Invest: South Jersey 2021

South Jersey 2021 An in-depth review of the key issues facing South Jersey’s economy, featuring the exclusive insights of prominent industry and political leaders.

CONTENTS

Contents: 27 Interview: Heather Simmons, Commissioner – Gloucester County, South Jersey Film Office Cooperative 29 T ough year: The struggles of the past year are well known but signs of a rebound are emerging 30 I nterview: Michael Snyder, Director of Operations, Visit South Jersey 31 I nterview: Larry Sieg, President & CEO, Meet AC 33 I nterview: Eustace Mita, CEO, ICONA Resorts 34 I nterview: John Siciliano, Executive Director & CFO, Greater Wildwoods Tourism Improvement and Development Authority 35 P erspective: Sustainability and sports

37 P rofessional Services: 38 New blueprint: Professional services firms are taking the lead in guiding clients through a new business landscape 39 Interview: George Norcross, Executive Chairman, Conner Strong & Buckelew 40 Interview: Elaine Damm, CEO, ACCU Staffing Services

5 Economy: 6 Economy in numbers: 8 The next big thing: With an emerging renewable energy sector and a reviving tourism industry, South Jersey is bouncing back 9 Interview: Phil Murphy, Governor, State of New Jersey 10 Interview: Christina Renna, President & CEO, Chamber of Commerce Southern New Jersey 11 Interview: Gerard Velazquez, President & CEO, Cumberland County Improvement Authority 13 Interview: Jose Lozano, President & CEO, Choose New Jersey 14 Interview: Michele Gillian, Executive Director, Ocean City Regional Chamber of Commerce 15 Interview: Marlene Asselta, President, Southern New Jersey Development Council (SNJDC) 16 Roundtable: Chambers of commerce Janet Garraty, Director, Gloucester County Chamber of Commerce Dawn Hunter, Executive Director, Greater Vineland Chamber of Commerce Jennifer Jones, Executive Director & COO, Salem County Chamber of Commerce

Tony Stanzione, Executive Director, Bridgeton Area Chamber of Commerce and Cumberland Development Corporation 19 Interview: Stephen Sweeney, Senate President, State of New Jersey 20 Market voices: Transformative developments Ray Jones, President, Camden Business Association Ben Laury, Director of County Commissioners, Salem County Lauren Moore, President, Atlantic County Economic Alliance Stephen Steglik, Mayor, Township of Mount Laurel 22 Interview: Michele Siekerka, President & CEO, New Jersey Business & Industry Association (NJBIA) 24 Cornerstones: Emerging Film Industry 25 Market voices: Mayor’s corner Susan Shin Angulo, Mayor, Cherry Hill Township Nicole Gillespie, Mayor, Township of Moorestown David Patriarca, Mayor, Pemberton Township Marty Small, Mayor, The City of Atlantic City 26 Interview: Louis Cappelli Jr., Commissioner Director – Camden County, South Jersey Film Office Cooperative

41 Interview: Timothy Guim, President & CEO, PCH Technologies 43 Interview: Paul Ritter, President & CEO, Cumberland Mutual 44 Interview: Steven Poulathas, Co-Managing Shareholder, Flaster Greenberg 46 Market voices: Legislation to watch Michael Horner, Managing Partner, White and Williams LLP Michael Mann, Managing Partner, Troutman Pepper Eileen Muskett, Managing Partner, Fox Rothschild 47 Interview: Charlie Muracco, CEO & Principal Consultant, CLM Advisors 49 Perspectives: Pandemic fallout

51 Cape May County: 52 Coastal Shift: Cape May County is well on the path to recovery, with more than tourism in its sights 53 Interview: Diane Wieland, Tourism Director, Cape May County 54 Interview: Leonard Desiderio, Commissioner Vice Director/Mayor, Cape May County/Sea Isle City 55 Interview: Vicki Clark, President, Cape May County Chamber of Commerce www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com

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Contents:

57 Interview: Gerald Thornton, Commissioner Director, Cape May County

60 County Cornerstones:

61 Interview: Jay Gillian, Mayor, Ocean City

63 Real Estate & Construction:

64 Challenges, Opportunities: Industrial and residential remain the hot sectors while office continues to limp along

65 Interview: Joseph Maressa, President & CEO, Title America

67 Perspectives: Real estate activity

68 Interview: Stephen Schoch, Managing Principal, Kitchen & Associates

70 Interview: David Hammond, CEO, CSI International

71 Interview: Chris Wilhelm, Regional Vice President, Gateway Mortgage

72 Interview: John O’Donnell, CEO, The Michaels Organization

73 Market voices: Construction outlook Anne Koons, CEO, Vineland Construction Louis Mueller, Principal, BWM Construction LLC Mike Regina, Principal & co-Founder, Big Sky Enterprises

74 Interview: Joe Jingoli, CEO, JINGOLI

77 Camden County:

78 Looking forward: The transformation of Camden County is well underway, with significant signs of success

79 Interview: Louis Cappelli Jr., Commissioner Director, Camden County

80 Interview: Victor Carstarphen, Mayor, City of Camden

81 Interview: Kris Kolluri, President & CEO, Camden Community Partnership, Inc.

82 County Cornerstones:

83 Interview: Sidney Brown, CEO, NFI Industries

84 Market voices: Leadership perspective Jeffrey Gottlieb, CEO, ResinTech Inc. Melinda Kane, Commissioner, Veterans Affairs Liaison, Camden County Jeffrey Nash, Commissioner, Parks Liaison, Camden County

2 | Invest: South Jersey 2021 | CONTENTS

Robert Weil, Chairman, Camden County Regional Chamber of Commerce

President, AT&T New Jersey 100 Interview: Andrew Saporito,

85 Interview: Dana Redd, Chief Executive Officer, Rowan University/ Rutgers-Camden Board of Governors 86 Interview: Kevin O’Dowd, Co-CEO, Cooper University Health Care

99 Interview: Joseph Divis, Interim

Executive Director & CEO, South Jersey Port Corporation

101 Banking & Finance:

87 Interview: Anthony Mazzarelli, CoCEO, Cooper University Health Care

102 New approach: South Jersey’s

89 Infrastructure,

103 Interview: Rob Curley, South Jersey

pandemic takeaways are translating into future growth and resilience

Transportation & Utilities:

Market President, TD Bank 104 Interview: Louis Lombardi, Senior Vice President & Regional Commercial

90 Economic catalyst: Job creation, connectivity and business attraction are among the key goals for ongoing investment

105 Interview: Harry Stone, President &

91 Interview: John Hanson, President & CEO, DRPA | PATCO

107 Market Voices: Banking Trends

92 Interview: Carl Ortell, CEO, Holman Enterprises

94 Roundtable: Energy innovation Mike Renna, President & CEO, South Jersey Industries Gary Stockbridge, Region President, Atlantic City Electric & Delmarva Power Rick Thigpen, Senior Vice President Corporate Citizenship, PSEG Joris Veldhoven, Commercial and Finance Director, Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind

Executive, Fulton Bank CEO, Cooperative Business Assistance Corporation (CBAC) Greg Amato, Commercial Banker, Middle Market Banking & Specialized Industries, JPMorgan Chase Brian Jones, President & CEO, The First National Bank of Elmer Joe Tredinnick, Market President, Republic Bank Robert White, President & CEO, 1st Colonial Community Bank 108 Interview: Vincent D’Alessandro, First Senior Vice President & Regional President, OceanFirst Bank 109 Interview: John Herring, New Jersey Market President, Liberty Bell Bank - A

96 Perspectives: Industrial evolution

97 Interview: Stephen Dougherty, Executive Director, South Jersey Transportation Authority (SJTA)

Division of The Bank of Delmarva

111 Interview: Denise Monahan, Group Vice President, M&T Bank

South Jersey 2021 Anthony DiFabio, President & CEO, Acenda Integrated Health Barry Ostrowsky, President & CEO, RWJBarnabas Health Dennis Pullin, President & CEO, Virtua Health 126 Interview: Amy Mansue, President & CEO, Inspira Health Network

ISBN 978-0-9988966-1-8 President: Abby Melone Chief Financial Officer: Albert Lindenberg Regional Director: Juan Clark Senior Editor: Mario Di Simine Regional Editor: Max Crampton-Thomas Art Director: Nuno Caldeira

128 Interview: Al Maghazehe, President & CEO, Capital Health

Senior Writer: Felipe Rivas

130 Interview: Brian Sweeney, President & COO, Jefferson Health – New Jersey

Content Manager: Joey Garrand

132 Cornerstones: Telehealth legislation

Executive Director: Joshua Greenberg Writers: Cameron Saunders, Sara Warden, Esteban Pages Digital Marketer: Andrea Salazar Office Assistant: Michelle Orellana

133 Education: 134 Brave new world: As lockdowns redefined the landscape for education, a new landscape is emerging

112 Interview: Albert Fox, Senior Vice President & Executive Director, Fox, Penberthy & Dehn at Morgan Stanley 114 Interview: Anthony DeSalle, President & CEO, Crest Savings Bank 115 Interview: James Andreacci, Market President & Senior Vice President, Truist

117 Healthcare: 118 Recovery: It was a tough year for healthcare practitioners but a light is shining at the end of the tunnel 119 Interview: Alexander Vaccaro, President, Rothman Orthopaedic Institute 120 Interview: Mary Ann Boccolini, President & CEO, Samaritan Healthcare & Hospice 122 Roundtable: Healthcare trends David Baiada, CEO, BAYADA Home Health Care

135 Interview: Merodie Hancock, President, Thomas Edison State University 136 Interview: Frederick Keating, President, Rowan College of South Jersey 137 Interview: Joseph Marbach, President, Georgian Court University 139 Market Voices: Education specialties Monica Adya, Dean, Rutgers School of Business-Camden Thomas Cavalieri, Dean, Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine Donna Nickitas, Dean and Professor, Rutgers School of Nursing–Camden Annette Reboli, Dean, Cooper Medical School of Rowan University 140 Interview: Antonio Tillis, Chancellor, Rutgers University – Camden

Intern: Franco Cassoni Invest: South Jersey is published once a year by Capital Analytics Associates, LLC. For all editorial and advertising questions, please e-mail: contact@capitalaa.com To order a copy of Invest: South Jersey 2021, please e-mail: contact@capitalaa.com All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, without the express written consent of the publisher, Capital Analytics Associates, LLC. Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this book, the authors and publisher accept no responsibility for any errors it may contain, or for any loss, financial or otherwise, sustained by any person using this publication.

Capital Analytics Associates, LLC accepts no responsibility for the return of unsolicited manuscripts and/or photographs, and assumes no liability for products and services advertised herein. Capital Analytics Associates, LLC reserves the right to edit, rewrite, or refuse material.

141 Interview: Barbara Gaba, President, Atlantic Cape Community College 143 Perspective: Community College 144 Interview: Ali Houshmand, President, Rowan University

Photo Credits: Cover: Elevated Angles LLC for Camden County Table of Contents: Page 1, 2 – Meet AC Economy: Page 5 – Cape May County Chamber of Commerce; Greater Wildwoods Tourism Improvement and Development Authority Page 8, 10, 14, 22, 32, 34 – Meet AC Page 18 – Township of Mount Laurel Page 21 – Jefferson Health New Jersey Page 24 – Lund Fisheries Page 29 – Greater Wildwoods Tourism Improvement and Development Authority Page 31 – ICONA Resorts

Professional Services: Page 37 – South Jersey Industries; Flaster Greenberg PC Page 38 – Conner Strong & Buckelew Page 40 – Friedman LLP Page 47 – South Jersey Industries Cape May County: Page 51, 52, 58 – Cape May County Chamber of Commerce Page 54 – Greater Wildwoods Tourism Improvement and Development Authority Real Estate & Construction: Page 63 – Nexus Properties; Meet AC Page 64, 68 – Nexus Properties Page 66 – Jingoli

Camden County: Page 77 – Borough of Collingwood; Camden County Board of Commissioners Page 78, 80 – Camden County Board of Commissioners Transportation, Infrastructure & Utilities: Page 89 – South Jersey Transit Authority; Holtec International Page 90 – National Aviation Research and Technology Park Page 92 – Holtec International Banking & Finance: Page 101 – Chase Page 102, 110, 112 – Meet AC

Page 104 – Fulton Bank Page 114 – The First National Bank of Elmer Healthcare: Page 117 – Jingoli; Inspira Health Page 118, 132 – Inspira Health Page 120 – Rowan University Page 124, 130 – Rutgers School of Nursing – Camden Page 127 – Bancroft Page 128 – Jefferson Health – New Jersey Education: Page 133 – Rutgers School of BusinessCamden; Atlantic Cape Community College Page 134 – Atlantic Cape Community College Page 136 – Thomas Edison State University Page 142 – Rowan University

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4 | Invest: Miami 2017 | ECONOMY

Economy: South Jersey is finding its footing after a long struggle through the pandemic. Tourism is showing signs of life and the already diversifying economy is getting another shot in the arm with the further development of its offshore wind sector that will thrust the region more deeply into the world of renewable energy.

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Economy in numbers: Current and future company general activity indexes 1Q1992 to 1Q2021: Current company activity

Future company activity

80 60 40 20 0 -20 -40 -60 -80 -100 1992

1992

1996

1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

2012

2014

2016

2018

2020

Note: The diffusion index is computed as the percentage of respondents indicating an increase minus the percentage indicating a decrease; the data are seasonally adjusted.

Source: South Jersey Business Survey

Current and future total sales indexes 1Q1998 to 1Q2021: Current total sales

Future total sales

80 60 40 20 0 -20 -40 -60 -80 -100 1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

2012

2014

2016

2018

2020

Note: The diffusion index is computed as the percentage of respondents indicating an increase minus the percentage indicating a decrease; the data are seasonally adjusted.

Source: South Jersey Business Survey

Current and future employees indexes 1Q1998 to 1Q2021: Current employees

Future employees

Current prices received

80

Current prices paid

| Invest: South Jersey 2021 | ECONOMY

2020

2018

2016

1998

2020

2018

2016

2014

2012

2010

2008

2006

2004

-100 2002

-100 2000

-60 -80 1998

-60 -80

2014

-20 -40

2012

-20 -40

2010

0

2008

20

0

2006

20

2004

40

2002

60

40

2000

80

60

Note: The diffusion index is computed as the percentage of respondents indicating an increase minus the percentage indicating a decrease; the data are seasonally adjusted.

Source: South Jersey Business Survey

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Current prices received and prices paid indexes 1Q1998 to 1Q2021:

Note: The diffusion index is computed as the percentage of respondents indicating an increase minus the percentage indicating a decrease; the data are seasonally adjusted.

Source: South Jersey Business Survey

Unemployment rates for the nation and selected areas

Average weekly wages by county 4Q20:

Average weekly wage (U.S. average = $1,339)

13.0 United States 5.5

$1,600 or higher $1,400 – $1,599 $1,200 – $1,399

15.7

Camden Division

$1,000 – $1,199

6.5

$999 or lower 16.9

Camden County 7.2

14.1

Burlington County 5.7

16.0

Gloucester County 6.5 0.0

10.0 May-20

20.0

May-21

Source: U.S. BLS, Local Area Unemployment Statistics

Source: U.S.Bureau of Labor Statistics

Over-the-year changes in employment on nonfarm payrolls and employment by major industry sector Camden Division

United States Camden division employment (number in thousands)

15.0

Total nonfarm

10.0

5.0

Percent

56.8

12.2

Mining, logging and construction

21.6

0.4

1.9

Manufacturing

37.6

1.2

3.3

124.6

14.4

13.1

6.1

0.0

0.0

Financial activities

29.7

1.5

5.3

Professional and business services

76.4

9.9

14.9

Education and health services

96.6

9.5

10.9

Leisure and hospitality

41.5

15.1

57.2

Other services

16.5

4.5

37.5

Government

72.7

0.3

0.4

Information -5.0

Number

523.3

Trade, transportation and utilities

0.0

Change from May 2020

May 2021

-10.0

-15.0

-20.0

May-18

May-19

May-20

May-21

Source: U.S. BLS, Current Employment Statistics

Source: U.S. BLS, Current Employment Statistics

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The next big thing: With an emerging renewable energy sector and a reviving tourism industry, South Jersey is bouncing back New Jersey is well-known for its extensive coastlines, with the famous Jersey Shore spanning about 141 miles of Oceanfront from Perth Amboy in North Jersey to Cape May in the south. But with close proximity to major urban centers of New York and Philadelphia and with access to the I-95 and I-295, New Jersey is also a hub for the Eastern United States.

Within the state, the South Jersey economy continues to diversify, with a highly educated workforce and a strong transportation network. In addition to its growing credentials in the life sciences and warehousing and logistics, the region has found itself at the center of the next big thing: the advancement of renewable energy with the development of three offshore wind farms totaling over 3,700 megawatts and located off the coast of Atlantic City.

“Not since the 1970s and the introduction of the gaming industry to Atlantic City has South Jersey seen an economic driver of this magnitude. The bulk of the project work is based in Gloucester and Salem counties but eventually activities will spread to Atlantic and Cape May counties as well,” Marlene Asselta, president of the Southern New Jersey Development Council (SNJDC) told Invest: in an interview.

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| Invest: South Jersey 2021 | ECONOMY

Landscape South Jersey had a population of just over 1.8 million as of 2017, spread across the seven counties of Camden, Burlington, Gloucester, Atlantic, Cumberland, Cape May and Salem. The largest industries in the state but also South Jersey include financial services, transportation and logistics and life sciences.

The history of New Jersey has shaped its economy as it stands today. One of the original 13 colonies, the state played a key role during the American Revolution.

Throughout the years, there have been significant land preservation efforts, earning the state the reputation of a farming community and the moniker of The Garden State. In 2003, the state preserved a record 20,000-acre tract of farmland. New Jersey also has deep roots in science, with Albert Einstein having moved to the area in 1935 and a Nobel Prize award for New Jersey scientists who found the Big Bang echo 40 years later.

Now, New Jersey has the highest concentration of scientists and engineers in the world, with pharmaceuticals and life sciences employing about 73,000 people in 2018. Bayer, Pfizer and Novartis are all based in the state. And although it might be believed that New Jersey’s proximity to New York would render ( )

ECONOMY INTERVIEW

Offshore power Potential of the offshore wind economy is enormous for South Jersey, says Gov. Murphy

Phil Murphy Governor – State of New Jersey

What differentiates South Jersey’s economy and business environment from other states?

When I’m asked about our core attributes as a state, my answer is talent and location. We have the No. 1 public education system in America, the highest concentration of scientists and engineers per square mile in America and we’re the most diverse state in America.

With South Jersey specifically, a number of things jump out to me: offshore wind, gaming, tourism, nuclear plants, agriculture and a tremendous higher education system and institutions. I would underscore in particular the offshore wind economy and its potential; it’s enormous for South Jersey. All the offshore projects, as well as the two ports and manufacturing facilities, will be 100% located in South Jersey. This industry will bring thousands of goodpaying jobs and clean energy that respects commercial fishing and homes on the shore.

What is the state of the business community’s health?

It’s a mixed picture; I’d be lying if I said otherwise.

On one level, the recent 2020-2021 fiscal year set alltime records in our three main revenue drivers: the corporate business tax, income tax and sales tax. High propensity business applications (applications for new businesses that are likely to have employees) have surged in New Jersey to one of the fastest rates of new business creation in the region. New Jersey is on pace to generate 50,000 new high-propensity businesses in 2021, which is up approximately 40% from the pace seen pre-pandemic.

On this level, you can say folks are doing just fine. The problem is that the pandemic has laid inequities bare.

During this pandemic we’ve had 2 million initial claims for unemployment insurance and estimates indicate 30% of our small businesses have gone bust. There is

no question that we are recovering but the key will be recovering as quickly and equitably as possible.

What major investments is the state making in South Jersey?

We’re making a lot of investments across South Jersey but there are two that stand out. One, we are entirely redeveloping the Walter Rand Transportation Center in Camden, which is desperately needed and will reimagine transportation in the region. Second, we put a ton of money in the budget for our three level-one trauma hospitals, which were our three coordinating hospitals during the pandemic — one of them being Cooper Medical Center. We also have not one but two large port infrastructure projects in New Jersey to support the offshore wind industry. If you add these four investments together, it’s well over a billion dollars in infrastructure. www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com

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Christina Renna President & CEO Chamber of Commerce Southern New Jersey

What specific projects are you working on and how will they impact the area?

We were really pleased to join the New Jersey Coalition for Independent Work last year. There have been movements in numerous states to classify independent contractors as employees and this has been met with tremendous pushback nationally. We’re proud to call some key entities in the gig economy members of our chamber. The coalition was created by some of these organizations to keep their workers classified as independent contractors so they can continue providing flexibility for the workforce while also allowing them to take advantage of certain worker benefits at the same time. These workers helped some of the most vulnerable industries at the height of the pandemic, so we want to be able to make an agreement that benefits all parties.

How is South Jersey’s economy transforming?

South Jersey is finally getting a hard look from companies that never would have considered the region before.

This is predominantly for two reasons. First, South Jersey is the only area in New Jersey where there is land available to relocate your business or grow and expand your operations. And second, New Jersey has enormously high taxes but in South Jersey our property taxes are considerably lower than other areas of the state.

Companies like Amazon have exploded in terms of their growth across South Jersey and Philadelphia. We’re also seeing a rebirth in food manufacturing and distribution industries; South Jersey was a manufacturing hub in the early 1990s and we’re seeing that return. Wind energy is also an enormous growth opportunity for the region and New Jersey’s wind port has the potential to be the backbone of economic growth in South Jersey. This is important not only for the state’s energy infrastructure but also for job growth, particularly in the most economically depressed areas of the region. Because of our vast agricultural space and farmland, there is huge potential for the growing cannabis industry now that it has been legalized for recreational use in New Jersey.

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| Invest: South Jersey 2021 | ECONOMY

New Jersey is the only state in which every county is a metropolitan area.

( ) it uncompetitive for financial services industries, the state has several major banking, investment, insurance and accounting firms. The industry employed 222,000 people in 2018, contributing $33 billion to the state economy.

