He leads a team of investment professionals who deliver comprehensive, custom and diversified portfolio management for clients of The Private Bank. He serves as the investment thought leader in the Northeast, providing insight and interpretation of the economy and financial markets at client events and through written commentary.

Sasaki has more than 20 years of industry experience specializing in capital markets research, portfolio management and asset allocation strategy. Prior to joining Wells Fargo, he was a managing director of equities at PineBridge Investments, serving as head of research and client portfolio manager. In this role, he was responsible for overseeing fundamental research efforts of more than 80 investment professionals across 12 countries and was a leading representative of the firm’s fundamental and quantitative global equity capabilities. Sasaki was credited with orchestrating firm-wide global research efforts that helped to identify and capitalize on structural cross-asset class investment themes. He also held positions at Credit Suisse Asset Management and Yasuda Bank and Trust Company.

Sasaki received a Bachelor of Science in International Business and Finance from New York University and a Master of Business Administration from Fordham University. He is a CFA charterholder and member of the CFA Institute and the New York Society of Security Analysts. Sasaki is based in New York City.

 

Sarah Seiver has been a member of the NJSO cello section for more than 25 years. Seiver and NJSO bassoonist Mark Timmerman created the Orchestra’s “Ask a Musician” intermission feature, for which the NJSO presented them with the Orchestra’s Award for Audience Development in 2006. In 2008, Seiver started the NJSO’s board member/musician partnership program, pairing NJSO trustees one on one with members of the Orchestra in an initiative designed to promote awareness and interaction within the organization.

In addition to the NJSO, Seiver is a member of the American Ballet Theatre Orchestra and has been a cellist for many musicals on Broadway.

Seiver graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music and received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard University and a Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School.

 

Susan Shiff, PhD, MBA, is Senior Vice President and Head of the Center for Observational and Real-World Evidence at Merck. She is a pharmaceutical executive with 20 years of experience in management, big data development, epidemiology, outcomes, market access, pricing and safety risk management. She has had extensive US and global market exposure, including emerging markets, with expertise in providing unique insights, improving business impact (access and pricing), and penetrating chartered markets through the utilization of big data, health economics, outcomes research and epidemiology for access and pricing decision making.

 

New Jersey Symphony Orchestra Principal Bassoonist Robert Wagner has been a member of the Orchestra since 1979. He has performed as a soloist with the NJSO in bassoon concertos by Mozart, Weber and Vivaldi, as well as the Duo Concertino of Richard Strauss. He has toured extensively and recorded with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and he has performed as a member of the Boehm Quintette and American Wind Quintet.

Wagner graduated with both his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from The Juilliard School. He teaches at Princeton University and serves on the boards of the League of American Orchestras and ArtPride New Jersey. He also teaches privately.

 

Peter Webster is the Resident Managing Director of Aon NJ, overseeing the Risk, Health & Benefits and Marketing divisions of Aon’s Morristown and Somerset offices. He is responsible for leveraging Risk, Health & Benefits, Aon Hewitt, Univers and Benfield as an Aon One Voice total solution, driving growth and talent engagement for both internal and external clients.

Webster was instrumental in the development of Aon’s Client Service Centers by helping various Aon offices transition into the new platform and obtained special recognition for his support in this effort. He is currently involved in Aon’s Diversity Initiative, specifically Aon BUILD (Blacks United In Leading Diversity) and is a member of Aon’s Pathfinders Executive Series. He works with various clients in the healthcare, financial, real estate and technology sectors. Webster was recognized for his outstanding achievements with Aon’s Circle of Excellence and One Voice Leadership Awards and is a graduate of Harvard’s Advanced Leadership Program and Kellogg’s Catalyst Executive Leadership Program.

Webster has been in the insurance industry for more than 20 years. His prior work experience includes Account Management responsibilities at Chubb and Acordia/Wells Fargo. Additionally, he worked as a Marketing Specialist for a local broker.

Webster holds property, casualty, life and health designations in numerous states.

 

NEW JERSEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Named “a vital, artistically significant musical organization” by The Wall Street Journal, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra embodies that vitality through its statewide presence and critically acclaimed performances, education partnerships and unparalleled access to music and the Orchestra’s superb musicians.

Music Director Xian Zhang—a “dynamic podium presence” The New York Times has praised for her “technical abilities, musicianship and maturity”—continues her acclaimed leadership of the NJSO. The Orchestra presents classical, pops and family programs, as well as outdoor summer concerts and special events. Embracing its legacy as a statewide orchestra, the NJSO is the resident orchestra of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark and regularly performs at State Theatre New Jersey in New Brunswick, Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, Richardson Auditorium in Princeton, Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown and bergenPAC in Englewood. Partnerships with New Jersey arts organizations, universities and civic organizations remain a key element of the Orchestra’s statewide identity.

In addition to its lauded artistic programming, the NJSO presents a suite of education and community engagement programs that promote meaningful, lifelong engagement with live music. Programs include school-time Concerts for Young People; NJSO Youth Orchestras family of student ensembles, currently led by José Luis Domínguez; and El Sistema-inspired NJSO CHAMPS (Character, Achievement and Music Project). NJSO musicians annually perform original chamber music programs at community events in a variety of settings statewide through the NJSO Community Partners Program.

For more information about the NJSO, 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.

The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra’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.

 

PRESS CONTACT

Victoria McCabe, NJSO Senior Manager of Public Relations & Communications | 973.735.1715 | vmccabe@njsymphony.org

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