The location of New Jersey as an East Coast hub close to major metro areas combined with its affordable land prices turned the state into a manufacturing hub.

Despite being known as an agricultural community, throughout the 20th century South Jersey intensified its activities in manufacturing, sparking huge population growth, especially in the post-war era. Almost 9,000 advanced manufacturing firms in New Jersey employ almost 250,000 people and generate $47.4 billion in state GDP. The manufacturing activity ties into the logistics and transportation sectors of the state, with infrastructure spending serving as a main driver of employment. The transportation, logistics and distribution sector contributed almost $60 million to New Jersey’s GDP in 2017.

Demographic shifts New Jersey’s most recent census data shows it has a total population of 9.3 million, giving it 12 congressional

CONSTRUCTION ECONOMY OVERVIEW

Gerard Velazquez President & CEO Cumberland County Improvement Authority

What differentiates Cumberland County from other areas in South Jersey?

Quality of life in Cumberland County is really one of its greatest assets. The ability to make it to an urban metropolitan area in less than an hour really gives us a unique opportunity to grow the county. It’s a hidden gem. From a travel and quality of life perspective it provides everything anyone could want.

seats, unchanged on the previous census. The state ranked as one of the Top 10 runners-up to almost gain a new congressional seat due to its increasing population, which grew by 5.7% since the 2010 census. This rate was higher than neighboring Pennsylvania and New York and the bureau had underestimated the state’s population by about 400,000 people.

Of the total population, more than 1.8 million, or just over 19%, are located in the state’s seven southern counties, the largest of which is Camden by population and Burlington by area. Data on demographic breakdowns from the most recent census will be released by September, officials said.

As of 2019 estimates, New Jersey’s population is 72% white, 15% Black or African American and 10% Asian.

About 21% of the population characterized themselves as fully or partially Hispanic or Latino. This breakdown is relatively unchanged but the Hispanic population has increased over the previous five-year period. About 32% of New Jersey residents are now speakers of nonEnglish languages, which outstrips the national average of 21.9%. The most commonly spoken language behind English is Spanish.

Although New Jersey is one of the smallest in the

What significant developments are in the pipeline?

The Improvement Authority is the economic development arm of the county. We started in 2013 with 39 landfill employees and we hadn’t completed any redevelopment or economic development activities.

My role when I came here was to transform the authority from a landfill operator to a redevelopment authority.

Now, we have about $650 million in projects and 100 employees. Our mission has been trying to get people to understand that the success of the county depends on the success of the municipalities within the county.

Over the last year, we finalized our 2020-2030 master plan and have utilized that strategy to drive development.

Eds and meds are a cornerstone of this, given the presence of Rowan College SJ, Rowan University and the Inspira Health system. We want to take the corridor that used to stop in Glassboro down to our location. We want to further diversify the economy so that we are not dependent on one specific sector. We are focused on technology and we have a data center that will soon be located in the county. We are building on the executive airport to facilitate services for private jet maintenance.

We want to bring workforce opportunities to the county that do not currently exist.

What business incentives does the county offer?

We have all the same incentives on the state level as our neighboring counties. The added advantage we have here is cost, including land, labor and construction. All the inputs into operating a business are less expensive here than in other parts of the state. www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com

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ECONOMY OVERVIEW

Of the total state population, 19% is in the seven counties that make up South Jersey United States by land mass, coming in 47th place, it is the 11th-most populous. With an average of 1,195.5 people per square mile, New Jersey is the most densely populated state in the United States and every single county is considered an urban area by the census bureau. The most densely populated counties are in North Jersey, with South Jersey seeing much lower levels of density.

According to the World Population Review, the state will continue to grow and diversify to include more seniors, Hispanics, Asians, Native Americans, Pacific Islanders and multiracial populations. By 2025, projections show that the non-Hispanic white population’s share will drop below the majority threshold to 49.4%.

COVID-19 New Jersey has had one of the highest case numbers of COVID-19, outstripping the U.S. average cases per 100,000 at 11,483. Since the end of March 2021, case rates have been declining. New Jersey has registered about

2.2 million initial unemployment claims since the week ending March 21, 2020, with the highest spike seen at the beginning of April 2020 when about 215,000 claims were lodged in one week. Since then, initial claim rates have fallen to reach 8,330 for the week ending June 19, 2021. New Jersey’s employment rates plunged 18% year over year in April 2020 when the pandemic first struck but losses were partially reversed over the remainder of 2020 and 2021 as the pandemic came under greater control. The unemployment rate in the state as of May is now estimated at around 7.2%, down from a high of 16.6% in April 2020 but still double the 3.7% seen in February 2020. Many business leaders contribute the continued high rate of unemployment to the federal stimulus money that provided lucrative jobless benefits and which were still in place in July 2021. Although jobs are there for the taking, many people are incentivized to stay home through government programs.

“For the region, the biggest challenge is getting employees. Either getting new employees because they are anticipating growth or getting some employees back to work. That is going to be a challenge for the region, not just for the Gloucester County Chamber. In collaborating with the Workforce Development Board, we will be looking to create a pipeline for our members to source employees. That is going to be huge for the next four to five months,” said Janet Garraty, director of the Gloucester County Chamber of Commerce.

The COVID-19 pandemic is estimated to have had a similar impact on New Jersey’s economy as the Great Recession in 2009, causing a 4.1% contraction. Losses for healthcare and social assistance are estimated at around $3.4 billion, for accommodation and food services at around $3.1 billion and around $2.3 billion( )

ECONOMY INTERVIEW

New chapter New Jersey and its southern region are entering a new chapter of growth and opportunities

Jose Lozano President & CEO – Choose New Jersey How has Choose New Jersey helped stimulate economic activity over the past year?

In the past year, we celebrated the 10th anniversary of the creation of Choose New Jersey. We had anticipated and wanted our 10th anniversary to be our strongest year, while it proved to be the most challenging. Yet, we can still put a feather in our cap and be extremely proud of the success we had. We were able to convince 33 companies to call New Jersey home in the middle of a pandemic.

That in itself was quite significant. Over our 10-year life span, we have attracted over $6.2 billion worth of capital investments, 19,000 new and retained jobs and assisted 300 companies in relocating or expanding within the state. The pandemic gave folks who were not as familiar with New Jersey the opportunity to see first-hand what we have taken for granted for so long: It’s a great place to raise a family. New Jersey’s residential market for singlefamily homes is up 38% year over year because we saw so many folks needing more space and wanting to be in the suburbs to spread out a bit more. People have really started to see some of the things that we all love so much about New Jersey.

What do you see as the most significant economic developments in the South Jersey region?

The wind port that the New Jersey Economic Development Authority and Gov. Phil Murphy announced less than a year ago will play a pivotal role in South Jersey. South Jersey is a critical cog in the machine of the governor’s goal to be using 100% clean energy by 2050. We believe a whole industry will be born because of it.

A decade from now, offshore wind will emerge as one of New Jersey’s top industries, and no one will be able to have a conversation on clean energy investment in the United States without mentioning South Jersey’s wind port. It will generate thousands of jobs at the port and in the region. The supply chain that feeds the interest in

that field will absolutely want to move into South Jersey.

There are residual components within this niche that will also want to be much closer to that port. We are unable to put our finger on the exact residual benefit but we are confident it will prove substantial.

In addition to the port, logistics, distribution and manufacturing have always been strong in South Jersey and they are only becoming stronger. What we saw in the pandemic was that companies were too reliant on having their entire operations in one location. We are starting to see companies realizing that they need to diversify their locations and their supply chain to ensure that any future disruptions will not hamper it. That represents an opportunity for South Jersey, which has much more significant land availability, reasonable, affordable price points and easy access to the ports and highways. www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com

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Michele Gillian Executive Director Ocean City Regional Chamber of Commerce

What differentiates Ocean City from other areas in South Jersey?

Ocean City is known as America’s greatest family resort, and we have been for over a hundred years. We truly are a clean, safe community with family-oriented entertainment. We are a dry community as well, which feeds into the family environment. Anyone from 6 months to 100 and then some could have fun in Ocean City.

What improvements to the local economy are you seeing?

The economic activity is exceeding 2019. I think we had an opportunity and we’ve taken advantage of that opportunity with our marketing campaign. Digital marketing, TV and other avenues have helped keep Ocean City at the forefront, with an opportunity to present Ocean City as a place where you can enjoy a lot of outdoor activities. We embraced this outdoor opportunity this year and we’re seeing so many new visitors that we’ve never had before. They’re not just from the Philadelphia area and the New York area.

We’ve seen an increase in business, our restaurants are booming as we pivoted to outdoor dining last year and continued that this year. We’ve seen retail doing extremely well too.

What business segments are the main drivers of economic activity?

Our attractions were challenged in the past year by the limitations set by the governor. The limitations affected different events, such as weddings and family reunions.

This year, it’s very difficult to even get a wedding date for next year so we’re certainly booked for weddings, and in our accommodations and rentals. Home sales have exceeded all expectations. The process of cashbased bidding wars for multimillion-dollar homes is unbelievable. We’re also seeing activity in tourism with our unique Downtown, that has six, full blocks of shopping. We have a shopping attraction district on the boardwalk. People like that sense of a town.

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| Invest: South Jersey 2021 | ECONOMY

Ninety percent of the population in New Jersey lives in urban areas.

( ) for arts and entertainment. Although the leisure and hospitality sectors now account for much less of New Jersey’s overall GDP compared to 2009, they are still pillars of many South Jersey counties, like Cape May, and cities, like Atlantic City.

“As much as people are anxious to get back to some sense of normal, it’s going to be a slow restart,” said Kristi Howell, president and CEO of the Burlington County Regional Chamber of Commerce. “The restaurant industry will start to rebound because people want to get out. In general, everyone getting back to normal, what that looks like and what normal spend looks like are going to take a while. Our hotels, which are typically at 80-90% occupancy during the week with business travel, are going to see 18 months to two years pass before they witness a fully recovered business travel segment. Now that we have become so used to virtual platforms, there is a legitimate question over whether we are ever going to recover pre-pandemic business travel levels.”

Economic performance The pandemic came on the heels of South Jersey’s best year of growth in almost four decades, hitting tourism and hospitality-related businesses particularly hard.

The sector accounts for 15% of the region’s economy and

CONSTRUCTION ECONOMY OVERVIEW

Marlene Asselta President Southern New Jersey Development Council (SNJDC)

How would you evaluate the strength of South Jersey’s economy?

South Jersey’s economic engine is running strong. The state has partnered with private industry to create — from the ground up — a full-service wind port development and manufacturing zone. This investment will help New Jersey achieve its renewable energy goals while supporting a growing wind industry up-and-down the East Coast. Residential real estate prices in South Jersey are also among the highlights of the economy. In Glassboro, there was a huge redevelopment project that brought companies such as Lidl, Chase Bank, Chipotle and others. I was surprised to see that even at the height of the pandemic, the expansion did not slow down at all. retail accounts for 8%. In the short term, the situation may be a little tougher for the most COVID-vulnerable industries, but experts predict that strategic projects such as the expansion of the Atlantic City International Airport and the offshore $1.6 billion Ocean Wind Farm should help bolster recovery over the long term.

Already, as the COVID vaccine continues to roll out at a rapid pace, the economic bounceback has begun. In fact, according to several sources, the only thing slowing down the recovery is the inability to hire labor quickly enough. This has been attributed to several factors, including continued struggles to find childcare, lingering COVID concerns and a higher income provided by unemployment benefits, as mentioned earlier. In South Jersey, two new companies, Action-Pak and ResinTech, have committed to new buildings in Camden, bringing 33 new jobs in the process. Target also recently leased almost 1 million square feet in Burlington County and Amazon leased almost 500,000 in Gloucester County, demonstrating optimism for an economic recovery. “The recovery is going to be as strong, if not stronger than other parts of the region, because we are already well positioned with our base, our eds and meds corridor. It will be just growth, growth, growth from here on out,” said Gloucester Chamber’s Garraty. ( )

How will the wind port project detonate economic development in the South Jersey region?

Not since the 1970s and the introduction of the gaming industry to Atlantic City has South Jersey seen an economic driver of this magnitude. The bulk of the project work is based in Gloucester and Salem counties but eventually activities will spread to Atlantic and Cape May counties as well. Obviously, the development of a new industry requires a large-scale ramp-up in manufacturing capabilities. Everything from the monopoles and blades to turbines and engines will need to be manufactured, transported and installed resulting in economic benefits across the board. In addition, there will be indirect benefits, such as living accommodations, food and professional services, as well as real estate and equipment rentals. Everything is being done for the first time and on such a large scale that South Jersey will reap economic opportunities for years to come What is your outlook for South Jersey?

I think we will continue to see a ramping-up of activity as the vaccination rate increases. The business community is ready to go, people have learned to do their job in new and innovative ways. By pivoting, we have refocused our employees to work smarter and more efficiently. www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com

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®

oundtable:

Chambers of commerce Chamber leaders discuss developments within their regions as well as trends underlying their economies.

Janet Garraty

Director Gloucester County Chamber of Commerce

What separates Gloucester County from other areas in South Jersey?

We are right in the center of the eds and meds corridor. We have two gigantic hospitals — Inspira Health and Jefferson Health — and three right on the outskirts. Rowan University is building two medical schools. Our eds corridor is Rowan University and Rowan College of South Jersey. That is where the growth is, where the good jobs are and where the business opportunities are.

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Dawn Hunter

Executive Director Greater Vineland Chamber of Commerce

What differentiates the greater Vineland area from other regions?

One of the interesting things about this county is that we weathered the COVID crisis a little better than other areas as we have a lot of essential businesses like food processing, healthcare and glass manufacturing for medical purposes. There were a lot of businesses that didn’t even have to shut down. I think that speaks to the diversity of our industries here and that’s a big strength for us. Our ability to adapt is quite strong as well.

How will offshore wind power contribute to the region?

This has been a project in the making for a long time.

The infrastructure plan coming out of Washington, D.C., is going to be very good for this region as well. Our part of it in Gloucester County is over at Paulsboro, at the port.

The planned development is underway. The end result will be about 500 direct, well-paying jobs. By any calculation, if you are talking about spinoff jobs, you would be adding another 1,000 to 1,500 jobs. That is a lot of opportunity for people looking to break into the business or grow their business around those opportunities.

What main challenges is the business community facing in Vineland?

The No. 1 challenge that everyone is facing is the labor shortage. It doesn’t matter what industry it is. Banks are having trouble getting tellers. Retail and restaurants can’t find enough people to work for them. I have a member that is a high-end pastry manufacturer, for example and he’s offering a $500 signing bonus and he pays good wages above the minimum; yet, he can’t get people. It’s what you hear across the board in every industry.

What is your overall outlook for Gloucester County?

There is an incredible amount of growth in eds and meds, as well as a certain amount of evergreen to it. You’re always going to need those types of services. Healthcare is going to continue to change and evolve, as is higher education.

The ebbs and flows as a result of changes in having one main industry can really adversely impact an entire industry.

Other parts of the state are reliant on one industry to keep them going. We are more diverse than that. In the next 18 months, we will continue to be more diverse than that.

What significant developments are underway in the region?

The Landis Theater was purchased by a new owner prior to COVID and the new owners had a great plan in place.

They did a lot of work on the theater and they were about to start their first season but they had to shut down. They almost didn’t survive. But they’ve been able to open their doors this year. The owners even took over ownership of the restaurant that is adjacent to the theater. Seeing something like that is exciting.

| Invest: South Jersey 2021 | ECONOMY

ECONOMY ROUNDTABLE

Jennifer Jones

Executive Director & COO Salem County Chamber of Commerce

What differentiates Salem County?

Salem County is a beautiful place. If you compare us to the rest of New Jersey, you get more home for your money here. Also, we’re close to major metropolitan areas; we’re 20 minutes from Wilmington and half an hour from Philadelphia, so anything you want is close.

What is Salem County’s role in achieving New Jersey’s energy goals?

The Wind Port project is incredibly exciting. The last development project of that magnitude was the PSEG Nuclear and artificial island 50 years ago. The new Wind Port project is very exciting for us not just as part of the energy diversity movement but because of the high-paying manufacturing jobs that it will generate here. There are plans to also manufacture the turbines here. We would be the first place in the United States to manufacture wind turbines. Between the wind infrastructure itself, putting it all together and having the manufacturing facilities, plus the other support businesses that will be needed to provide products and services, it’s exciting.

What role is the chamber playing in the local economy?

We are heavily involved in economic development. This is a wonderful place to live, it’s rural but also logistically close to major highways for transportation and the international Port of Salem allows for river and ocean shipping. We recognize that some farmland communities don’t want economic development. Areas along the Route 295 Corridor do have planned growth for both commercial and residential development. We’re going to focus on the areas that want development.

Tony Stanzione

Executive Director Bridgeton Area Chamber of Commerce and Cumberland Development Corporation

What differentiates the Bridgeton area and West and South Cumberland County?

West Cumberland is not quite as well connected to I-55 as other areas in the region, so our local economy remains heavily weighted toward food processing and production. The Rutgers Food Innovation Center in Bridgeton is a brilliantly successful new incubator that is helping to scale startups in the food processing sector.

A new building has been constructed in partnership with the Cumberland County Improvement Authority to help the larger companies in that program continue to grow and create jobs. The center has been a soft-landing area for food manufacturing companies from Europe and elsewhere for the past 10 years. When completed, this expansion will ensure that the companies stay in Cumberland beyond the initial growth and productdevelopment phase.

What major developments concerning local companies would you highlight?

Cumberland Dairy, a local company that makes highly pasteurized products, just completed an $80 million expansion at their Bridgeton facility. The company also has a side business called Innovation Foods, which is focused on healthy foods. It started in Bridgeton and is now building a large, new facility in nearby Millville.

Companies are continually attracted to Cumberland County. The three main cities are in the Opportunity Zone and there are also five redevelopment areas — Upper Deerfield, Deerfield, Hopewell, Lawrence, and Bridgeton — that offer tax incentives for corporates. We also offer a talented workforce. www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com

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ECONOMY OVERVIEW

( ) While certain industries suffered during the pandemic, others experienced explosive growth, namely biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and telecommunications. As workforces moved to remote working in early 2020, the demand for greater connectivity and new remote networking solutions surged. The New York-New Jersey-Connecticut area is now the sixth-largest market in the United States for telecom facilities. As more companies hunt for increased capacity for data centers, the Garden State’s land availability, much of it in South Jersey, positions it as a main contender to become a national leader.

This ties in with the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, in which research and investment has surged in recent years. In fact, science and technology proved to be the key combination that catalyzed the sequencing of the COVID virus’ genome and accelerated the development of a vaccine. New Jersey sits at the heart of pharmaceutical innovation, hosting the laboratories of Pfizer, Merck, Johnson & Johnson, Bristol Myers-Squibb, Regeneron and Amgen. South Jersey is also in close proximity to the healthcare research hub in Philadelphia.

Another burgeoning sector in New Jersey is the cannabis business. In November 2020, a referendum was approved with 67% of the vote to legalize cannabis for medical and recreational use. Despite a delay in the effective date to February, marijuana dispensaries popped up during 2021 under the watch of the Cannabis Regulatory Commission. Municipalities have until August to opt in or out of allowing cannabis businesses. But New Jersey is now being seen as a hub for the industry, with a two-day conference held in June featuring business leaders and public sector officials.

New Jersey is the 11th-most populous state in the country.

CONSTRUCTION ECONOMY OVERVIEW

Stephen Sweeney Senate President State of New Jersey

How does the FY22 budget demonstrate the state’s commitment to fiscal responsibility?

This is a responsible budget that will help guide our recovery from the most devastating public health crisis of a lifetime. It prioritizes the health and safety of the state’s residents and alleviates the economic consequences of the pandemic at the same time it prevents a fiscal cliff.

The budget also delivers tax relief with rebates for homeowners, tax credits for families, deductions for veterans and aid to make college and retirement more affordable. It establishes a partnership between the governor and the legislature to govern the use of the federal stimulus aid. This shared responsibility will ensure the best use of these funds over the next few years.

The industry could help with COVID-19 recovery efforts — a 2016 report by New Jersey United for Marijuana Reform and New Jersey Policy Perspective said legalized marijuana could generate about $300 million annually in sales tax revenue for the state. ”Because of our vast agricultural space and farmland, there is huge potential for the growing cannabis industry now that it has been legalized for recreational use in New Jersey,” said Christina Renna, president and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce Southern New Jersey.

Lauren Moore, president of the Atlantic County Economic Alliance, says that cannabis-related activity is already on the rise. “With cannabis now legal in New Jersey, we are getting quite a bit of interest from growers.

We have 23 towns and we surveyed them to determine where the activity makes the most sense. Several municipalities are interested in hosting facilities, and ( )

How healthy is the South Jersey business community?

The South Jersey business community has always been strong and resilient. Our businesses have demonstrated the ability to overcome challenges and to compete effectively. Like businesses elsewhere, they are confronted with the economic burdens created by the coronavirus shutdowns. We enacted a package of bills to help businesses recover from the pandemic. The $235 million in Economic Development Authority grants we added will help established business as well as new and emerging businesses. We’re also making use of tax incentives to spur economic growth and we will make sure that South Jersey gets its fair share.

What is your vision for public transportation in the South Jersey region?

Let’s start with the fact that South Jersey has no passenger rail at all south of Camden, which is why we need to make construction of the Gloucester-Camden Light Rail a top priority. We also need to increase ridership on the Atlantic City rail line as part of the diversification of that city’s economy. The expanded footprint of Stockton University in Atlantic City will contribute to this effort, as will an expansion of the Atlantic City Airport. www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com

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Market voices: Transformative developments

Ray Jones

President Camden Business Association

We were able to help craft the “Buy Camden” ordinance for the city of Camden that would direct 30% of the procurement spend on goods and services to local businesses. This was a major platform for us. It’ll be great to help these small businesses get some contracts that they might not have been able to get in the past. This is the first time there has been anything like this but it’s needed.

Camden had a major boom — Camden Rising, as it was called — when all the anchor institutions came here and established their headquarters. Our next push is to go to these anchor institutions and ask for their help. We all know the cliché that small business is the economic engine of this country, but it’s true.

The future of construction and assembly of wind turbines in Salem County is incredible. This is the birth of an industry and a generational opportunity. In the Salem County area, a total of about 1,500 jobs will be directly created by the industry. Indirectly, there will be a significant amount of supporting jobs and industry created. The project is being constructed adjacent to a depressed area of the county, meaning much-needed investment and recovery is expected in this area. There will be training for those jobs that are going to be needed through a partnership with Salem County Community College and Salem County Vocational Technical School.

Lauren Moore

President Atlantic County Economic Alliance

Director of County Commissioners Salem County

Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI), which is a $4.2 billion aerospace company, the Lockheed Martin of Israel, reached out to us to capitalize on our smart airport testbed and enter a research collaboration agreement with us toward safe air travel. Our aviation innovation hub is much larger and broader than the NARTP. Despite COVID, we were able to work with our elected officials here to create an aviation district as part of the incentive package that the governor signed on Jan. 7, 2021. There is no other aviation district in the state but ours. The definition of that aviation district gives us a special set of incentives that includes the Federal Aviation Administration grounds.

One of the industries that all of New Jersey is now looking closely at is recreational marijuana. Sixty-six percent of Mount Laurel voted in favor of the referendum to legalize marijuana with 70% of Burlington County voting in favor.

This could be a big step in the right direction for local economies to start rebuilding and generating money, especially money that they didn’t plan on receiving. Mount Laurel’s location makes it a prime opportunity for cultivation, distribution and retail. As a township, we’re exploring all options. The benefits, not just medicinally and recreationally but economically, make it something that we might want to be able to take advantage of. I think it has great potential for job creation.

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Ben Laury

| Invest: South Jersey 2021 | ECONOMY

Stephen Steglik Mayor Township of Mount Laurel

ECONOMY OVERVIEW

( ) we have been showing quite a few sites. We are close to executing some deals to build 200,000 square feet of related facilities.”

Employment The largest employers in New Jersey are education and healthcare, providing over 1 million jobs in 2019, followed by professional and management services, which provided 563,000 jobs. The retail trade follows closely, providing almost 500,000 jobs, while finance and insurance employs about 370,000 people. Among the highest paying jobs are fund managers, aerospace manufacturing and publishing and broadcasting-related activities. The state has highly-specialized workers in pharmaceuticals and advanced manufacturing. It produces mainly cars, electronics, pharmaceuticals, textiles and chemicals, with a total value of around $660 billion. This is expected to grow to $1.36 trillion by 2045.

New Jersey’s income per capita is $39,069, outperforming the U.S. average. The household income in the state is $76,475 and the family median income is $94,337, both outstripping the national figures.

However, there is a relatively large discrepancy between average female salary and average male salary in the state, especially in management roles. In 2019, fulltime male employees made $92,951, about 1.38 times the salary earned by full-time female employees. Within management roles, the average full-time salary for men was just under $151,000, while for women it reached just shy of $115,000. Management roles in New Jersey also show salary discrepancies across racial lines. The average salary for a Black manager in the state is about $78,500, while white and Asian counterparts earn $135,000 and $165,000 on average, respectively. The

New Jersey has one of the highest numbers of engineers and scientists per capita in the country.

Michele Siekerka President & CEO New Jersey Business & Industry Association (NJBIA)

What is the importance of NJBIA to the New Jersey business community?

NJBIA has been around for 112 years and we are the largest statewide employer association in the nation.

We’re predominantly small-business-driven in our membership but also support large businesses and corporations. Our membership reflects the business makeup of New Jersey. I like to say we represent everyone from the corner pizzeria to the thousand-employee call center to the biggest utilities, healthcare systems and insurers across the state of New Jersey.

discrepancy is less pronounced within other job roles.

New Jersey’s unemployment rate as of May 2021 was 7.2%, the seventh-highest in the country. As of April, the state had regained about 54% of the jobs lost during the pandemic, although the hospitality industry is lagging behind. Atlantic County’s convention and casino establishments were only given the green light to operate at full capacity in May 2021, and there has been just a 55% recovery in hospitality jobs compared with the national average of 61%. In fact, the Atlantic City-Hammonton metro area has been in the Top 3 metro areas in the nation for unemployment rates and increases in unemployment during the pandemic.

But unemployment could be more nuanced than directly linked to the state of the economy, experts indicate. While many workers remain vigilant about the potential spread of COVID despite the progress of the vaccine program, and others have family obligations that prevent them from seeking work, some are taking advantage of the generous unemployment benefits

Where is the potential for South Jersey’s economy?

The beauty of the state of New Jersey is that we are between two major metros. This has its pros and cons.

We can get swallowed up by those metros or we can capitalize on them. I think that Camden County continues to capitalize on the Philadelphia metro. There have been great opportunities created for the next generation of workers, housing and true economic development.

We see this happening in the Atlantic City region as well, where you have investment being made to create ecosystems that tie together the idea of jobs, environment and people — true sustainable communities. North Jersey is completely built out, but South Jersey has the opportunity to continue to connect and build. We must strategically create ecosystems around hubs and focus on the developments that will form the right housing and job opportunities to create those ecosystems in South Jersey.

What is your outlook for South Jersey?

I believe this will be a slow but steady recovery. The consumer is ready to spend money. The mean income in the state of New Jersey actually went up during the pandemic, as a result of federal stimulus programs. We need to get this money spent, but it can only be spent if businesses are able to meet demand. It has been exciting to see South Jersey’s growth over the past five to 10 years and there continues to be extraordinary opportunities.

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| Invest: South Jersey 2021 | ECONOMY

Atlantic City has the largest boardwalk in the world.

ECONOMY OVERVIEW

Kristi Howell

President & CEO – Burlington County Regional Chamber of Commerce Last year, we did a ribbon-cutting for Misfits Market. It sells “ugly produce” that stores don’t take for whatever reason. It’s a subscriptionbased service that started in someone’s basement in Philadelphia and then moved over to a warehouse in Pennsauken, New Jersey.

They have been hiring 100 employees at a time and are now close to 1,000 in total. That is an example of the kinds of businesses that are attracted to the region because of the access to both transportation and employees. This particular facility is across the street from a light rail station. People can get on PATCO in Philadelphia, flip over into Camden and come right on up on the light rail. We have also become big in logistics and warehousing. Because of the access to the highways, you can be in New York from Burlington County in a little over an hour. You can get to D.C. in about three.

In May, Lockheed Martin said it will expand in the region, adding 400 new jobs offered by the government. In May, President Joe Biden stated that those collecting unemployment benefits must accept a suitable job offered to them or risk losing those benefits. On the workers’ side, a recent survey by the New Jersey Future of Work Task Force found that employees are concerned about the failure of employers to provide training and skills upgrades, jeopardizing their competitiveness in the workforce.

As far as new opportunities go, South Jersey appears to be an attractive location for companies to settle. This May, Lockheed Martin announced an expansion in the region, creating 400 new jobs. The nearly 500,000 square foot Tac-Pal industrial space in Burlington County developed by Sansone Group and Crow Holdings has already been leased ahead of its completion in 2022. www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com

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ECONOMY OVERVIEW

Global Factors New Jersey, including its southern region, is a globallyconnected state. New Jersey has five foreign trade zones, a world-class logistics infrastructure, including access to the Newark, New York and Philadelphia airport systems, almost 3,000 miles of highways, the country’s highest railroad density and the second-largest seaport.

International trade in the state supports more than 1 million New Jersey jobs, which have a higher growth rate than total employment. The state exports all around the world, aided by the U.S.’ range of free trade agreements.

The state also welcomes many international companies and is home to more than 1,100 multinationals and 225 foreign company headquarters. Just under 300,000 jobs are directly supported by foreign-owned companies, with a focus on pharmaceuticals, software and IT, business services, industrial equipment and chemicals.

Of the 322 announced greenfield projects in 2020, the UK is the biggest source of FDI in New Jersey at 14%,

followed by Japan with 10%, Germany with 9% and India with 7%.

Several recent successful attempts to attract foreign companies to New Jersey include the Ocean Wind offshore wind project committed by the Danish energy company Ørsted and Italian charcuterie firm Rovagnati’s decision to establish a 64,000-square-foot production and distribution facility in Vineland. The company intends to expand the facility to about 500,000 square feet, creating 25 to 150 jobs. An agreement was also reached with UK gaming firm Gamesys to feature the company’s content on Atlantic City gaming sites.

The Producers Guild of India reached an MoU with New Jersey officials to facilitate the shooting of Bollywood films at New Jersey locations.

The COVID-19 pandemic had many implications and one of those was the disruption of the global supply chain. The prolonged blockage of the Suez Canal — one of the world’s primary trade channels — at the ( )

Cornerstones: Emerging Film Industry New Jersey was the birthplace of American cinema, but it lost its status as the center of the U.S. motion picture industry to the West Coast by the 1930s. After nearly a century, the state is striving to reclaim its crown, and South Jersey is poised to play a major role moving forward with a wide range of unique settings, one of the most attractive tax credit structures in the country and an abundance of industry-related talent.

Leading the rebirth of this industry is the South Jersey Film Office Cooperative, which serves as a onestop-shop for producers who are considering the South Jersey region for their production or studio. “The Film Office will be the front porch of this region,” said John Burzichelli, managing partner of Hill Studio and Scenic.

“We’re on the verge of something special that, if we get it right, will pay dividends for decades and give birth to an industry that has called New Jersey its home since its beginnings in Fort Lee.” From world-renowned beaches to dense urban cores to rural farmlands and everything in between, South Jersey’s geography and history make it one of the most versatile filming locations in the United States. Countless unique locations, businesses and architectural styles are found throughout the region.

South Jersey’s versatility combined with one of the most competitive tax credit structures in the nation have garnered a great deal of attention. In South Jersey, 24

| Invest: South Jersey 2021 | ECONOMY

a tax credit equal to 35% of film production expenses is available in addition to a 2% Diversity Tax Credit. Since the passage of the NJ Tax Credit Program for Filmmakers in 2018, over 200 film and television projects have been made in South Jersey.

A great deal of talent is necessary to meet the growing number of productions in South Jersey, and that talent continues to be readily available. In fact, South Jersey has historically been an exporter of talent to the entertainment industry. Local higher education institutions, such as Rowan University, Rowan College of South Jersey and Camden County College offer successful film and arts programs, and these programs continue to expand.

The economic impact of the film industry to South Jersey has been significant. In 2019, film production pre-tax credit levels reached a historic high of over $420 million, much more than the $67 million annually that the state was accustomed to. Given the growing demand for productions, calendar year 2021 is expected to reach new highs. Of course, this industry is just beginning to reemerge in New Jersey, and the anticipated relocation or expansion of studios themselves to the South Jersey region would result in even more economic activity.

“The potential of the film industry in South Jersey is unlimited,” said Burzichelli. “We don’t know what the ceiling is.”

Market voices: Mayor’s corner

Susan Shin Angulo Mayor Cherry Hill Township

Regarding our development and growth in recent years, we’ve been famous for the medical mile but I think that has transformed into the healthcare highway, with the many healthcare providers we now have here, and the investments are continuing. Jefferson Health, formerly known as Kennedy Hospital, recently completed the final phase of its five-year campus, for which it invested over $250 million. Cooper University Healthcare finalized its facility on Route 70, which is a new 100,000-square-foot specialty care center. While healthcare is a driving economic force in our township, we are equally focused on green spaces, as well as keeping the character and charm of our neighborhoods intact.

One of the things we have going on is the redevelopment of the Moorestown Mall. Cooper Health is coming to the former Sears building, for one. We’re also going to be adding residential units there and a hotel. There’s an overall vision to make that feel like a very different experience. We’re shifting to making the mall feel more like a place to go for experiences such as entertainment rather than just shopping. Remember, malls are moribund; they’ve seen their day. I’m glad to be turning that space into something new and exciting and I’m really looking forward to that.

David Patriarca

Mayor Pemberton Township

Nicole Gillespie Mayor Township of Moorestown

On the economic side, we will continue to attract the businesses that create jobs and the retail that brings services. We recently enacted a broad ordinance allowing for five-year tax exemptions for improvements to residential and commercial properties, including a five-year phase-in for new construction in our Urban Enterprise Zone. On the fiscal side, we’re struggling like most towns but we will continue to make a big effort to stay in the lower tax bracket and continue investing in our water, sewer, stormwater and roadway infrastructure.

Additionally, we have two large housing developments of 350 and 550 homes that we anticipate will be filing for approvals by the fall.

We need to have our residents ready for the post-pandemic economy. We are teaching our residents how to become entrepreneurs. To that end, we have the Small Business Academy in which more than 50 individuals will graduate from a nine-week course. It’s a great program with great exposure and a great opportunity. We also are going to teach our community how to invest. The program is called Investment 101. It’s an eight-week beginner course, followed by another eight-week advanced course, followed by another six-week course.

We also want to bring a trucking school to the city, which would allow our residents to train in the management of trucking companies.

Marty Small

Mayor The City of Atlantic City

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Louis Cappelli Jr. Commissioner Director – Camden County South Jersey Film Office Cooperative

What is the purpose of the South Jersey Film Office Cooperative?

All of the services necessary for film production, from hospitality to transportation, are readily available in South Jersey but they’re scattered. That’s why this office and getting everything under one umbrella is so very important. The film office will serve as a portal for one-stop-shopping, so a producer sitting in Los Angeles deciding on whether they’re going to go to Louisiana or South Jersey can easily understand what they’re walking into. Producers will know from the very beginning that they will be welcomed here and that they will receive a great deal of support. We want their efforts to be seamless so that they can concentrate on the creative process.

What tax incentives are in place to attract the film industry to South Jersey?

The state has a 30% tax credit statewide. For South Jersey, including Gloucester and Camden counties, the tax credit is 35% and we have to give credit to our state leaders in implementing these credits. Frankly, we’re competing with every other state in the nation and other than in California, filming only takes place in states that offer these types of credits. For us to be competitive across the nation, these credits are necessary and are a wise move by the state of New Jersey. This is a very smart investment.

What is the anticipated economic impact from the emerging film industry?

The obvious impact is the local spending that will occur.

This spending can range from lodging to food, support services, car rentals and everything associated with making a motion picture. The dollar economic impact will depend on the size of the budget but there is also great public relations value that can’t be measured in dollars or cents. Of course, this impact is in advance of any major studio facilities being sited here, which at some point they will be. In the short term, a motion picture, whether it be large or small, will provide great value to the region.

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| Invest: South Jersey 2021 | ECONOMY

Over 15% of the state is made up of bodies of water.

( ) beginning of 2021 only exacerbated the disruption.

From the beginning of the pandemic, supply shortages began to appear, knocking onto the prices of commodities and pushing them higher. In May, the July futures contract per thousand board feet of two-byfours soared to as high as $1,700, when it typically trades around the $300 to $500 range. And benchmark Turkish steel was selling in the $650 per ton area in April, from around $450 per ton at the end of 2019.

Another facet to consider in the supply chain disruption is the “just in time” delivery model many manufacturers have shifted to in recent years, meaning a reduction in warehousing costs. However, this left many on the back foot as supplies are now snapped up by those with the purchasing power. For some housing developers, it was not COVID-related economic issues that caused them to shelve projects but rather the uncertainty surrounding if and at what price they could procure the materials needed to finish the job. Combined with stockpiling, those factors mean that supply is likely to remain tight for the remainder of 2021 until the supply chain can rebalance itself or more capacity is brought online.

CONSTRUCTION ECONOMY OVERVIEW

Heather Simmons Commissioner – Gloucester County South Jersey Film Office Cooperative

What makes Camden and Gloucester counties the ideal region for film production?

Between all of the municipalities in Camden and Gloucester counties, we have tremendous commercial locations, open spaces, diverse landmarks, waterfronts and talent. Our diversification of environments, from some of the most densely populated areas in the nation to rural farmlands, is unmatched. South Jersey as a whole has urban settings, beach settings, farms, wineries, industrial, rivers and old neighborhoods. Once we get producers to look at us, they’re going to find something to match whatever their script is looking for. If you can’t shoot it in South Jersey, you have no business shooting it.

Location scouts also get very excited about New Jersey because the ease of doing business for these productions is much, much more welcoming than it is elsewhere.

Public sector initiatives In order to attract the required foreign investment in the state, public officials have to work on attractive incentives that allow New Jersey to be competitive on the national stage. The state offers several incentives including low-interest loans for small and mediumsized businesses, direct lending from the Economic Development Authority (EDA), which offers up to $2 million for fixed costs, the small business fund, which offers up to $500,000 and a bond financing program that can inject up to $10 million in liquidity. The state also offers lease incentives, technical assistance and industry-specific programs, such as for the technology and life sciences businesses. A tax incentive program was renewed by Gov. Murphy in December 2020 to drive economic growth, with a total cap of $11.5 billion in the next six years. This equates to around $1.5 billion per year and another $2.5 billion is allocated to major or transformative projects. New Jersey also created the New Jersey Innovation Evergreen Fund, which uses funds from auctioning off tax credits to support extra investment.

How are Camden and Gloucester counties ensuring adequate workforce for production companies?

We strive for workforce development and that fits here too. Production companies traveling in want to know that they can roster together a crew that will bring them the level they need, depending on the budget they have.

Even as we watched our neighbors in Philadelphia make their way into feature production, workforce was always a big issue there. We’re building a new industry here that can be standalone and not have to rely on crews from New York or Philadelphia. Building that workforce is significant, which is why Rowan University has a degree program in film production and our community colleges have various levels of film studies already in place. A production company has to know that they can put enough people together to get the job done.

Both Camden and Gloucester counties are adjusting and creating workforce development programs to meet the demands of this narrow yet important focus.

We’ve been exporting talent from South Jersey to the entertainment industry for a very long time. This is an opportunity for our people to not have to move out of state to work in entertainment. www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com

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ECONOMY OVERVIEW

Gov. Murphy’s FY22 budget hikes spending by $4 billion over FY21 The New Jersey government has bet big on two particular sectors — technology and renewable energy — and both bets will benefit South Jersey. The Murphy administration has plans to upgrade a new $200 million port in South Jersey to serve the offshore wind industry, anchored by the Ørsted project.

New Jersey is fending off competition from New York, which awarded Equinor contracts to build new offshore wind projects in January. New Jersey is also planning to install two ports to serve offshore developers, one of which will be in Salem County. Not only this, but the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities this February granted approval to Atlantic City Electric to roll out programs that expand clean EV transportation options in South Jersey.

The government has not only been looking to attract new businesses in the last year, it is also offering support to the local businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Alongside the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act’s Payment Protection

Program (PPP) and Small Business Administration (SBA) loans, six South Jersey townships were awarded $750,000 in grants to help their local businesses recover from COVID-19 impacts. At least 60% of the funding has to be used for businesses and other funding can be used for district-wide improvements. Millville in Cumberland County was granted the largest award, at $231,200, followed by Burlington City and Mount Holly, both in Burlington County, which were awarded $120,300 and $139,300, respectively.

Looking ahead According to research from Stockton University’s Center for Public Policy, the region’s long-term economic outlook will depend on continued economic diversification. There is still some uncertainty about the ability to return to normal, which can be witnessed by the reluctance of South Jersey residents to enter public spaces without a mask, despite the mandate having been dropped by the governor. Some feel so uncomfortable with the reopening that they are asking the state to mandate vaccines, given that just over half of the state’s population was vaccinated by the end of June 2021.

Despite the challenges of returning to social norms, strong foundations will propel economic development going forward. The burgeoning wind industry sets the region up as a renewable energy leader and the burgeoning cannabis and healthcare industries, as well as continued investments in infrastructure and small, minority-owned businesses are already beginning to bear fruits. The governor’s FY2022 budget proposed $44.8 billion in total spending, a $4 billion increase over FY2021.

Tough year: The struggles of the past year are well known but signs of a rebound are emerging In the run-up to the pandemic, South Jersey had a stellar reputation as a tourist destination, especially for those looking to escape the hustle and bustle of New York City or Philadelphia. The iconic Jersey Shore, traversing Middlesex, Monmouth, Atlantic and Cape May counties is famed for its boardwalks, arcades, amusement parks and water parks. In Cape May County, tourism employment was the backbone of several industries, accounting for 100% of lodging employment, 44% of recreation and 32% of the food and beverage industry.

The county experienced a record 2019, with direct tourism spending of $6.9 billion, while rentals generated $2.2 billion and $565.4 million in state and local taxes, respectively.

There is no doubt that 2020 was a tough year for South Jersey’s tourism industry but signs of a rebound are starting to emerge as COVID restrictions ease and vaccinations continue. In fact, the only thing holding the sector back from explosive growth in the summer of 2021 is the struggle to find labor.

“There are help wanted signs everywhere. The one thing that we are trying to tell people right now is that the boardwalk, amusement, shops and restaurants are not

staffed up to 100 percent of their pre-pandemic levels.

We are asking people to come down here on vacation to enjoy themselves but to be patient because there is a labor issue. We are seeing the same phenomenon at the Wildwoods Convention Center. Our operations staffing is being challenged by other businesses offering a really high hourly wage. We want to be back to normal but we are not right now because of some of our labor shortages. We think it’s going to take the rest of 2021 and then into 2022 before we see a lot more normalcy,” John Siciliano, executive director and CFO of the Greater Wildwoods Tourism Improvement and Development Authority, told Invest:.

In his FY2022 budget, Gov. Murphy allocated $25 million in federal funds to travel and tourism advertising and promotion in the wake of the pandemic.

Performance According to Visit NJ, in 2019, 116 million visitors spent $46.4 billion in the state, a 3.8% year-over-year increase.

Around 9,000 jobs were supported by the tourism sector and about $5.1 billion in state and local taxes were generated.The vast majority of New Jersey ( ) www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com

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TOURISM, ARTS & CULTURE INTERVIEW

Diversity From its downtowns to craft wineries and a bevy of attractions, South Jersey’s advantage is its diverse offerings

Michael Snyder Director of Operations – Visit South Jersey this in a number of ways, such as social media, digital advertising and traditional media relations, and we focus our effort on the millions within driving range of South Jersey. We work closely with the state department of travel and tourism in the goal of promoting New Jersey as a destination.

What makes South Jersey such an attractive region for visitors?

South Jersey has a diverse offering. We have wonderful downtowns, craft beverage and dining, cultural and agricultural spots, and a range of varied attractions for any audience. We are also remarkably close to Philadelphia, Wilmington, Baltimore and New York City. It’s incredibly easy for nearby residents to escape to South Jersey for a day, weekend or longer.

What is the importance of Visit South Jersey to the community?

As an organization, our main goal has always been to attract visitors from outside of South Jersey and we also work to communicate offerings to residents, whether they’re long term or new to the area. We accomplish 30

| Invest: South Jersey 2021 | ECONOMY: TOURISM, ARTS & CULTURE

What is the state of hospitality and tourism in South Jersey?

Recently, the division of travel and tourism for the state of New Jersey released its yearly report for tourism impact in the state. Tourism and lodging were devastated in 2020 in New Jersey as they were internationally. We lost $17 billion in 2020 alone from visitor spending year over year, and we had a 27% drop in visitation to the state. Tourism is one of the Top 5 revenue generators for the state and it has an unmistakable impact on South Jersey, particularly our wine region in the Outer Coastal Plain. However, the impact on South Jersey, which enjoys fairly steady casual/spontaneous weekend and day-trip visitation throughout the seasons, pales in comparison to the impact on the Jersey Shore where travel is frequently pre-planned, rental based and longer in duration as well as seasonal.

What is your near-term outlook?

2020 challenges continue to ripple into 2021, but demand is high and our state and federal government is doing everything it can to boost the industry overall.

Finding adequate workforce is one of the biggest challenges we’re feeling throughout the region.

Organizationally, we are in a great position. Our assets are ready to greet visitors when they are ready to return.

While 2020 erased seven years of tourism gains, we expect to see a rebound within a much shorter period of time. Three or four years is the projection to exceed 2019 numbers.

CONSTRUCTION ECONOMY OVERVIEW

Larry Sieg President & CEO Meet AC

Beaches in Wildwood are getting larger every year due to sand deposits.

( ) tourists were leisure travelers, accounting for 91% of the total visitors. This bodes well for recovery since experts predict a strong bounceback in leisure tourism due to pent-up demand.

This May, New Jersey’s Department of Travel and Tourism (NJTT) released 2020 figures and, although the numbers were predictably lower, they demonstrated the continued resilience of the state in the face of the pandemic. Total visitor spend dropped by 37% year over year to $29.4 billion and visitor numbers fell by 27% to 86.4 million. The market was bolstered by strong performance over the holiday season at the end of the year and high demand for the shore rental market during summer and continuing into fall. In fact, Cape May County saw the smallest year-on-year decline in tourism spending of all New Jersey in 2020 at a drop of just 21.1%.

In May, Gov. Murphy lifted New Jersey’s travel advisory, which recommended testing and quarantine for residents and out-of-state visitors. As of June 30, 55% of the state’s population was fully vaccinated and a further 7% had received one dose. CDC requirements for international travel are still in place, requiring quarantine and testing. While many people remain on tenterhooks over the pandemic, more people are starting to feel comfortable in a social setting. As a result, South Jersey is resuming its events calendar, starting with the annual Fourth of July fireworks that went off without a hitch, live music, winery events and movie nights.

What is the importance of the Atlantic City Convention Center to Atlantic City?

It’s a great generator of economic activity for Atlantic City. The economic impact of conventions and events at the Atlantic City Convention Center, such as the great number of room nights we bring to the city, are truly important to our industry partners. Meetings and conventions are the economic driver for many cities, including Atlantic City where casinos, restaurants, hotels and retail benefit from the activity.

How does demand for the Convention Center today compare to pre-pandemic levels?

2019 was the best year for Meet AC, producing about 397,000 room nights for the local area. We were on pace to easily break 400,000 room nights in 2020 before COVID-19 hit. Now what we’re seeing is the pent-up demand for in-person meetings is becoming greater and greater. We are on pace to do really well this year. We’re not going to have any problem meeting our goals. We have 169 events booked right now, which is on a pace similar to 2019 levels. We’re actually booking through 2025, and we’ve even had requests for bookings in 2032.

What have been some silver linings of the pandemic for Meet AC? There were some really positive things that came out of the pandemic. One, we realized that we can do hybrid meetings, and that’s going to enhance individual experiences and attendance for meetings. Another area we’re excited about is the national convention landscape. I think for a while we’re going to see larger national conventions break down into smaller, regional market meetings and conventions. That’s a perfect opportunity for Atlantic City because we are positioned so well, being within driving distance of a third of the U.S. population. Smaller regional meetings work perfectly for Atlantic City as we still are primarily a “drive” market. www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com

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TOURISM, ARTS & CULTURE OVERVIEW

Arts, culture and entertainment South Jersey’s seven counties — Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, Salem — along with neighboring Ocean County, create a patchwork of unique arts, culture and history offerings from festivals to galleries and historic sites to artist collectives. Many cultural institutions experienced a difficult year in 2020 but many managed to quickly pivot and provide their offering in a digital or online format. Now, as in-person events are opening up, the momentum and pent-up demand in New Jersey is palpable.

“Tourism is shaping up to perform well. A lot more people are vaccinated and feel comfortable going out.

We actually saw a really good summer last year, and going into 2021 we’re seeing significant numbers of people on the boardwalk every day. This summer for Atlantic City is going to be booming, and we’re already seeing it starting,” said Larry Sieg, president and CEO of Meet AC. In Atlantic City, after being allowed to reopen, casino performance is surging, with gross gaming revenue up more than 75% for the first five months of 2021 compared to the same period of 2020. Market leader Borgata doubled revenue in the period to almost $400 million from $200 million in the first five months of 2020. Remarkably, 2021 numbers are up even when compared to 2019, which delivered total gaming revenue of $296.1 million.

The advantage for South Jersey is its ability to cater to just about every taste. For those who are less interested in the casinos of Atlantic County or the live music, DJs and dancing found on the Jersey Shore, there are a host of arts and cultural offerings available.

Camden County is home to the Cultural and Heritage

The first casino opened in Atlantic City in 1978.

CONSTRUCTION ECONOMY OVERVIEW

Eustace Mita CEO ICONA Resorts

What is the importance of ICONA Resorts to South Jersey’s hospitality industry?

With our latest acquisition in Avalon, the Windrift, ICONA has become the largest hospitality brand in South Jersey. We’ve had the great privilege and honor to have three of our four hotels rated from dead last on Tripadvisor (when we bought them) to No. 1 now.

As a result, our team has brought great renown to hospitality in South Jersey. These are accomplishments we are very proud of and that we think shine a great light on Cape May County.

How significant of a challenge has access to labor been?

Very difficult. Here are some statistics: We have always paid higher than minimum wage, it’s part of our culture and ethos, yet our labor costs are up 60% over the last 18 months, and that is not transitory inflation, it is permanent. When the labor pool grows, and we stop paying people to stay home, then we’re going to have more people in the labor pool. Are we going to drop our wages? No, we’re not.

Commission, which participates in a number of arts centered programs through local college campuses.

It is also home to the Rutgers-Camden Center for the Arts, which provides performances, exhibitions, education programs and community projects, including plays, choral and orchestra performances.

In Burlington County, there are annual food festivals, culinary art and farm-to-table events, as well as a host of art galleries and outdoor nature programs. The South Jersey Cultural Alliance has created a cultural asset map project, whereby the local community collaborates to collate and disseminate information about the cultural offerings available in the region.

Hotel performance Perhaps one of the hardest hit areas in 2020 throughout the pandemic was the hotel industry, which is still

What innovations have you instituted as a result of the pandemic?

For one, we have more outdoor seating, which is popular with the guests. Also, the heightened cleaning protocols that were seen instituted throughout the world. In regard to those, I should mention that they are here to stay and are not going to go away after the pandemic.

What is your near-term outlook?

We’re bullish for a number of reasons. We think the pandemic affected a lot of people’s thinking. People who were inclined to put off a vacation will no longer be of that mind. People who were going to stay one night are staying two, those who were going to stay two are staying three. People want to spend time together in a way they hadn’t before. www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com

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John Siciliano Executive Director & CFO Greater Wildwoods Tourism Improvement and Development Authority

How did the Wildwoods economy evolve in the past year and what needs to be done to ensure growth?

For the first 12 months of the pandemic, we were just shut down as a convention center. Last summer, even though the Convention Center was closed, the town did relatively well from the standpoint of hotels and restaurants. By June, they finally started to open and most of the restaurants were doing takeout. This year, we’ve already been to three grand openings of new restaurants and business entities with over 30 more slated to open by summer. That is exciting and encouraging based on what we just came out of.

In terms of growth, we need to keep investing in our infrastructure. In 2015, we did a study that showed we delivered $1.5 billion worth of economic impact from tourism. By 2019, that number was closer to $1.9 billion.

Cape May County alone brings in $6.3 billion. Investment in the tourism economy here, with the state’s help, goes back to the state in spades. That’s why it’s critical to inject resources into our boardwalk and the infrastructure that is needed for that.

What is your outlook for tourism and hospitality activity toward 2022?

Barring any unforeseen developments, we will continue to build to get back to where we were pre-pandemic.

When you live in a town like this, the business people here are very resilient because they have to learn their business and learn to survive. We saw a lot of things change, such as restaurants moving from indoor to outdoor dining.

We’ve seen some very creative things happening on our boardwalk and in our restaurants. Our boardwalk amusements and shops are probably not going to be 100% open because they don’t have the proper staffing but we firmly believe that we’re going to have a very good summer here. We are in talks for the development of a Marriott Hotel next door to the convention center, which would be a significant enhancement for us. That is in the due diligence period right now and by September 2021, we will know whether or not they are moving forward.

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| Invest: South Jersey 2021 | ECONOMY: TOURISM, ARTS & CULTURE

New Jersey welcomed over 80 million visitors in 2020.

struggling to recover. According to the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA), hotels nationwide lost around $50 billion in room revenue and average occupancy rates for 2020 were around 44%. Despite low occupancy, hotels also have higher costs due to increased sanitation measures while having lost revenue from restaurant closures or capacity limitations. In 2021, the AHLA says hotels are expected to add 200,000 jobs but will remain well below 2019 levels until at least 2023. Nationwide hotel occupancy in 2021 is expected to average just 52.5%, with a more significant rebound expected in 2022 at 61.4%.

The drop in occupancy has a direct impact on state and local coffers. Direct state and local tax revenue generated from hotels fell by approximately $13 billion to $27.5 billion in 2020 across the nation. In New Jersey, bed tax revenues in 2020 were $77 million, down from

TOURISM, ARTS & CULTURE OVERVIEW

Perspective: Sustainability and sports

Moshe Grant Co-Founder & COO – Elite Turf USA Every year in the United States alone, between 700 to 1,000 soccer fields are being built. Every field is about 80,000 square feet and uses traditional, non-recyclable synthetic turf. Eight to 10 years later, those fields are resurfaced. The vast majority of the used turf ends up being buried in landfills all over the nation, which is a huge sustainability concern.

After much time and resources spent thinking about an outside-the-box product, we came up with a system that is 100 percent recyclable and uses absolutely zero rubber in it. We use woven turf that does not have urethan in its backing, which is completely recyclable at the end of its life span and allows us to eliminate the recyclability concern.

$162 million in 2019. In 2020, as in previous years, a large contingent of New Jersey’s visitors — about 20% — came to Atlantic County, followed by Cape May County with just under 10%. In Atlantic City’s casino hotels, the occupancy rate for the three months ended March 2021 was 52.4%, which is 15.7 percentage points lower than the comparable period last year but also higher than the national hotel average.

There is some optimism across the hotel industry based around major events scheduled for 2021. The Fourth of July weekend got the ball rolling and prices are already shooting up for holiday rentals. A hotel room near the beach in Cape May last June was charged at around $300 per night, while this year rates were at

www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com

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TOURISM, ARTS & CULTURE OVERVIEW

The state’s total visitation numbers are expected to recover to prepandemic levels by 2023 $500 per night with most hotels fully occupied. The average U.S. hotel room rate rose to $110.34 in April, up 51% on the year but still below pre-pandemic levels, according to STR. Looking ahead Moving forward, NJTT expects an improvement in travel and tourism. As it is, the only thing standing in the way of growth in the tourism industry is the ability to recruit personnel. “Here are some statistics:

We have always paid higher than minimum wage, it’s part of our culture and ethos, yet our labor costs are up 60% over the last 18 months, and that is not transitory inflation, it is permanent. When the labor pool grows, and we stop paying people to stay home, then we’re going to have more people in the labor pool. Are we going to drop our wages? No, we’re not,” said Eustace Mita, CEO of ICONA Resorts.

The state’s 2021 visitation numbers are predicted to rise 18% on 2020 figures, projecting 100 million visitors and a 23% increase in spending to $36 million.

This will be supported by continued restrictions on international travel and U.S. holidaymakers instead choosing domestic locations for breaks throughout the year. By 2023, visitation is predicted to recover to prepandemic levels and the state is expected to surpass the 120-million-visitor mark by 2024.

“We’re bullish for a number of reasons,” added Mita.

“We think the pandemic affected a lot of people’s thinking. People who were inclined to put off a vacation will no longer be of that mind. People who were going to stay one night are staying two, those who were going to stay two are staying three. People want to spend time together in a way they hadn’t before.”

Professional Services: In a post-pandemic world, professional services firms have become the agents of rebound and recovery, whether it is helping with short-term cash-flow generation plans and cost-cutting measures or drafting long-term operational redesigns for their clients.

www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com

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New blueprint: Professional services firms are taking the lead in guiding clients through a new business landscape Although companies should seek advice on their business even in times of calm, a sudden crisis will undoubtedly spark a parallel spike in demand for professional services like accountants, consultancies and lawyers as companies scramble to understand the ramifications of any new landscape, in particular when prolonged market uncertainty is likely.

Such was the case in the past year as the COVID-19 pandemic, almost overnight, dramatically altered the course of the business and industrial environment, globally, and across the United States, including South Jersey. The rise of the pandemic thrust the professional services into the spotlight like never before.

Technology implementation and digitalization, e-commerce capacity development, business diversification, vertical integration, complementary acquisitions, financial aid applications — these were but a few of the tools available for companies to navigate their recovery. But to get the most out of any of them, businesses needed help.

By way of illustration, most of the Top 40 legal firms in New Jersey saw revenue growth in 2020 despite an economy in lockdown or in limited activity throughout the year. Another example: In 2019, only 23% of family38

| Invest: South Jersey 2021 | PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

owned businesses had formal succession plans in place. COVID-19 changed that state of affairs and by the end of 2020, the proportion had increased to 34%, according to the PwC 2021 U.S. Family Business Survey.

But while more family businesses were heeding the warning of the pandemic to be ready when the next downturn comes, 64% said they did not have a plan in place, suggesting that lessons from the pandemic are still being learned.

Added to COVID-19, the new Biden administration’s legislative aspirations also put advisory services on call to provide support to their clients, particularly with regard to potential changes in the capital gains tax and the 1031 Exchange tax benefit.

Landscape With a prime location that puts it in close proximity and with easy access to both Philadelphia and New York City, South Jersey and the state of New Jersey itself havedeveloped a strong footprint for banking, securities and commodities firms, and insurance, legal and accounting firms.

Industry heavyweights Prudential and Chubb both call the Garden State home, along with another 15,435 establishments employing 222,000 financial service ( )

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES INTERVIEW

Adaptability Despite the scare from the pandemic, dire projections failed to materialize

George Norcross Executive Chairman – Conner Strong & Buckelew How would you characterize the service demand that is driving your growth?

It comes from all aspects. Large companies, which make up about two-thirds of the businesses we work for, are asking for property and casualty services. In almost all cases, they are self-insured, with some capacity for extreme risk management capabilities. About a third of our businesses require services around employee benefits and consulting all across the country. Given the scare that COVID put into many companies in America, they started looking at every dollar they were spending.

Throughout 2Q20, people were scared to death of what was going to happen in the country. For most American companies, it did not turn out as bad as it was projected to, meaning businesses managed to continue in alternate ways. By and large, most companies adapted fairly well.

What does the ongoing digital transformation look like for the industry and particularly for your firm?

Technology has enhanced the way we all do business.

The insurance brokerage industry decided to start a company called Broker Tech Ventures, which specializes in investing in and promoting technological advances in our business so that we can share those with our clientele. We’ve put millions of dollars into that, as have other companies, to help enhance what we are doing.

On a daily basis, your business either gets enhanced, providing the services your clients need or expect, or you’re going to miss your growth objectives and lose business. Failing to secure that constant revamp will cost you your spot at the forefront of the changes that are taking place every week and every month in any business. The biggest capital expenditures, excluding bricks and mortar, are technological developments. The amount of money we as a firm spend in that rubric is astronomical.

What does South Jersey have to offer in terms of healthcare, life sciences and research?

Our region is second to maybe Boston in terms of healthcare and life sciences. There are major medical schools and healthcare institutions here that rival those of Boston and New York. All that being said, the life science industry has gravitated in part away from New Jersey and more to Massachusetts because of massive tax incentives. Many executives in that industry describe Massachusetts as a less regulatory environment with grade-A universities — Harvard and MIT. New Jersey used to have a monopoly in terms of the pharma industry. To some extent, the perceived or real taxation and regulatory environment in New Jersey has, at least according to the executives we speak to, hurt significantly the dominance that it once had. www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com

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Elaine Damm CEO ACCU Staffing Services

How does demand for your services compare to prepandemic levels?

In 2019, we had incredible sales and we were doing very well. When the pandemic hit, we stayed open and never closed our doors. We still had our staff come in every day and had a limited group in each office. My father often said that we must stay in the consumer-based product businesses of food and pharmaceuticals because no matter what happens with the economy, everyone needs to eat and everyone needs their medication. Like most companies, we had a bit of a sales decrease last year but because we provided workers to our pharmaceutical and food packaging clients, we were still able to place many people out to work every day. Coming out of the pandemic, we continue to have a very strong lead in the market. Although we have more jobs available than we do people, we’re plugging along and doing very well. In fact, we have opened two new offices this year.

When do you expect the labor shortage to subside?

From a federal and state perspective, the government is continuing to fund people to stay home, which makes this a challenge. However, I can’t be too critical on the subject as we’re seeing improvements. We’ve seen an increase in our applicant flow and due to a higher volume of active job seekers visiting our offices, we have been able to fill more job openings than earlier this year.

What is your near-term outlook?

I think we’re going to continue to have strong growth in the marketplace. From our team of clients, we continue to see a lot of growth and expansion and we want to make sure that we’re there to help fulfill their needs. We’re seeing more food industries coming into the South Jersey market and the pharmaceutical industry has been steady and consistent. Our office support business is different and I feel that many companies are allowing their front office and back office executives to work remotely, which negatively impacts us. However, on the manufacturing side, we see continued growth in the long term.

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| Invest: South Jersey 2021 | PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

Atlantic City’s particular characteristics make it a sought-after home base for law firms.

( ) professionals, according to the most recent data from economic development organization Choose New Jersey. The sector’s manpower accounts for 6.3% of the state’s private sector employment and financial services firms contributed close to 7% of the state’s overall GDP with $33 billion.

On the legal front, the Bureau of Labor Statistics counted 32,920 legal occupations in New Jersey as of May 2020 and the sector put in an astounding performance throughout 2020. With the state’s Top 40 legal firms employing 3,277 lawyers, the sector accumulated $2.02 billion in gross revenue. The Top 5 that reigned supreme in that ranking, according to the New Jersey Law Journal, were Lowestein Sandler ($182.6 million), McCarter & English ($117.4 million), Sills Cummis & Gross ($88.6 million), Fox Rothschild ($85.4 million) and Chiesa Shahinian & Giantomasi ($78 million).

Of those, Fox Rothschild’s main office is in Philadelphia, but it also has a presence in Atlantic City. “Atlantic City is a fantastic home base for a law firm for geographic reasons, particularly with its proximity to Philadelphia, New York City, Washington D.C. and all regions of New Jersey,” Fox Rothschild’s Eileen Muskett, managing partner of the firm’s Atlantic City office. “There also are only three multicounty litigation (MCL) courts in New Jersey, and one of them is in Atlantic City—across the

PROFESSIONAL CONSTRUCTION SERVICES OVERVIEW

Timothy Guim President & CEO PCH Technologies

street from our office. Because of our location next to the courthouse, our litigation team is very attractive to the companies that find themselves in the MCL court for their mass tort litigation.”

After an uncertain 2020, the first half of 2021 also demonstrated a fast-paced recovery on the employment front for both financial activities and professional and business services in the state. The New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development reported a total 248,300 employed professionals in financial activities in May 2021, a 4% increase compared to May 2020. Professional and business services presented an even greater increase, going from 612,800 people employed in May 2020 to 656,100 people in May 2021, a 6.6% increase.

New work modalities also helped reshape the professional services landscape both in how they work and their business lines as companies across the United States made a decisive shift from remote-byforce to remote-by-choice. The Harris Poll on behalf of the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) shows that 42% of Americans employed in 2020 worked remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic and 25% were still doing so at the time of the survey (November 2020).

Businesses that wanted to add a work-from-anywhere perk to their workforce soon found that capitalizing on

What are some common mistakes you see businesses making in terms of IT? The first thing companies tell their employees who are working at home is to turn on a VPN. The proper thing a company should do first is receive a third-party IT risk assessment. This will show you where your holes in security are and what are your weakest points when it comes to your network. Of course, this is going to be different for every business. A financial institution has certain things they need to protect, a hospital has patient data, a construction company has critical data that is vital to maintain their operations in the field. There are different levels to it and I think it’s very important that people understand how necessary a risk assessment is.

Where is the data located? And what if something were to happen with your data that could affect your revenue?

That is really the thing that people skip when they don’t have an overarching plan for IT and cyber risks.

How necessary is it to have cyber insurance?

Five years ago, I would not have been as concerned about having cyber liability insurance but, these days, it is absolutely critical to have cyber liability insurance and to understand, when you read the policy, what is covered and what is not covered. I’ve seen a lot of situations where there is wire fraud: an imposter will pretend they are the business owner to the CFO and say, I need you to wire me $30,000 right now, I have a great deal. The CFO will then wire that money through email transactions. On some policies, I’ve seen that, because they willingly wired the money, they were not covered.

What is your outlook for the next 12 to 18 months?

There is so much opportunity in this area right now.

Regarding cyber, we’re in a growth position with our current clients as well as helping new businesses.

Legislation is coming that will require businesses to be properly secured, which will help us help more people.

I know we just had our best year yet, and I don’t see it slowing down in 2021 or in 2022 www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com

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PROFESSIONAL SERVICES OVERVIEW

Marty Abo Founder & Managing Member – Abo and Company, LLC The prognosis for South Jersey is good. This is a very difficult state from a tax perspective, which could pose a risk for the area’s competitiveness in attracting businesses. But the virtue of South Jersey is that there is still room for growth in the industrial and distribution space, while still being a stone’s throw from the two massive population centers of New York and Philadelphia and we are very close to airports. The fact that we can work from home is also beneficial for South Jersey as we are seeing many professionals, executives and “virtual positions” from New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington moving to more suburban areas. Home prices are very accessible here, much more so than in other metropolitan areas around the country.

An AICPA report shows that 42% of Americans worked remotely in 2020, with 55% unaware of the tax implications the opportunity of hiring skilled talent anywhere in the United States also meant added layers of complexity on the taxation front.

For instance, AICPA revealed that 55% of the people working remotely during the pandemic were unaware that failing to update their state tax withholding to signal their remote work situation could result in unintended tax liabilities. Moreover, 47% were not aware that each state has its own remote work tax laws.

Still on the subject of taxes, the Garden State welcomed in 2020 the pass-through Business Alternative Income Tax Act (BAIT), a state revenue-neutral tax reduction that saves taxes for New Jersey’s business owners. The objective is to reduce local businesses’ income taxes by up to 30% and applies to subchapter S corporations, partnerships and limited liability companies, directly impacting many professional services firms.

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| Invest: South Jersey 2021 | PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

While legislation and regulations get additions or modifications on a yearly basis, the pandemic turned into a rather prolific time for fast-track, high-impact legislation. In New Jersey alone, Gov. Phil Murphy issued 12 Executive Orders by April 2020, either closing or substantially limiting operations of several businesses, expanding protections and benefits for affected workers through swift-moving legislation. When swift reaction became essential, companies could not afford to waste precious time and resources figuring it out on their own. Relying on third-party, outside expertise became paramount to ensuring a swift recovery.

The new operational lens that COVID-19 forced upon businesses across industry verticals also opened opportunities in the realm of organizational effectiveness and culture. Former health system CEOs Rich Miller and Joe Devine, for example, joined forces to create MillerDevine Leadership Advisors, a consulting firm specialized in board development, integration planning, market insights, mentoring, customer service and leadership development — all areas that were brought under a fresh spotlight during the pandemic.

Accounting and advisory Accountants have played a long-standing role as consultants and business intelligence experts across industry verticals, providing not only expertise-based advice but also referring their clients to complementary experts within the professional services world — attorneys, bankers, insurance brokers and increasingly, cybersecurity technicians. The pandemic injected an added layer of depth to that role as CPAs were expected

PROFESSIONAL CONSTRUCTION SERVICES OVERVIEW

to provide sophisticated, COVID-19-resistant business strategies to ensure both short-term business viability and long-term resilience.

On the tax front, CPAs have had to help their clients navigate a wide array of financial aid programs, both at the federal and state level. Such liquidity-injecting tools include the employee retention tax credit. It allowed eligible businesses that were either required to close, partially suspend operations or saw business fall by 50% or more throughout the pandemic to get credit for up to 50% of qualifying employee wages, or as much as $5,000 per employee in 2020. Congress in December 2020 passed legislation that boosted that credit to 70% of qualifying wages, or as much as $14,000 per employee through June 30, 2021. Businesses were able to get this aid even if they had been recipients of a PPP loan, unlocking the tax credit for more than 5.2 million businesses otherwise barred from it.

However, businesses will have to tread lightly and have their CPAs close by because as these newly eligible businesses amended their quarterly payroll tax returns to claim the credit, that will prevent them from deducting those expenses from the annual taxes they file.

Even working from home posed considerable questions and challenges for businesses. While there is extensive literature on the proven benefits of remote work, accessing the virtual world from a residential setting poses a series of security threats that could jeopardize a company’s confidential business information. Some home routers, for example, were found to present vulnerabilities when either using default settings or improper configurations, both of which make it easy to breach for ransomware attackers. This led CPAs to diversify their portfolio of specialized services through the integration of cybersecurity consulting services to help their clients tackle the dangers of the remote work environment. Today, CPAs are encouraging businesses to both implement a written policy on the use of personal devices when conducting company business and establish systems to enforce security measures.

The issue has reached such a proportion that the Jersey Office of the Information Commissioner (JOIC) put in place a program of data protection audits to assist businesses in pinpointing the strengths and weaknesses of their respective data protection management programs, as well as zeroing in on security gaps to dampen the risk of data breaches.

Technology is also impacting the professional services sector in positive ways. Between blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI), robotic process automation and data analytics, CPAs and others in the industry have a wide menu of technological options for leaner, more efficient ( )

Paul Ritter President & CEO Cumberland Mutual

What major changes do you forecast for the insurance industry?

I think the insurance industry itself is moving from just insurance into a risk management direction, whereby you’re preventing claims and damages before they happen. Some examples of these claims include when someone’s house burns down, or somebody is injured in an accident; having those conversations and trying to put their lives back together as best as one can.

Now, we can try to prevent that from happening. It’s a win-win for everyone. The way we’re going to do it is with the technology that’s coming down the line.

It’s incredible. You see it in the safety features that are in some of the cars now. It’s an exciting time in the industry.

What technological innovations has the company rolled out?

It hasn’t been one big one but a lot of small ones. When we look at the industry of insurance going forward, it’s important to think of the vast amount of technology that is out there. There are sensors now that you can put in your home, near your water heater or under the sink, so that if you have a leak, it will send a message to your cellphone. If you’re away, you’re not going to have a big claim that causes a lot of damage. We can do similar things with car insurance: there are programs that can monitor your driving, so that we’re able to price your insurance more accurately.

What is your outlook for the next 12 to 18 months?

I think the next 18 months are going to be very exciting.

As we come out of this pandemic, which ended up causing a V-shape recession, I think there is a lot of fuel with the government stimulus, the savings that took place during the pandemic, and now people are feeling the freedom from the elimination of anxiety because of the immunizations. People are now going to go out and do business, and that’s going to be a positive thing for the businesses located in South Jersey. www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com

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PROFESSIONAL SERVICES INTERVIEW

Growth catalyst South Jersey’s legal arena is poised to see increased demand in specific verticals, such as insurance coverage

Steven Poulathas Co-Managing Shareholder – Flaster Greenberg What regulatory or legislative initiatives are you closely monitoring?

We’ve been on top of the SAFE Banking Act and marijuana legalization process in New Jersey and surrounding states. Flaster Greenberg has adapted and created new practice areas to be at the forefront of these new areas.

In my particular practice area, in the midst of all of these relief acts and together with the change of the administration, there are significant tax provisions and related planning. In 4Q20, in anticipation of new legislation from the incoming Biden administration and the new Congress, we were extremely busy doing tax and estate planning. In light of significant tax reforms and other infrastructure bills that the federal government is considering, we are working closely with clients to monitor these legislative proposals and pursuing necessary planning and opportunities as appropriate.

How has demand shifted among your practice areas?

COVID-19 created demand in certain practice areas within the employment space and to assist clients with the different governmental relief programs that were essential to keep many businesses running during these trying times. We guided our clients to assure they were able to operate under COVID restrictions, assure client and employee safety and, of course, respect people’s privacy. That has been a very busy area. The government was able to quickly respond and put out a variety of relief programs, such as the PPP loan program, credits and other opportunities to help sustain businesses. We quickly became experts in all those areas to accommodate and help our clients. Likewise, our expanded insurance coverage has been very active in assisting clients with various coverage and business interruption claims arising from COVID. 44

| Invest: South Jersey 2021 | PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

What are some of the distinguishing features of operating in the South Jersey region?

We’ve been in Cherry Hill for almost 50 years. We are proud of our roots here. We find Cherry Hill strategic because our local contacts for family-owned businesses and even larger publicly traded businesses have roots within our footprint. It’s critical for us to connect to our local roots and give back. We have pursued several initiatives over the last couple of years related to diversity and other local efforts.

What is your outlook for the near term?

The outlook seems promising. While COVID presented unique challenges that we had to overcome, with all the changes in the law and different circumstances for lawyers, it keeps us busy. The key point is not just to deal with negative situations and resolve them. It’s about making an effort to create opportunities and ensure positive advancements for our clients.

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES OVERVIEW

Michael Pallozzi President – HFM Investment Advisors, LLC Everybody is taking a new look at how much they are investing and what retirement actually means to them. Before it was just a number, an age and how they would be spending their time. I think with a lot of family members or friends being affected or losing loved ones to COVID, they are taking a different approach to life. It’s not about how much money they have, but more about the experiences that they enjoy while they are still here.

Many of our clients took advantage of the downtime at home to get in better shape and get their finances in order, because what good is wealth without health, and health without wealth. They really took some time to step back and take inventory of what was important to them and their family.

( ) and insight-rich decision-making, as well as streamlined audit processes, to the benefit of their clients. AI enables CPAs to deploy rules-based systems that can evolve in such a way that it significantly shortens posting time for analyses. Processing a CPA’s workflow via the cloud allows automated updates virtually in real time. In parallel, it provides authenticated users access to this information as it is processed, which they can then translate and analyze as they make business growth decisions and craft new strategies.

Between urgent cash flow needs, dry revenue streams and the need to find SBA-PPP loan processing institutions, COVID-19 truly catapulted CPAs into more of an advisory role than they had pre-pandemic. Moreover, emerging opportunities are there for the taking, such as the cannabis industry.

In 2020 alone, five states legalized marijuana, and sales of the psychoactive drug increased 40%. By 2024, the cannabis industry is estimated to reach $37 billion in value. As cannabis businesses grow, they are expected to require assistance in managing their capital, added to a streamlined understanding of the inherent complexities of Schedule I substances’ tax laws.

Wealth management The ripple effects of the pandemic are not the only challenges that wealth management firms are on the lookout for. Rather, multifaceted trends will dictate the sustainable success of wealth management firms going forward, with those able to navigate them coming out on top. Nasdaq identified that clients of wealth management firms are turning to passive index funds.

To avoid customer churn, forward-looking firms are increasingly relying on machine learning to carve out cognitive biases and implement corrective measures to remove emotions from investment decisions. Also, if there is one thing that has prospered throughout the pandemic and will dictate the terms of the recovery, it is digital channels. Henderson’s Wealth Management’s Brett Henderson is categorical: the latest generation of high-net-worth individuals is increasingly likely to opt for digital channels to manage their wealth.

To accommodate millennial preferences, with often marked differences as to what to do with their money compared to older generations, wealth advisers are called upon to leverage technological approaches to changing customer preferences, maximizing customer data value. In parallel, agile distribution models will be paramount to inject responsiveness into the offerings of wealth management firms. In doing so, firms can switch between advancing products and customer service interchangeably and seamlessly depending on the health of the investment landscape. “At HFM, we are embracing the most innovative technology, allowing us to provide timely, valuable information at a lower cost and at a fraction of the turnaround time. The end user, our clients, will be in a better place for these reasons,” said Michael Pallozzi, president of South Jersey’s HFM Investment Advisors, in an interview with Invest:.

Standing out as one of the primary demand shifts in the wealth management space, these firms saw estate planning skyrocket as the pandemic raged on — wills, revocable trusts, powers of attorney, healthcare directives, among many others. In 2021, the federal ( ) www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com

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Market voices: Legislation to watch

Michael Horner

Managing Partner White and Williams LLP

The legislation around telehealth is something we are keeping a close eye on. For instance, there is a trend toward relaxing legal obstacles to interstate telehealth services to the point where an out-of-state physician may be able to provide telehealth services to New Jersey patients. The federal government is also promoting the use of technology to support the trend toward more mobile and remote healthcare. The federal government believes that patients also need to have access to their own medical records. The goal is for patients to be able to use their phones to access and move their medical records as seamlessly as they can currently access financial records and make transactions on their phones. Significant regulations and laws are necessary to make sure that this is done in a secure manner that results in interoperability between different healthcare information systems.

The Biden administration’s proposed infrastructure legislation bodes well for our construction clients. If the resources are used well and the infrastructure is long-lasting, this will be a boost for the country. New pending legislation is set to standardize the infrastructure requirements, which will impact our real estate and some manufacturing clients. The EV infrastructure and incentive legislation passed last year to incentivize the purchase of electric vehicles and increase access to charging stations is increasing the demand for electrification and EVs.

Eileen Muskett Managing Partner Fox Rothschild

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Michael Mann Managing Partner Troutman Pepper

The proposed amendments to the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (NJLAD) would constitute a significant overhaul. The NJLAD is the statute that provides a legal basis to file a lawsuit against your employer if you feel you were wrongfully terminated or subject to an illegally harassing environment. If the amendments are approved, it will be mandatory that every employer has an anti-discrimination policy and provides compulsory anti-discrimination training.

Businesses will also have to report internal complaints to the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights, which means you will have an outside entity monitoring your internal complaints. The classification of workers covered by the NJLAD would also include independent contracts, interns and domestic service workers, which is a tremendous expansion of the current definition.

| Invest: South Jersey 2021 | PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

PROFESSIONAL CONSTRUCTION SERVICES OVERVIEW

Charlie Muracco CEO & Principal Consultant CLM Advisors

A 2021 survey of CPAs found 70% had advised their Garden State clients to move due to the high cost of living and doing business.

( ) transfer tax laws allow each person to transfer $11.7 million free of federal estate and gift tax to either their heirs or intended beneficiaries. That amount is slated for expiration by Dec. 31, 2025, reverting to $5 million per person, adjusted for inflation. The Biden administration could change this, however. It is expected that Congress will enact new tax legislation within the 2021-22 time frame to reduce the federal estate tax exemption amount to as low as $3.5 million before the 2025 deadline.

What is more, new legislation could be enacted to eliminate the favored step-up for income tax purposes of someone’s assets at death. It is no wonder then that estate planning is witnessing red-hot demand. In the case of New Jersey, the state has not collected estate taxes after death since January 1, 2018. However, it continues to collect an inheritance tax of up to 16%. Also, New Jersey residents are still subject to the federal estate tax.

The state’s high-tax environment has long been a cause of consternation for businesses and high-net-worth individuals. In fact, the New Jersey Society of CPAs found 70% of professionals surveyed in May 2021 had advised their clients in the Garden State to move due to the high cost of living and doing business. New Jersey has one of the highest tax structures in the United States, which can be highly disadvantageous especially in the event of an unforeseen downturn such as that brought about by COVID-19. High property taxes and corporate tax rates were mentioned as primary concerns among the CPAs surveyed in the May poll.

Despite the challenges, there were still encouraging announcements that were testaments to the demand in the region for wealth management services. K2 Placements and Wealth Advisor Growth Network (WAGN) joined forces to create Advisor Insurance, an insurtech platform for wealth managers purchasing business insurance to protect their firms. New Jersey bank Peapack-Gladstone Financial is looking to bring in more fee revenue that is less vulnerable to interest rate fluctuations, making wealth management firms a prime

What makes the South Jersey region an attractive location for you and your firm?

In our business, you want to be in a place where people feel like they have opportunity. That shouldn’t be taken for granted – there are regions of our country that have been hard-hit economically and that can have a psychological effect on business owners. South Jersey has kept growing through the years; obviously, our proximity to a major metropolitan city and to the Jersey Shore are big factors.

We’re based in Gloucester County and the big story there has been the enormous growth of Rowan University over the past 10-15 years. Its transformation into a top regional university is one big driver of commerce in this area; plus, it feeds the skilled labor pool.

What are the main challenges your clients and businesses are facing?

As we emerge from the economic slowdown caused by the pandemic, there are a couple of lingering problems – and they are big problems. The first is the state of the labor pool. Over and over, I’m hearing my clients complain that they can’t find good people. I understand some of the safety-net measures that the government put in place to help keep people on their feet but we also must recognize that the overall work ethic has diminished. Good-paying jobs are available but the motivation of the labor pool hasn’t quite returned yet. Very large businesses are just going to invest in more automation but the small businesses can’t do that as much. We want to help our clients think through this problem and be ready to offer attractive compensation packages. People will come back to work but first their incentive to stay home will have to be reduced.

The second major problem is the supply chain. These are strange times – availability of products and materials can vary widely and that is causing some distortions in the economy. To run a small business now – especially in manufacturing and distribution – you have to accept some unusual trade-offs and plan ahead as much as possible. www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com

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PROFESSIONAL SERVICES OVERVIEW

The NJ legal sector is a $10 billion market, according to IBISWorld investment to that end. The bank has purchased no less than five New Jersey firms since 2015 and now has $100 million issued from subordinated debt.

Independent wealth management firm Wealth Enhancement Group also announced the acquisition of MACRO Consulting Group, a New Jersey-based independent hybrid registered investment adviser (RIA). As soon as the deal closes, Wealth Enhancement Group’s total client assets are estimated to surpass $35.5 billion. Last but not least, Baratz & Associates, one of South Jersey’s largest accounting firms, set up shop in Southeastern Pennsylvania with the acquisition of Robin Kramer & Green (RKG).

Legal Among the most impacted industries from the pandemic has been the legal sector. While revenues generally rose for many firms given the need for advice and guidance on a plethora or COVID-related issues, lawyers and the sector’s related professionals suddenly found themselves having to reinvent the wheel. The historically traditional

industry, with its lavish offices and reliance on face-toface interactions, suddenly found itself working from home, adopting technology at an accelerated pace and having to rely on videoconferencing for court depositions, among others, as courthouses closed to in-person hearings and learned to adopt technology into their processes.

The focus of many firms also shifted as litigation became near impossible while business-oriented practices soared.

“The areas that were most significantly impacted by the pandemic are expanding, like technology, healthcare and labor and employment. There are many issues related to what the workforce will look like going forward and how businesses are going to communicate with their customers.

The tremendous need for technology is resulting in a lot of growth for us, as we have a robust technology industry practice,” said Michael Horner, managing partner of White and Williams.

According to an IBISWorld report for 2019-2024, the law sector in New Jersey has a market size of $10 billion, with 15,133 related firms. The industry employs 45,631 people. The National Law Journal’s May 2020 ranking of the nation’s Top 500 law firms according to lawyer headcount included 19 New Jersey firms.

Legal firms already have their work cut out for them given that regulatory and legislative changes are a constant year over year, but COVID-19 has been a catalyst for new or modified regulation. This year brought with it a stricter stance from the SEC relating to environmental, sustainability and governance disclosures, for example. The push toward remote work and business digitalization is also fostering demand among New Jersey lawmakers regarding a data privacy bill to further strengthen data protections and enforce

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES OVERVIEW

tougher restrictions on the tech industry regarding the use, management and protection of that data.

The same actions can be seen with biometric data protection laws. As they stand, New Jersey’s breach notification statutes stipulate that if a local business were to experience a data breach compromising personal information of only New Jersey residents, that business would then be obliged to provide a report to both the state and the people affected. Failure to do so in a timely fashion warrants a hefty fine.

The move to reduce the 1031 Exchange is among the legislative actions lawyers are watching carefully.

While no date is yet set for its implementation, should it pass Congress, investment firms anticipate it will fundamentally change the way investors analyze whether to sell or hold a property. It is also poised to impact the various real estate segments differently, depending on how heavy their reliance on 1031 investment is. Retail, for instance, leans heavily on 1031 Exchange tax breaks.

The expectation for such a measure is that investors will demand higher yields to make up for the removal of the tax benefit, fostering a cap rate hike in real estate segments where 1031 investment is dominant.

The sector also faces other challenges, with a backlog at the courts as a result of COVID-related restrictions and labor availability among the leading issues.

Looking ahead The pandemic has acted as a turning point for the professional services industry. As firms take in the lessons learned from the pandemic, considerable efforts will be directed toward securing sustainable and resilient businesses, with risk mitigation protocols against unforeseen events at the forefront.

Perspectives: Pandemic fallout Reynold Cicalese Managing Shareholder – Alloy Silverstein There has been a lot of assistance to individuals and businesses over the last year. Sooner or later, somebody has to pay for it. I would think that when you look at what is going to happen over the next 12 months concerning the tax plan, that will dictate how well people get out of this. You have to look at how strong businesses are and who’s going to pay for all the assistance in the long run.

Charles Grimley CEO – Grimley Financial Corporation (GFC) We have been humbled by what we have been through and to some extent fortunate and blessed to be here.

There is a sizable, ongoing change, which tests your mettle and ability to be nimble and adapt. All the things you learned about business have been put to the test since last March, and it’s far from over. Fortunately, we are blessed to have employees that have been with us on average for 12 years, and we are ideally positioned to grow in our space.

Mark Sulpizio Founding Partner – Innovative Benefit Planning I think most employers are feeling the effect of the tight labor market. New talent acquisition and employee retention are on most employer’s plans going forward.

In addition, as a result of the pandemic, employers are rethinking their remote work environments, as well as other total reward perks, so it’s important employers review their handbook policies to confirm they reflect any changes.

Lee Sheilds Co-Managing Partner – Friedman LLP Tax compliance is absolutely the main concern. All these programs — although they were great programs that were needed — require a lot of reporting. These are federal grants and loans, so you really don’t want to misrepresent the facts. The applications were quite cumbersome on account of the fact the legislation was rushed through faster than any stimulus package in the history of our country. Then the rules changed many times over, so we had to keep an eye on that. Our clients need to follow the rules and, in this case, the rules were often misrepresented, vague or open to interpretation.

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Cape May County: Known for its picturesque views along the Jersey Cape, Cape May County has long been a key tourist destination. But the county is more than just a quaint beach haven. Featuring a growing technology and innovation sector, strategic efforts are afoot to maximize what has been called the “Coastal Shift,” or the desire to live, work and play in a dynamic, forward-thinking market.

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Coastal Shift: Cape May County is well on the path to recovery, with more than tourism in its sights Situated at the southernmost tip of New Jersey, Cape May County is well on its way to a post-pandemic renaissance that will see the county bolster its tourism roots while transforming its economy to accommodate the jobs of tomorrow.

The push toward economic recovery from COVID-19 will take advantage of the county’s weather, historical roots and strong tourism amenities, coupled with an expanding technology and innovation sector to ensure Cape May County’s goal of creating a year-round home for both families and businesses alike. Termed the “Coastal Shift,” the county is uniquely positioned to meet the desire for high-paying jobs mixed with high quality-of-life offerings.

But it all begins with a recovery in the vital tourism sector that was initially decimated by the ongoing health crisis. Already showing signs of a bounce back, as vaccination efforts continue and pent-up travel demand soars, Cape May County is set for a busy summer season that is expected to fuel the local economic ecosystem.

“Cape May County is attracting interest in different business sectors due to a variety of factors that are very favorable for our county,” said Cape May County 52

| Invest: South Jersey 2021 | CAPE MAY COUNTY

Commissioner Vice Director Leonard Desiderio. “The trend toward outdoors open spaces along with our topranked beaches and investments we are making has really opened up a lot of doors. We are seeing record growth that has been accelerated in the post-pandemic world.”

Landscape With a year-round population that hovers around 92,000, Cape May County’s summer population climbs to as much as 600,000 to 750,000 as residents return to their vacation homes. The population spike is crucial to keeping the local economy going year-round. In addition to tourism-linked businesses like bars and restaurants, supermarkets, hardware stores and other local businesses all see material benefits from the tourist population.

During the pandemic, numerous reports and data indicate that those same summer residents began using their homes more frequently or even as their primary residence, supporting businesses outside the traditional summer season. That, in turn, has helped offset unemployment spikes.

Traditionally, the peaks and troughs of the county’s unemployment rate have fluctuated with the increase ( )

CAPE MAY COUNTY INTERVIEW

Banner forecast Fresh investment, tourism rebound set up Cape May for a banner year

Diane Wieland Tourism Director – Cape May County What differentiates Cape May County from the rest of South Jersey?

Cape May County is situated at the southernmost tip of New Jersey. We are surrounded by the Delaware River on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other. This allows us to have a different climate than even Atlantic County because we have the warm breezes from both the Delaware Bay and the ocean. Cape May County is referred to by meteorologists as the “Cape May Bubble” because we don’t have the same weather patterns as the rest of the state. For example, we get very little snow. The warmer weather has a great impact on when people can visit, what they can do outside, as well as the seasons for our agriculture and fishing industries.

What are the most significant investments underway in Cape May County?

The County Commons has taken a tired and Worn-out mall and turned it into a vibrant hub, transforming it into a mix of commercial properties and government offices. We see that as erasing some of the blight in retail and revitalizing Rio Grande, an important section of Cape May County. This introduces cohesiveness to the business district being developed in the area.

We are also seeing improvements on our boardwalks.

We’re seeing economic development dollars coming in to revitalize parts of the boardwalks. For many of our towns, the boardwalks are their downtown. There is constant talk of the demise of downtown areas across the nation but we’re reinvesting into and recreating ours.

How does tourism in Cape May County today compare to pre-pandemic levels?

Using the occupancy tax data provided by the New Jersey Treasury, we were up 12.7% for the first quarter of 2021 versus 2019. In September and October of 2020, we began exceeding 2019 numbers. Things are filling up

as people feel more ready and comfortable to get out.

Historically, when the occupancy rates go up, so does the rest of the economy as local businesses benefit from that activity. We’re expecting 2021 to be a banner year.

What is the greatest challenge facing South Jersey’s tourism industry?

Labor is the biggest challenge right now, and it’s a nearcrisis situation. So many of our businesses depended on J-1 visa employees. Because of COVID, there has been a great slowdown in the visa approval process.

Typically 5,200 J-1 visas are approved for New Jersey, and about 2,500 of them come to Cape May County and are employed through our tourism industry. The other side is the current additional unemployment benefits and the resulting disincentives for work. www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com

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Leonard Desiderio Commissioner Vice Director/Mayor Cape May County/ Sea Isle City

How did the local government help to foster economic activity during the pandemic?

We gathered business owners from across every sector in Cape May County and came up with a plan to reopen not only Cape May County but the entire state.

The governor was impressed with our reopening plan, which helped to protect not only our residents but the millions of visitors who come to Cape May County. Cape May County was one of the first counties in the state to actually reopen.

How is Cape May County’s economy performing today?

The Cape May County economy remains strong, and I’m predicting this is going to be a banner year. We’re going to have the equivalent of two summers of activity in one. Properties are selling at record highs, rentals are at an all-time high, more people are moving to Cape May County than they have in decades, and the county is well-positioned for the future. People are so happy to be out again and we did this together.

What is the state of Sea Isle City’s economic health?

Sea Isle is a beautiful community that is witnessing a great deal of construction with record home and condo sales as a great number of individuals are deciding to make Sea Isle their home or part-time home. We are now getting back to our normal activities for the summer.

What challenges are businesses facing?

Labor is our No. 1 challenge. Help for small businesses, restaurants and hospitality is at an all-time low. However, we are not missing a step. Everyone is receiving the same quality of service they’re used to receiving but it may take a few more minutes because of the lack of help. There is such a demand to go out and have a good time, and small businesses are doing their best to accommodate everyone. Many visitors don’t even realize that fewer people are working because we’re so fired up to meet the demand.

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Wildwood Beach is a highly popular tourist destination in Cape May County.

( ) and decrease of its summer population. Since 2015, and prior to the pandemic, the jobless rate has declined to under 6% in the summer months and increased to 15% in the off-season year-over-year. In April 2020, the rate shot up to nearly 28%, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, amid the pandemic. As conditions improved, the rate stood slightly above 7% in October 2020, just shy of traditional pre-pandemic summer unemployment levels, a good sign for the local economy.

As its largest industry segment, tourism is big business in Cape May County. In 2019, tourism expenditure in the county reached almost $7 billion. Prior to COVID-19, Cape May County averaged more than 10 million visitors a year. Despite a heavy hit from the pandemic, the county’s attractiveness as a destination was underpinned in 2020, as the local industry fared much better than other regions. Although direct tourism spending decreased by 21.1% last year, that still outpaced, by far, the statewide loss of 36.8%, the county reported.

CONSTRUCTION CAPE MAY OVERVIEW

According to the county, on average, the overnight visitor spends about $374 per day, per person, spread across all sectors measured. Figures for 1Q21 further fuel optimism of a strong recovery for the tourism industry.

According to the New Jersey Treasury, Occupancy Tax collection in the quarter indicated an increase in overnight stays in Cape May County. The increase for January, February and March 2021 was 12.7% above the same period in 2019 and 26.9% better than 1Q20, the county reported. April Occupancy Tax collection saw an increase of 23.7% over April 2019, indicating a strong rebound entering the summer season.

Following tourism, the fishing industry is another pillar of the local economy. The port of Cape MayWildwood is among the largest on the East Coast and ranks among the Top 15 ports in the country in commercial landings. According to Rutgers University research, “In 2018, the port of Cape May-Wildwood which is the largest commercial fishing port in New Jersey, landed 101 million pounds of seafood worth 66 million dollars. This port ranked 14th in pounds landed and 10th in value for all ports in the United States and in the Northeast (Maine to Virginia) ranked second in pounds harvested and value and is the center of fish processing and freezing in New Jersey.”

Rounding out the economic ecosystem are eco- and agri-tourism, with ecotourism itself generating nearly $700 million in annual revenue. Cape May County is one of the top birding hotspots in North America with spring and fall bird migration attracting international visitors to the region. The World Series of Birding, in its 38th year, draws teams from across the country as well as teams from the United Kingdom and beyond.

In another sign the economy is rebounding nicely, the county is home to 20 breweries, wineries and distilleries, with multiple new businesses opening in the past year. Agri-tourism continues to grow with local businesses sourcing locally grown produce and products for production of spirits and farm-to-table menu options.

As the county’s economy diversifies further, academia will be pivotal in providing the skilled workforce these industries require to establish continuity and success.

Atlantic Cape May Community College, which has a strong presence in the county, is among the partners ensuring a skills-ready labor pool. “Atlantic Cape Community College is proud to partner with Cape May County in its economic development initiatives,” said Dr. Barbara Gaba, president of Atlantic Cape Community College. “Through our work at the Cape May County campus under the leadership of Maria Kellett, Campus Dean, we collaborate with the county,

Vicki Clark President Cape May County Chamber of Commerce

What differentiates the Cape May County business community from the rest of South Jersey?

Cape May County’s economy is based on our tourism industry. During COVID, we did exceptionally well, looking strictly at our tourism economy. Cape May County was viewed as the place to escape to. The New Jersey tourism impact report shows that we outpaced all other counties in the state. This is a good indicator, even in a year in which the tourism and hospitality industry was devastated by the pandemic. Our economy was only down 21.1% over 2019 numbers. To put that into perspective, in 2019, Cape May County’s tourism economy measured $6.9 billion and in 2020 the number was almost $5.5 billion.

What are some ways in which you hope to see the economy diversify going forward?

Tech Village is an offshoot of the UAS (unmanned air systems) development that Cape May County had been working on for several years. Cape May County was hosting UAS conferences, and attendees of these conferences were mostly tech companies. That led to good outcomes in the development of other technology fields as well, like medical devices. The development of one industry transfers to other industries. Cape May County is a low-population peninsula with lots of open and undeveloped space. This is attractive for UAS test flights. However, a challenge for us is the unavailability of a ready-to-work workforce with higher qualifications.

What is your outlook for the next two years?

Cape May County will rebound from the COVID pandemic as long as we continue to move forward on this path. Cape May County will rebound in two to three years, which should be faster than the rest of the state and the country. I know that the national forecast is that between 30-35% of small businesses may have gone or will go out of business due to COVID-related causes but I don’t think it will be that high in Cape May County.

We think that percentage will be closer to 10% here. www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com

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CAPE MAY COUNTY OVERVIEW

Moody’s maintains an Aa1 rating with a stable outlook for Cape May County local employers, business owners and local chambers to provide support, education and training that meets their needs now and in the future. The establishment of the bizHub, the Unmanned Aircraft System program (drone), and the additional nursing classes offered at the Cape May County campus this fall are just a few examples of how we are leading the way to support local economic diversification. We appreciate the opportunity to serve Cape May County and its emerging initiatives.”

From an investor’s perspective, Moody’s Investor Services assigned its Aa1 rating to the Cape May County Bridge Commission and maintained the same rating on the county’s general obligation unlimited tax (GOULT), citing a stable outlook. “The Aa1 rating reflects the county’s very large tax base, above-average wealth levels, and satisfactory finances. The rating also reflects the fact that the county is dominated by the tourism industry but is making efforts to diversify,” Moody’s reported in November 2020. “We do not see any material immediate credit risks for Cape May County; while New Jersey (A3 negative) has been at the center

of the pandemic, the county has seen only limited impact. In fact, while some non-tax revenues have been negatively impacted, demand for shore property has spiked materially, which will have a long-term positive effect,” the agency said.

Summer residential market figures suggest that the Coastal Shift is indeed happening in the county. As of May 2021, county home prices were up 41% compared to 2020 with a median price of $550,000, Redfin reported.

As a coastal market, Cape May County properties are at risk of floods and storm damage, Redfin pointed out. As such, the county’s robust infrastructure improvement plans are a foundational tenet of Cape May County’s long-term success. ( )

Employment:

53,920

Demographics breakdown: Year-Round Population: Summer Population: White:

92,039 Over

750,000

85%

Hispanic or Latino:

8.1%

Black or African American:

4.8%

Others:

2.1%

Median household income Median property value:

$67,074 $300,500

CAPE MAY COUNTY INTERVIEW

Optimistic With better-than-expected tourism numbers and investment in economic diversity, the future looks bright

Gerald Thornton Commissioner Director – Cape May County

Where does tourism activity stand after the pandemic?

We’re going to be promoting our tourism businesses, and we are glad to be able to get them fully open. We average about 10.2 million visitors a year in Cape May County, so it’s important that we have all of our buildings, facilities and services open. That said, we will follow the medical protocols that are required. We’ve been working with the Chamber of Commerce and businesses have supported us by following the medical protocols so that everyone feels safe. Still, we can’t afford to have another closed season. Overall, however, we had anticipated that about 30% of our businesses would be reduced or go out of business but, fortunately, it hasn’t been too bad. We recovered somewhat toward the end of last summer. In total, the sector was down under 20%, which was better than our anticipated 30%.

What other industries are significant for the county?

Our second major industry, which most people don’t realize, is fishing. We are the second-busiest fishing port on the East Coast. We even have a fishing loan program.

I think we’re the only county in the state that still has that program and it’s very viable.

We also are making major investments in economic development. We’re investing in the airport’s industrial park, refurbishing the roads in that park. Through another program, we bought the old shopping center in Rio Grande and we’re investing about $25 million to refurbish that and bring it up to date. That should generate about 100 full-time jobs and about 50 parttime jobs.

How has residential activity developed in the county?

It’s interesting. One thing people should understand is that 48% of the homes in Cape May County are second homes. One thing that people love is that we

have a strong open-space program to maintain the environment and atmosphere of the county. We’re very supportive of our farmers and the farming community, which makes it a rural county with a lot of the amenities of a tourism economy.

What are the prospects for employee-related travel post-pandemic?

The world has significantly changed because of Zoom.

It’s very obvious to me that our county personnel will not have to travel a long way to go to a meeting. You can have a Zoom meeting that is very productive. You don’t have to travel to Trenton, which is two hours up and two hours back. Unless it’s a significant conference that you need to attend for some reason, that kind of travel is going to be curtailed. www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com

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In 2019, tourism expenditure in Cape May county reached almost $7 billion.

( ) County budget For fiscal year 2021-2022, Cape May County passed a budget of $182 million. The approved tax rate for 2021 stands at 23.4 cents for every $100 of assessed value, an increase of less than a penny over last year. To make up for the COVID-19 losses, the 7/10th of a penny increase enables the county to maintain essential services as well as fund county capital improvement projects such as improvements in the Cape May County Airport and the County Commons project. Operational expenses throughout most county departments were restricted to 2020 funding levels and did not increase year over year. Additionally, the 2021 budget has fewer full-time and seasonal employees than last year’s budget. The budget also set aside funding for vaccination efforts. As of June, Cape May County had registered the secondhighest COVID vaccination rate among all New Jersey counties. Almost 60% of the county’s population is fully vaccinated, according to the Center for Disease Control.

“Cape May County continues to have the secondlowest average property tax bill among counties in New Jersey,” said Cape May County Commissioner Director Gerald Thornton. “We have experienced losses due to COVID-19 that caused a slight tax increase but it was not as bad as it could have been. We are also seeing signs of a strong recovery and will continue to make 58

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smart financial moves to ensure we protect our county taxpayers both today and in the future.”

Infrastructure Infrastructure improvements are key to supporting the Coastal Shift in Cape May County. Protected by what locals call the “Cape May Bubble,” the county’s location near the water allows for milder temperatures than surrounding areas while also creating a continuous breeze, contributing tremendously to the success of the area’s tourism-driven economy.

County bridges also connect the mainland to several of the barrier islands found in Cape May County. As such, long-term investments in the county’s infrastructure are critical for the recovery and long-term success of its residents and industries.

In the past decade, the county has invested more than $30 million in bridge maintenance and repairs. Updated in February, Cape May County’s Comprehensive Bridge Replacement Plan has identified 28 countyowned or operated bridges that have either passed their serviceable life or are in need of improvements, according to the Cape May County Department of Public Works and the Cape May County Bridge Commission.

These guided bridge replacement projects are expected to occur over the following 15 years.

CAPE MAY COUNTY OVERVIEW

The unprecedented nature of COVID-19 is expected to have only a short-term impact on the implementation of the plan, the county reported. Fortunately, since 2017, the county has actively dedicated portions of its tax levy toward its infrastructure and bridge replacement projects while also working to attract state and federal funding.

The phased nature of the design and construction of bridge replacement and improvements is expected to have “modest and manageable” effects on taxpayers, according to the Bridge Replacement Plan. By factoring in natural environments coupled with high quality of life offerings, namely access to water and recreational opportunities such as fishing, the county’s new bridges are expected to be aesthetically pleasing and functionally sound infrastructure projects slated to usher in the Coastal Shift of new residents and businesses coming to Cape May County.

Among other infrastructure assets, the Cape May County Airport (WWD), located in Lower Township, is a key player in the growth of Cape May County’s technology and innovation sector. The 1,000-acre general aviation airport sees approximately 39,000 airplane and helicopter takeoffs and landings in a typical year. Consisting of corporate aviation, recreational fliers, charter and small-craft owners, the bulk of the air traffic is concentrated in the peak travel months of May through September.

A pivotal moment for the airport predated the COVID-19 disruption but has since proved a critical economic development tool that has attracted new tech-based industries to the region. With the first of two proposed buildings completed in 2020, the airport’s Tech Hangars have been the catalyst of the county’s economic diversification strategy. The $6.2 million,

Cape May County Airport sees about 39,000 airplane and helicopter takeoffs and landings in a typical year 20,000-square-foot complex serves as an innovation hub for tech businesses in Cape May County and a major component of bolstering the Coastal Shift notion of year-round high-paying jobs.

As of June 2021, the Tech Hangars first building is home to three distinct tech companies. Telemetry research firm Cellular Tracking Technologies and provider of tech solutions and services D-Tech USA were the first two companies to move into the Tech Village. In October 2020, regenerative medicine company Aedicell became the latest tech- and bio-based firm to settle in the Tech Village, marking a key economic development win during a highly volatile cycle.

Technology and innovation As the tourism economy begins its gradual ascent to prepandemic levels, Cape May County’s continued efforts to diversify its economic base are ramping up, as seen by the investment activity that landed at the Tech Hangars ( )

Wayne Reichle President – Lund’s Fisheries Cape May County is centrally located in the mid-Atlantic fishing grounds. During the winter months, water temperatures cool and draw fish south. We harvest several species migrating south, and then again after they turn around to head back north.

Right off our coastline, New Jersey is rich with sustainable fishery resources: two MSC-approved squid fisheries, menhaden, monkfish, summer flounder, black sea bass, porgies, sea scallops, and several other species. Our vessels will fish from the Gulf of Maine to Cape Hatteras but the majority of our landings are caught off the New Jersey coast. In general, Cape May is in a very special place.

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CAPE MAY COUNTY OVERVIEW

Brett Ewald Director – NJ Audubon’s Cape May Bird Observatory Despite the loss of almost 3 billion birds in North America since the 1970s, the local, near-term outlook is hopefully optimistic with an increased awareness of nature that COVID engendered.

Organizationally, our embrace of virtual space gave us a much greater ability to deliver our mission. We had almost 400 people virtually for our online festivals last spring and fall. By continuing to use this technology, we will have the ability to expand in-person events and reach an even bigger audience. We are excited about the possibilities. We will come out of COVID stronger than we were going into it.

County Cornerstones: 1 County Commons Purchased by the county in 2018, County Commons, a mixed-use facility suitable for public and private use, is a major revitalization effort happening in Rio Grande and slated to attract businesses and employment opportunities while also providing the county room to expand offices and operations. County Commons features tenants such as Tractor Supply, Rent-A-Center and a state-of-the-art VA Clinic for area veterans. Its family-friendly entertainment offerings include a movie theater, bowling alley, arcade and more.

“We are excited to work with the Cape May County government to not only bring back to life the former theater at the new County Commons Center but to improve its quality by adding bowling, a restaurant and bar, a state-of-the-art golf simulator, retro arcade, party rooms and an outside beer garden,” said Clint Bunting, principal partner at Stone Harbor Theater, LLC and Cape Square Entertainment, LLC. 2 Revolving Fishing Loan Program As its second-largest industry, fishing is a key economic sector in the county. As such, the Cape May County Revolving Fishing Loan Program provides Low-interest loans to the commercial fishing industry. As the only program of its kind in the Garden State, the purpose of the loan is to support the Cape May County fishing industry and stimulate economic growth. Over the years more than $5 million in loans have been approved to support the commercial and recreational fishing industry. “With 60

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the help of the Revolving Fishing Loan, we were able to repower several of our vessels over the years. It has been very helpful to have access to this support for our industry,” said Tracie Cicchitti, owner of The Starlight Fleet.

According to the county, the Revolving Fishing Loan Program will lend from $10,000 to $300,000 to owners who have a project slated to create or retain jobs in the fishing industry.

3 Cape May Zoo From African lions to snow leopards, the Cape May County Park & Zoo is a favorite among locals and visitors and has earned accreditation by the American Zoological Association (AZA) and participates in the Species Survival Plan (SSP) for conservation of endangered animals worldwide. Featuring free yearround admission, the zoo is home to more than 550 animals representing 250 species spanning 85 acres of exhibits. “The Cape May County Zoo is one of the state’s top attractions and one of those hidden gems found in so many of our towns throughout New Jersey. It’s difficult to compete with our pristine beaches but the Cape May County Zoo is a perfect complement to add to the visitor experience,” said Jeffrey Vasser, executive director of the New Jersey Division of Travel and Tourism.

Altogether, the park and zoo cover about 220 acres.

The zoo has consistently been recognized by various publications for its outstanding traveler reviews. Most recently, the zoo made Trip Advisor’s Travelers’ Choice in 2020.

CONSTRUCTION CAPE MAY OVERVIEW

( ) in 2020. Technology, life sciences and aviation are among the key sectors slated to drive the Coastal Shift and overall diversification of the county’s economy well after the pandemic is contained. This is further outlined in the guiding tenets of Cape May County’s Economic Development Program that center around business support services, entrepreneurial development and new business attraction with an emphasis on growing the emerging technology and innovation sector.

Approximately a year after its completion, all of Tech Hangars is fully leased by tech-based companies.

Aviation-related services, such as Unmanned Aerial Systems, commonly known as drones, have been identified as an innovative economic segment slated to provide job growth opportunities for the local workforce.

“Drone usage is growing rapidly, and it spans various industries, including public safety, traffic management, construction, public works and land surveying, filmmaking, photography, structural inspections, and real estate,” Atlantic Cape Community College reported. The local community college is bolstering its Unmanned Aircraft System program in anticipation of the rise in job demand. “As more industries adopt this technology, the need for service and aircraft operators is steadily increasing, and job demand is on the rise,” the college reported.

Looking Ahead As Cape May County begins to emerge on the other side of the pandemic landscape, the future looks bright for New Jersey’s southernmost community. Most COVIDrelated restrictions have been lifted and tourists are flocking back to the county’s shores. A lingering labor shortage is expected to remain a short-term challenge for local businesses ramping up operations.

However, first-quarter figures point to a successful recovery for the tourism sector. The county’s growing technology and innovation sector are expected to catalyze the Coastal Shift by providing economic diversity, highpaying jobs and year-round operations. These efforts coupled with key infrastructure improvements position the county among the most dynamic markets to live, work and play in South Jersey.

Capital Analytics would like to thank Cape May County for its contributions in compiling this chapter. To learn more, visit their website at: www.capemaycountynj.gov

Jay Gillian Mayor Ocean City

What differentiates Ocean City?

Ocean City is based on tradition. Generations of families come and vacation here year after year. Many of these families purchase second homes and later become year-round residents. We have a terrific reputation for safety and an excellent school system. The city is also easily accessible to visitors traveling from anywhere in the region or nation. We have been fortunate that the stewards before us remained true to what Ocean City has always been. We do not have games of chance or alcohol and that really sets us apart from every other seaside community.

What are some recent developments for the city?

We have new investment in housing, hotel rooms, restaurants and retail. My priority as mayor is to reinforce our infrastructure to ensure we have the best facilities in the state. The city is committed to an aggressive and groundbreaking flood mitigation program to protect everybody’s investments in Ocean City. We are working on back-bay dredging and beach replenishment. We are also building up our marshes to sustain our waterways and protect our shoreline. In terms of the business community, the fact that we’re investing in infrastructure helps attract real estate investors, and we are No. 3 in the state in the value of ratables. Ocean City is in a very good position in terms of real estate, and average sales prices are at an all-time high.

What are your expectations for 2021?

Provided the weather remains good, I see no reason why we can’t have a banner year. We are a seasonal community but our seasons are getting longer. The government’s stimulus packages have helped greatly with our businesses here. At Gillian’s Wonderland, we are ahead of last year and our biggest problem now is recruiting. Part of this is because of the huge amount of money that is being handed out by the government.

But our guests have now returned, and Wonderland is thriving. www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com

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Real Estate & Construction: South Jersey’s affordability factor is a strong advantage across the commercial and residential sectors, despite sharp increases in construction prices. The industrial and residential markets have been beacons of light in the face of the pandemic’s uncertain landscape and are expected to carry the local market forward.

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Challenges, Opportunities: Industrial and residential remain the hot sectors while office continues to limp along Emerging from the pandemic, challenges and opportunities abound for South Jersey’s commercial real estate and construction sector. The residential market is firing on all cylinders, buoyed by a desire to be in suburban, spacious neighborhoods that is further stimulated by the current low-interest environment.

On the commercial side, market indicators, particularly in the office segment, remain off as vacancies, slight softening of rents and muted transaction volumes continue to plague the sector.

Bright spots, such as strong industrial and multifamily performance, however, have been key victories for South Jersey’s commercial real estate sector. More than a year since the pandemic’s onset, the widespread success of the COVID-19 vaccines coupled with federal government relief in the form of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) and American Rescue Plan acts are driving optimism for a strong recovery.

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and availability of commercial land parcels, set the local market for long-term success. However, while the light at the end of the tunnel currently looks bright, short-term challenges such as rising construction costs, supply chain disruptions and availability of construction laborers may delay the recovery’s timeline.

The essence of the current challenges directly impacts the overall real estate sector and the local construction industry alike. The supply chain disruptions and rising construction costs as seen in lumber, steel and drywall for example, create difficulty not only in the estimation of a delivery date for both commercial and residential projects but make pricing extremely difficult to guarantee.

Though slightly overshadowed by COVID-19 risk management, the decriminalization of cannabis and a strong push for sustainability and environmental stewardship are among the main developments industry leaders are following closely. New Jersey’s historic adult-use cannabis reform bill signed into law in April poses interesting economic opportunities for ( )

REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION INTERVIEW

Fortunate Real estate services companies are enjoying strong growth but the labor shortage is an issue

Joseph Maressa President & CEO – Title America How has demand for your services shifted from prepandemic levels?

Our business is probably up 30% to 40% from the beginning of the pandemic. We’re very fortunate, as are many in the real estate and real estate services business.We have all seen an explosion in volume.

Mortgage companies, title companies and builders were not shut down and have seen an unprecedented increase in volume. At Title America, as is true with most of my competitors, we could run seven days a week. What’s stopping that? We can’t find employees; human capital is at a premium. The workforce pool for the title industry has been practically non-existent during these times.

Which side is driving growth – residential or commercial?

We’re seeing both. There’s a lot of commercial refinancing going on because interest rates are so low.

Somebody with a 5% loan can refinance and get threeand-a-quarter. On the residential side, it’s driven by people coming out of the urban areas and into the suburbs. People are buying houses at a pace that you would never have imagined pre-COVID. Most of the builders that we’re fortunate enough to do business with are building at a much higher pace than pre-COVID. There’s no shortage of buyers, especially while the rates remain low.

Do you see retail bouncing back after the pandemic?

Big box retail, I think, is a thing of the past. I don’t see much big box expansion at all. I’m sure Walmart, Target, Home Depot and Lowes will always build a store here and there but the major expansion for big box and other name retailers is tough because of Amazon and other avenues of e-commerce. That is true all over the country. The way we buy our goods is definitely changing because of advanced technology.

What is the near-term outlook for Title America?

We’ve been extremely fortunate to have long-standing relationships with many of our clients. I think the outlook for the next year or so, and even longer, is very good as long as interest rates stay low, inflation stays in check, we don’t get overburdened with constraining regulation, and Washington leaves the long-term capital gains rate alone. I think, generally speaking, we may be in something of a bubble. This industry is something of a roller-coaster ride and we’ve been on an upward trajectory for a long time now. What goes up must come down. To what degree? No one knows. When? Your guess is as good as mine. If you’re a student of history, it’s probably sooner rather than later. I certainly don’t have the answers but I think we’re in good shape for the foreseeable future. www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com

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( ) commercial real estate investors and local communities as the state rolls out this newly established and regulated market.

Access to cannabis, when done right, can be a redevelopment tool and a vital way to entice more visitors to visit key South Jersey markets, such as Atlantic City and the Cape May coast, which has the potential to benefit all facets of the commercial real estate sector. New Jersey’s budding offshore wind industry bodes well for its southernmost municipalities and the local construction sector. There is a great deal of capacity in the construction industry to support the growing offshore wind industry, local leaders told Invest:.

Despite the challenges however, South Jersey’s overall lower cost of doing business and its budding submarkets create an ecosystem ripe for continued construction and redevelopment, especially for growing industries, such as manufacturing and logistics, as well as for the residential sector. The local market offers a unique area with pockets of economic growth and potential throughout many different neighborhoods and towns. From Camden to Cape May counties, the region’s healthy mix of urban, suburban and tourism corridors coupled with its easy access to Philadelphia and New York City make it a prime destination for live, work and play opportunities in a post-pandemic world.

Construction jobs drastically decreased throughout 2020 due to the pandemic.

Office Of all commercial real estate segments, office remains the most challenged more than a year since the onset of the pandemic. Performance indicators at the end of 1Q21 suggest the office sector has a bumpy road ahead,

Itay Ron Investment Director – Faropoint The common notion in the industry is that COVID did not invent anything that was not here before; it just accelerated underlying currents that were already happening. For South Jersey specifically, we anticipate we are going to see a lot of the properties in the core markets in Southern Jersey — Cherry Hill, Mount Laurel, Pennsauken and even further south toward Swedesboro and West Deptford — come to market. Many of those properties are going to switch hands between private ownership and institutional ownership in the next five years as private owners look to cash out of their properties, which are reaching all-time high valuations.

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REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION OVERVIEW

at least for the immediate future. For the first quarter, the market shed approximately 235,000 square feet of office space as vacancies continued to trend upward to 17.6%, up 1.6 percentage points from pre-pandemic levels, according to Newmark’s 1Q21 Southern New Jersey Market Report. The brokerage reported no new construction activity in a market that features a total inventory of approximately 16.8 million square feet of office space. As such, direct asking rents softened from $20.88 to $20.65 per square foot, quarter over quarter.

For certain, the pandemic allowed companies and workforces to put remote working capabilities to the test. This vital shift to an increasingly digital environment has not only prevented the economy from stagnating entirely but is also rearranging the workplace and influencing office space decisions. The return to an in-person working environment continues to puzzle industry and company leaders. Will a company need more space or less space? Will the remote work option be a standard feature in a post-pandemic world or was it just a temporary solution? Will the open office model continue to remain popular or will companies choose a more private office model? The pandemic ushered in these types of questions for small, medium and large businesses to work through.

While the COVID landscape displayed the workforce’s appreciation for flexibility in terms of in-person or remote working options, it also reinforced that office space needs are not going away anytime soon. “Office space will be reconfigured but there will always be a need for it,” Vineland Construction CEO Anne Koons told Invest:.

As such, the sublease activity and the further adoption of remote working options are closely being monitored and considered. “You might not be leasing a whole building like you used to but it is starting to come back. I think that over the long term, big companies are going to return to the office because you lose something by having everyone work remotely. There’s going to be some kind of a happy medium where part of your work is going to be remote and a part in the office,” Koons said.

Approximately 880,000 square feet of sublease volume became available in 1Q21, garnering interest from potential tenants that could drive transaction volumes in the latter part of the year and into 2022, Newmark reported. “Market participants indicated that some tenants with space requirements are showing interest in available subleases. Time will tell if this interest translates into a sustained wave of transaction activity, defraying the high volume of sublease space on the market,” Newmark wrote in its 1Q21 report.

Perspectives: Real estate activity Rick Schwartz Principal & Managing Partner – Veritas Real Estate Offices might need 80% of existing space and may incorporate some flex (or hotel-like) seating options.

Some people may try to downsize, particularly CFOs who focus solely on financial results with less emphasis on culture, collaboration and talent acquisition/ management. However, I don’t see the office going away; it will be more of a reconfiguration. One of the biggest challenges is companies that are unable to make a decision on what they want to do, some of which is due to corporate guidelines and mandates, as we make it a priority to take care of existing tenants’ needs and balance that with offering what we have as available.

Daniel Silvestri President – InterState Commercial Real Estate The COVID pandemic threw a wrench in the retail sector but the service side of retail has actually fared pretty well. There weren’t many issues from our perspective.

We have very little vacancy on the service retail side of our portfolio. Leasing activity is increasing; we have activity every day on any vacancies we have. A lot of our properties are very well located, which is a major differentiator between retail and other real estate sectors. For instance, in the office market, the tenant doesn’t really care what side of Route 73 or Fellowship Road they’re on. On the retail side, it’s all about being as close as possible to Main & Main. Because we hold well-located properties, our properties are constantly in demand and occupied.

Industrial The industrial market has been the darling of the commercial real estate sector not only for South Jersey but for the entire Garden State. 2021 is poised to be a record-breaking year for the industrial sector surpassing an already strong 2020 performance according to industry leaders.

Amid shelter-in-place mandates and calls to practice social distancing measures, COVID-19 triggered an unprecedented boom in e-commerce, transforming an already growing consumer preference from convenient to essential, bolstering demand for industrial space in the process. U.S consumers maximized e-commerce capabilities in record numbers in 2020. It is estimated that e-commerce sales contributed an additional $105 billion in online revenue in 2020 while accelerating www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com

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Stephen Schoch Managing Principal Kitchen & Associates

What are some of the unique opportunities in South Jersey?

The fundamentals of South Jersey are not affected that much by the pandemic itself. It’s still about physical location and convenience. You’re close to the city but not necessarily right in the city. You’ve got very easy access to New York, Philly, Washington and Baltimore.

The fact that people realized they can effectively work remotely is an opportunity in the residential sector.

A lot of people are looking for housing, whether it be multifamily housing or even single-family houses, in locations farther away from their workplace as commuting becomes less of a factor.

The notion that I can live in a small footprint because “the city is my living room” is changing. Every single project is rethinking things like unit square footage and whether to have that extra area for the home office so it doesn’t feel like you’re working on the kitchen table anymore. As a result, the market now is very active. If you don’t look and put an offer in on a new home or condo that goes on the market within 24 hours, you’re done.

There’s so much demand on the for-sale side. It’s a real opportunity for residential development, especially entitled projects that are ready to start.

What are the biggest challenges for your business?

Rising costs are a huge challenge. A lot of what we do typically starts with the conversation to keep the building small enough so it can be built out of wood because that is traditionally cost-effective. But now the cost of wood-frame construction is going way up.

Lumber has doubled – or more – in price in some areas.

It’s not just lumber, it’s drywall, it’s all the basic building materials that you need to buy. It’s especially a challenge for affordable housing projects because the contractor must give a price before applying for the funding. You apply for the funding without knowing whether you have a real deal or not until about six to eight months later – and none of those prices are able to hold in this climate of price escalation.

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Hybrid working due to the pandemic will have long-term effects on how future buildings are designed.

e-commerce growth by two years, e-commerce analyst Digital Commerce 360 reported in June.

What was a vital way to buy almost any product was more than just a temporary solution as evidenced by the continuous growth of e-commerce sales in 2021.

In total, U.S. online retail sales increased more than 32% year-over-year in 2020 and rose 39% in 1Q21, the research organization reported. The continued growth in e-commerce coupled with changing consumer preferences bodes well for warehouse and logistics companies and the industrial sector as a whole for the state and South Jersey in particular.

More than 12 million square feet of industrial space was leased throughout New Jersey in Q2 led by e-commerce and third-party logistics companies, according to JLL’s 2Q21 Industrial Report. Unlike office, market indicators for the industrial sector point to a historic, record-breaking year for the industry.

Total vacancy in the quarter sat at 2.5% statewide, with more than 14 million square feet under construction.

About half of the new construction activity, or approximately 6.9 million square feet, is happening in the South Jersey submarket. Concessions are falling, direct and sublease rents are trending up, demand remains high and “developers are in the driver’s seat,” the brokerage reported.

As of Q2, JLL is recording more than 26 million square feet of active requirements statewide, up from 25.5 million in Q1. “Expect 2021 to surpass 2020 as the market’s strongest year of leasing history. With Class

REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION OVERVIEW

Valley opens up possibilities for companies wanting to tap into both the South Jersey and Philadelphia markets with the added bonus of considerably more affordable rents and cost of doing business.

A vacancy at record lows and incredibly resilient preleasing rates, developers are in the driver’s seat when it comes to lease negotiations. Thus tenants looking for class-A product should act quickly and pay high-watermark rents to secure new construction availability,” JLL wrote.

Those tenants looking for new industrial space and potentially lower rents can look to South Jersey for market opportunities. With approximately 2 million square feet of new construction delivered in the first half of 2021, the South Jersey submarket has outpaced the state in new deliveries and new construction while at the same time offering considerably more affordable rents when compared to statewide trends. Direct asking rents statewide sit at $10.47 per square foot.

Comparatively, South Jersey features an average direct asking rent price of $7.92 per square foot with some submarkets offering even more affordable prices. For example, Camden and Cumberland counties feature attractive rents averaging $5.80 and $4.85 per square foot, respectively.

Evidently, the industrial sector is offsetting much of the pandemic disruption in the overall commercial real estate market. The new industrial construction activity happening throughout South Jersey positions the local market to compete for key economic development activity in the manufacturing, logistics and warehouse space.

As companies look to expand operations, availability of space will be crucial in the decision-making process.

South Jersey’s strategic location along the Delaware

Multifamily Much like the industrial sector, New Jersey’s multifamily sector bore the brunt of the pandemic blows with unwavering determination. In South Jersey, affordability and healthy rent growth make the local market attractive for tenants and investors alike.

After an initial market dip in spring 2020, the multifamily sector has remained stable and resilient throughout the ongoing health and economic crisis.

To that end, key local markets, such as the city of Camden and Cape May County, experienced healthy rent growth throughout this cycle. The initial doomand-gloom predictions of severe drops in rent growth and construction starts coupled with lack of availability to capital were phased out as the cycle progressed, exemplifying the local market’s resilience while positioning the sector for positive investment activity moving forward.

Affordability anchors South Jersey’s multifamily market, especially when compared to northern and central New Jersey markets. Across the Delaware River in Camden, considered a key component of the Philadelphia MSA, average rents stand at approximately $1,038 for an averaged-sized apartment of 723 square feet, RentCafe reported. Despite the COVID-related challenges to the local economy, rents in Camden saw an increase of 2% compared to the previous year. In comparison, a popular northern municipality such as Jersey City, located in Hudson County, experienced a sharper decline in rents for a similarly sized apartment while averaging prices double that of Camden. The average rent for an 824 square foot apartment in Jersey City stands at $2,739, which is an 8% decrease compared to the previous year, according to RentCafe. Further down the South Jersey market, over at the Jersey Shore, the average rent stands at $1,585 which is a 5% increase year-over-year.

Overall, the Garden State features a robust multifamily construction pipeline for 2021, according to the Yardi Matrix 2021 National Outlook report. The state is anticipating approximately 4,955 multifamilyunit completions this year. That represents 29.9% growth in completions year-over-year, according to Yardi Matrix, placing New Jersey at No. 22 in the firm’s Top 25 multifamily markets for 2021.

Though the bulk of 2021’s projected completions are concentrated in the northern portions of the state, as ( ) www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com

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REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION INTERVIEW

Clean focus With the COVID spotlight on effective sanitation technologies, demand for janitorial services also changed

David Hammond CEO – CSI International have opted for the International Sanitary Supply Association’s GBAC building or corporate certification to ensure they are sanitizing the right way. We have to have at least 5% of our workforce trained in proper sanitation procedures. We anticipate this certification requirement will become permanent down the road, considering sanitizing regulation is in the works after the observation that several companies out there are not doing it the right way. We’re positioning ourselves at the forefront of the sanitization game.

What were the most complex COVID-19 challenges you had to navigate?

We had to renegotiate every single contract with every client because every client’s needs changed. We managed to make the adjustments that fit their needs.

Now that people are reopening, those needs are still changing. There is more attention being paid to day services because of the touch points, ensuring all those touch points are getting cleaned much more frequently.

We do a lot of electrostatic spraying/disinfection and use the Clorox 360 system. We’re now working toward getting our GBAC (Global Biorisk Advisory Council) certification as a GBAC service provider and will be one of the first companies to be a Certified Service Provider. Several buildings and airlines 70

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What new opportunities have arisen from the concern over cleanliness and sanitation?

Electrostatic spraying/disinfection became huge.

That has been a sizable part of our extra revenues and services over the last 10 months and it will continue to be. It’s one of the best technologies in helping battle the pandemic and kill the virus. We really have only been doing it for our primary clients. Part of the reason is because of the supply chain issues. Our clients come first; they’re priority No. 1. We now have plenty of storage and plenty of supplies, which enables us to cater to outside clients, which we had not done in the past.

What are your near-term goals?

Our growth goal for 2021 is 12%. We remain on target to continue to meet or exceed that goal. Bids were put on hold over the last year and we’re now beginning to see things start to move. Whether they had good or bad suppliers, companies are well aware of the critical necessity of effective janitorial services to restore consumer confidence. Every month is a different renegotiation of every client contract. We will continue to provide the flexibility and nimbleness required to meet our clients’ needs and help them through these trying times.

REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION OVERVIEW

( ) noted by Yardi Matrix, South Jersey’s affordability and strategic location along the Delaware Valley are slated to drive investment activity particularly in market-rate and affordable housing.

“We’re seeing an increase in market-rate multifamily rental projects, but we’re also seeing a lot more activity on affordable housing,” Kitchen & Associates Managing Principal Stephen Schoch told Invest:. “Part of the affordable housing increase is because it’s considered infrastructure. I’m seeing many more opportunities and developers interested in doing things in Southern New Jersey because they know more resources are likely coming to the table and because of the land price. South Jersey is still the bargain of the East Coast and that is an incentive to do affordable housing.

There is also a greater sense of urgency on the part of the individual municipalities to make good on their promises on affordable housing that have stalled during the pandemic.”

Residential The COVID-led housing frenzy continues to make its way through the South Jersey market. Double-digit growth in prices and record inventory lows are constant from Burlington to Cape May counties. Demand for homes continues to outpace inventory more than a year after the onset of the pandemic with little reprieve expected in the near future as builders contend with construction challenges that are passed down to consumers.

More than 6,900 home sales were closed in May 2021 statewide, posting a 26.6% increase year-overyear, according to New Jersey Realtors®. Similarly, the single-family median sales price increased 24.3% to $435,000 with an average two months of supply available statewide.

Affordability continues to permeate throughout the South Jersey market with counties such as Camden, Gloucester, and Burlington reporting prices well below the rising statewide figures. Buyers, however, must heed calls to move quickly in pursuit of a home in the current market as inventory levels throughout South Jersey remain much lower than statewide figures.

Considered a suburb of Philadelphia, the Camden County median single-family sales price stands at approximately $267,000 as of May 2021. That is a 27.5% increase year-over-year with a supply of inventory whittled to an average of 1.1 months, according to New Jersey Realtors®. Similar dynamics are present in Gloucester County as median single-family sales prices hit $265,000 with a 20.5% price increase year-over-year and 1.3 months of supply of inventory.

Chris Wilhelm Regional Vice President Gateway Mortgage

How does the mortgage landscape compare to prepandemic levels?

It’s very active. The purchase market continues to be red-hot. The first time Gateway Mortgage had a billion dollars in a month was in April, right after the pandemic started gaining traction. In 2020, we had our best year ever, going from $7.7 billion in 2019 to $11.3 billion as a company. The challenge for the housing market is the lack of inventory. HousingWire recently reported that if everyone put their house on the market, there would still not be enough housing. The lack of new construction over the last 10 years has created the lack of inventory in certain markets. On the refinancing side of the mortgage landscape, there are still people out there who have not yet refinanced their own mortgage.

What key factors are you paying attention to?

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) is a government insured loan, which allows for 3.5% down, with several guidelines geared toward first-time buyers. As an example, on an FHA loan, you can receive a gift for the entire down payment as closing costs and the seller credit is up to 6% versus conventional with 3% down, and seller credit capped at 3%. Under the FHA mortgage, the monthly mortgage insurance is paid for the life of the loan; under a conventional loan, you are required to carry the insurance until you reach sufficient equity (78% loan to value). There have been discussions within HUD to bring the monthly insurances back to a certain loan to value, to reduce the overall costs to FHA borrowers over the life of the loan.

The other key factor is the appraisal. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been building a database of appraisal information, along with a scoring system for appraisals, to enhance the online decision engines. We’re actually receiving “Appraisal Waivers,” which means an inspection of the property is not required by a licensed appraiser.

That cuts down on the borrower’s closing costs (appraisals range from $450.00 to $550.00). This single piece of the process can take the process to close from four-six weeks to three-four weeks. www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com

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John O’Donnell CEO The Michaels Organization

What makes Camden a great location for the company’s headquarters?

We were looking for a new place to relocate to because we had outgrown our former headquarters in Marlton.

We saw how close the area is to Philly and the suburbs as well. We’ve been doing housing in Camden for over 20 years, so we thought it would be ideal to get involved in the resurgence and renaissance of Camden and make a difference. It’s a great message to the rest of our teammates around the country about how we get involved in the community and with residents.

What do you consider the most affected part of your business during the last year?

The biggest loss during the pandemic was the collaboration between the government agencies, residents and developers. That collaboration is key and we’re still trying to recover and rebuild that teamwork.

What challenges will residents in affordable housing face as government aid dries up?

I think the best program is a job. Coming out of this pandemic, where the jobs are being created will be important, along with how we support local businesses.

It’s important to promote local job fairs, not just for temporary jobs but permanent jobs, while also creating training programs to give people opportunity and hope.

Also, we need to pay attention to education because last year was very challenging for our young people and the schools.

What is your two-year outlook for the residential market in South Jersey?

The outlook goes hand in hand with construction costs.

The more that costs come down, the more we can do with construction projects. It’s going to continue to grow, it’s going to continue to get better, no doubt.

It’s all about jobs. If we can support local businesses and create new businesses, it’s going to be positive moving forward.

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Median prices for single-family homes stood at $265,000 in May 2021, up 20.5% Y/Y A key factor professionals and consumers are watching closely is the meteoric rise in the cost of construction material. Lumber prices, for example, shot up more than 300% between April 2020 to May of 2021, causing the average home price to increase by approximately $36,000, according to the National Home Builders Association.

Despite the current challenges facing the construction industry, over 3,500 privately-owned residential building permits were authorized throughout the state in April 2021 with approximately 770 residential construction starts happening in South Jersey, according to the state’s Department of Labor and Workforce Development, highlighting continued demand for housing in the state and local market.

New Industries The South Jersey market is ripe to lead the state in growing industries, such as the cannabis and wind energy sectors, sparking new development and construction projects in the process. This year, New Jersey became one of the latest states across the country to legalize cannabis for recreational consumption, joining the likes of Maine and Massachusetts in the Northeast market. As such, a cannabis real estate boom may be in the cards for South Jersey depending on individual municipal structures. The global legal cannabis industry is projected to hit $40.6 billion in global spending by 2024, which will be a 300% increase from 2019, according to a report from Arcview Market Research & BDS Analytics.

Currently, municipalities across the state are in the process of creating and adopting a local enforcement structure regarding the use and sale of cannabis.

Though the cannabis industry has faced resistance from local governing bodies, the industry has seen key wins in the South Jersey market. Atlantic City is expected to employ a more open approach to this ( )

Market voices: Construction outlook

Anne Koons

CEO Vineland Construction

I’ve seen people want more outdoor space and definitely a home office or two. Thirty years ago, people bought a house for a family. Today, the parents are working and if they have kids, they need a separation of space, especially with the schools being closed.

In terms of commercial real estate, there needs to be more industry coming into Vineland. When I was growing up, there were a lot of trucking companies, glass manufacturing and farms, and some of those companies have either closed or they were bought by larger companies and no longer exist. Route 55 was supposed to open up the whole quarter and bring businesses down to Vineland but that never really happened because the businesses never went beyond Washington Township.

When we entered the pandemic, we had a decent backlog. Most of our work has been focused on healthcare and we work for several of the region’s largest healthcare providers. In the past year, we helped several of our clients cope and transform by modifying many of their ambulatory sites to meet the safety and operational needs of the pandemic. We helped one of our clients roll out a new patient information format across all of their ambulatory and hospital sites.

We’ve focused on healthcare for the past several years because we recognized the demographic pressures that were happening with the population getting older. That population segment is continuing to increase, so there is a need to grow infrastructure in that area. As a result, we see opportunities and that’s where we’ve been focusing our marketing as well as our support efforts, although we continue to work in other segments as well.

In terms of the pace of activity, the market has started loosening up with more projects coming out that were slowed down by the pandemic.

Mike Regina

Principal & co-Founder Big Sky Enterprises

Louis Mueller

Principal BWM Construction LLC

Last year was about controlling the controllable, which is having an understanding of what I can and can’t control. I did better in the real estate business last year compared to the 2008 crisis. In 2008, we were only about 5 years old and we just assumed that every year was going to be great. Last year, we were in a lockdown and we didn’t know what that even meant or how an entire economy could shut down. We started making decisions a lot quicker instead of just assuming that everything was going to be fine. We started cutting expenses and implementing the changes and adjustments that were necessary from a cash flow perspective. We controlled the controllable and that’s all you can do at the end of the day.

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REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION INTERVIEW

Good bet From its airport to the cannabis industry and the new winds blowing in the energy sector, opportunities are emerging in Atlantic City

Joe Jingoli CEO – JINGOLI when done right, can be a redevelopment tool and a way to entice more visitors to Atlantic City. In addition, the expansion of eds and meds in Atlantic City is also presenting great opportunities for growth and jobs.

Also, we can’t underestimate the importance of the e-gaming sector. The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement’s e-gaming lab, one of the best in the country and the world, is located in Atlantic City, highlighting the state’s commitment to providing key resources needed to fuel the growth of that industry.

The offshore wind industry is also coming to New Jersey, right off the southern coastline. There is a lot of capacity in our construction industry to support the onshore segments of offshore wind, which are significant.

What opportunities do you foresee going forward?

I am hopeful the Atlantic City International Airport, a South Jersey jewel, will evolve into a major hub of activity.

Where other airports have space constraints and may have to sacrifice certain services to handle increased passenger numbers going forward, that is not the case for this airport. We’re hoping that as a major New Jerseybased construction company, we can be part of the plans to expand Atlantic City Airport. In the long and short term, development of that airport would create a source of new jobs.

There is also opportunity within the state’s cannabis sector. Take Atlantic City as an example. I think the cannabis sector could be a part of the Atlantic City experience but how the opportunity is presented and introduced is critically important. Access to cannabis, 74

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How are you developing and training your workforce?

The JINGOLI companies stand firm and focused on developing and maintaining a workforce by applying the doctrines set forth by our Competitive Edge programs. On any given day, we have hundreds of young people from urban areas working for us. They start as summer workers, and when I say summer jobs, I mean jobs that pay $15 an hour and that’s just the first step. Then comes job training that includes specific training for specific jobs within a variety of our business sectors. We are fortunate that we have a high degree of success in recruiting young people to work for us because we also provide the necessary support for them to have long-term careers with us.

What is your outlook for the South Jersey economy?

We’re going to have a lot of infrastructure work with the onshore offerings related to offshore wind energy. Our medical sector is going to continue to grow and expand and that is positive. The gaming industry is going to have some challenges but there is pent-up demand, so I think it’s going to be great for the next 18 months.

REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION OVERVIEW

( ) growing industry, including taking advantage of a 2% tax the city can collect on sales of cannabis products, according to the Press of Atlantic City. In June, Curaleaf opened its second state facility in Winslow Township in Camden County. The company’s Edgewater Park facility is a 7,640-square-foot dispensary and its 107th in the nation. “We are thrilled to grow alongside New Jersey’s flourishing medical community and expand access to best-in-class cannabis products to patients in Edgewater Park,” Curaleaf CEO Joe Bayern said in a statement.

The offshore wind industry also bodes well for South Jersey’s real estate and construction sectors. With multiple developments underway in the region, one the most significant projects is happening in Salem County.

Announced in 2020, $200 million from the state budget was allocated this year to establish the New Jersey Wind Port, a key victory for the state’s infrastructure and sustainability efforts. Dubbed as revolutionary by Gov. Phil Murphy, this project marks the first purposebuilt offshore wind port in the nation. “The New Jersey Wind Port will create thousands of high-quality jobs, bring millions of investment dollars to our state, and establish New Jersey as the national capital of offshore wind. This is a vital step forward in achieving our goal of reaching 7,500 megawatts of offshore wind power by 2035 and 100 percent clean energy by 2050,” the governor said in a statement.

Such new industries are garnering excitement in the construction industry driving optimism for the long-term success of the local economy. “We are going to continue seeing an increase in demand across all segments of the industry, BWM Construction LLC Principal Louis Mueller told Invest:. “The growth of

new industries in South Jersey is going to help raise all boats in the construction sector. Wind production is going to generate many jobs, with the industry here in South Jersey focused on offshore wind energy.

The impact of that will only increase over the next 10 years.”

Looking ahead The industrial sector and budding new industries are set to drive activity in South Jersey’s commercial real estate segment. Industrial real estate has been a particularly hot commodity, as more e-commerce operations set up warehouses and distribution centers in South Jersey to take advantage of the region’s strategic location. The ripples of COVID will continue to influence the office sector as companies and the workforce find a middle ground between in-person and remote work. Thankfully with the widespread availability of the vaccines, many companies are eyeing a fall and winter as the potential return to the office.

The hot residential market is also expected to continue to simmer as the year carries on and into 2022. South Jersey’s affordability and overall access to Philadelphia are expected to continue to draw in renters, buyers, and investors seeking to place roots in the Delaware Valley.

Finally, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to improve, budding new industries, such as cannabis and offshore wind farming, are slated to help diversify the local economy as the recovery continues. These innovative industries are expected to draw in healthy investment activity as South Jersey continues to grow and develop as one of the most dynamic economies in the Northeast.

Camden County: As a staple market along the Delaware Valley, Camden County has the foundation for not only a strong pandemic recovery but for a robust era of growth in the new economy. At the center of key infrastructure developments, as well as a solidified but still growing eds and meds sector, the county’s best days are ahead.

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Looking forward: The transformation of Camden County is well underway, with significant signs of success With its strategic location along the Delaware Valley, Camden County is no longer just a suburb of Philadelphia but rather a growing metro anchoring a bevy of opportunities for the South Jersey region.

The county’s overall affordability, robust healthcare sector and family-friendly neighborhoods exemplify the transformation happening across the river. Its efforts toward infrastructure improvements, workforce development and economic diversification make the case that Camden County’s best days are just ahead.

With a rich history rooted in the early days of American history, Camden County features 37 municipalities serving the needs of its 513,000 residents, as of the 2020 census. While the COVID-19 health crisis kneecapped the county’s pre-pandemic unemployment rate of 4.5% in March 2020, the overall snapshot of the local economy paints a brighter picture more than a year into the pandemic era. Importantly, the unemployment rate has clawed back more than half the peak percentage losses suffered in May 2020 (16.9%) to stand at 7.2% in May 2021, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Trending lower month after month, Camden County’s jobless rate reflects New Jersey’s overall 7.3% as of June 2021.

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A decisive win for the county throughout the pandemic has been its handling of the coronavirus vaccination campaign, a shared public-private effort that has been key in meeting the needs of county residents. “During the pandemic, we shifted our focus completely to help with COVID-19 testing logistics in the city and partnered with other nonprofits to distribute food to those in need. One of the ways we look at our station and standing in the community, is to make sure that we can always be nimble enough to adapt to changing environments and the changing needs of the community,” Camden Community Partnership, Inc. President and CEO Kris Kolluri told Invest:.

As of July, Camden County stood ahead of the country as a whole, with 70.7% of all adults with at least one dose, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In comparison, nationwide, 68.6% of adults had received at least one dose as of July. Though not out of the woods yet as it relates to the pandemic, stabilizing unemployment rates and a successful COVID-focused risk-management approach bode well for the county’s economic development efforts in an economy reshaped by the coronavirus.( )

CAMDEN COUNTY INTERVIEW

Rising tide From food packaging to life sciences, Camden County is poised for a strong recovery

Louis Cappelli Jr. Commissioner Director – Camden County What differentiates Camden County?

Our tremendous infrastructure, outstanding school systems and neighborhoods, and proximity to Philadelphia distinguish us from other counties in New Jersey. Land in Camden County is much cheaper than in North Jersey or some of the Philadelphia suburbs, which is also an advantage, and we have major thoroughfares running through the county.

What specific industries in Camden County are experiencing the most growth?

There has been a tremendous expansion in food processing and packaging. Life sciences is another area that has seen a lot of growth and we’re hoping to attract more biotech developments. Based on our medical and research infrastructure, as well as our proximity to Philadelphia, we see ourselves as a prime target for the biotech industry.

How is the Camden County government helping to stimulate the regional economy?

Funding small businesses throughout the pandemic crisis has been one of our most important matters. In our first round of funding, we made $30 million available to local businesses that were affected by COVID. We’ll be allocating some portion of the American Rescue Plan to that effort as well. We’ve done our best to keep businesses in business during the pandemic.

Regarding growth opportunities, we continue to provide whatever services are requested through our Camden County Improvement Authority, including project management and site identification. We’re also continuing to make significant investments in our infrastructure, including road improvements and demolishing more than 300 abandoned properties, which is helping to foster economic development opportunities.

To meet local workforce demand, we have a very

aggressive workforce development program with our OneStop system. Helping businesses to train workers has become a very busy, collaborative effort with the private sector to ensure that local talent is trained for the jobs that are available in Camden County.

What is your outlook for Camden County?

Although our unemployment and poverty rates are slightly higher than they were pre-pandemic, we’re recovering very quickly and are very optimistic. We’re doing well, and each week we’re seeing more good news about the number of people employed in Camden County and businesses reopening. We’ve made extraordinary investments in Camden City, from parks to infrastructure to athletics facilities. A rising tide lifts all ships, and by lifting Camden the rest of the county will benefit. www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com

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Victor Carstarphen Mayor City of Camden

What makes Camden an attractive location for business expansions and relocations?

Camden is blessed with an incredible location, tremendous access and all forms of transit. We’re encouraging our corporate partners to urge their employees to buy and live in Camden. With increasing economic development and growth in the city, we’re planning for new opportunities for residents and stakeholders. When speaking with our corporate partners, we take pride in the momentum we are building in Camden. Our partners are all in too. The biggest thing about partnerships is that the corporations have done a good job in engaging with the community and have helped play a role to empower our residents and youth.

How is the city expanding affordable housing?

We’re knocking down 300 abandoned homes, with a $15 million grant. These are unsafe structures that blight our city and have been a public safety concern for far too long. We now have the ability to prepare our residents for the homebuying process and to engage with potential development partners as we plan for new housing opportunities. We have some strong CDCs and nonprofit developers in Camden, and we want to help build their capacity so they can create affordable housing options within our neighborhoods. Along with the nonprofit partners, we are working with The Michaels Organization to rehabilitate existing complexes and even offer newly constructed quality affordable units.

What is your near-term outlook for the city?

We want to build upon our efforts and have Camden continue to trend in the right direction in terms of public safety, education and economic growth. Increasing local sourcing and promoting employment opportunities for our residents is crucial. In the near future, I want people to be able to say that Camden is back and excelling to new heights. As Mayor, I intend to bring unity through partnerships and take a team approach. This is all about team Camden.

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The Camden County Park System consists of 21 parks and over 4,000 acres of natural settings and open space.

( ) Pandemic response Buoyed by robust vaccination efforts, support for businesses has been an integral part of the county’s pandemic response. More than 3,000 county businesses have received grants totaling approximately $30 million since the onset of the pandemic thanks to CARES Act funding, with portions of the American Rescue Plan earmarked for business support as well, county leaders tolds Invest:. “We’ve done our best to keep businesses in business during the pandemic,” County Commission Director Louis Cappelli Jr. told Invest:. Additionally, the county has awarded approximately $3.2 million to municipalities, $28.7 million to its three major healthcare providers and $4 million to support centers, the county reported.

Since the rollout of the vaccines, the county has placed a keen focus on making the jobs available to hard-to-reach populations. From door-to-door information campaigns to busing senior citizens to vaccination sites to even erecting pop-up sites in shopping malls and concerts, the county has not relaxed the pandemic response as the situation improves and businesses resume in-person operations.

General economy Camden County was not immune to unprecedented changes to the socioeconomic landscape ushered in

by COVID-19. More than a year into the pandemic, the local unemployment rate has largely stabilized as the

CAMDEN CONSTRUCTION COUNTY OVERVIEW

Kris Kolluri President & CEO Camden Community Partnership, Inc.

county recovers. While it may take well into 2022 to see pre-pandemic levels of employment, the county’s bond ratings are a telltale sign that the recovery is not a question of if but rather when. Cushioned by funding from the CARES and American Rescue Plan acts coupled with sound budgetary practices, the county’s outlook is stable, according to Moody’s 2021 rating report.

In April, Moody’s Investor Service assigned a “Aa1” rating to Camden County’s General Obligation bonds, outperforming the state as a whole. That’s an upgrade from “Aa2,” highlighting the county’s ability to service its debt obligations. For comparison, in November 2020, Fitch Ratings assigned the state of New Jersey a rating of “A-” on its General Obligation bonds. “The ongoing pandemic has had only a modest impact on the county,” Moody’s wrote in its rating report. “While a number of revenue streams have been negatively impacted, the county has made budgetary adjustments to offset these losses. The stable outlook reflects our expectation that the county’s finances will remain strong despite the impact of the pandemic. The outlook also takes into account the county’s very large, diverse tax base and strong resident wealth,” the report said.

Infrastructure and transportation A look across Camden County reveals the results of guided economic development efforts. With companies such as American Water, Subaru, NFI industries and( )

What is the Partnership’s role in Camden?

The Camden Community Partnership has been around for 36 years. We started as a waterfront development corporation. One of the reasons why we recently changed our name is because the work we’ve done in the last decade has seen us move our focus from the waterfront into almost every neighborhood in Camden.

We thought it was more representative of the work that we do. We say that we are a resident-first organization because everything that we advance — whether it’s the development of parks or infrastructure, updating infrastructure or creating new jobs through our Camden Works program — is all targeted at improving the social well-being and health of Camden residents. This has been our singular focus over the last decade.

What have been some significant accomplishments for the partnership?

If you look at our parks work, we’ve managed or have helped manage the development of over $110 million worth of parks, and we’re overseeing about $45 million worth of infrastructure work. We also just implemented an arts project called A New View. It’s a $1 million grant that the Partnership, Rutgers University – Camden and the city of Camden received from Bloomberg to highlight the issue of illegal dumping by using art as a way to change the perceptions of this city. Two hundred cities competed for this grant and we were one of the 12 that were chosen.

During the pandemic, we shifted our focus completely to help with COVID-19 testing logistics in the city and partnered with other nonprofits to distribute food to those in need. One of the ways we look at our station and standing in the community is to make sure that we can always be nimble enough to adapt to changing environments and the changing needs of the community.

That, I think, is one of our proudest achievements as an organization. Organizations this old — we’re 36 years old — often get structurally inflexible and what we try to do is maintain a sense of flexibility so we can pivot quickly. www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com

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CAMDEN COUNTY OVERVIEW

Vivian Coley Executive Officer to the Chief of Police – Camden County Police Department Transparency is one of the five pillars of unity policing. I’ve been tasked with not only running the youth initiative but also the training related to domestic violence, missing persons and any policy procedure questions. I’ve been tasked with educating our community to ensure they understand our policies and procedures.

We have a new learning center that’s being developed right now.

We also have a new website that was developed, which includes information on how to become a police officer, information about the recruitment of new officers and information for folks interested in taking a tour.

County Cornerstones: 1 East Camden Matrix facility Touted as a project to watch for in 2021, the East Camden Matrix facility is expected to be a key logistics and distribution facility with the potential to bring a few hundred jobs to East Camden in a concentrated effort to continue to revitalize the Admiral Wilson Corridor. Matrix Development, a Middlesex Countybased developer, is spearheading the vision for the $20 million project spanning approximately 30 acres. This will be the newest facility in a part of the county that has previously seen investments by companies such as ResinTech Inc. and Subaru Inc. The pandemic-driven rise of e-commerce and continued demand for last-mile distribution centers makes Camden County a strategic location for logistics and distribution centers.

2 Public Safety Beleaguered by high crime rates in the 2010s, Camden County has been keen on establishing an equitable, service-driven policing culture during a time that saw nationwide calls for police reform. As such, the Camden County Police Department finished 2020 with reductions in homicides, shootings and overall crime. There were more than 500 fewer crime victims in the city of Camden in 2020 compared to 2019 and approximately 1,700 fewer crime victims compared to 2014. Total crimes fell to under 3,000 in Camden for the first time in more than 50 years. Several department changes ushered in this decisive win for the county’s public safety efforts, namely a keen focus on community 82

| Invest: South Jersey 2021 | CAMDEN COUNTY

policing. De-escalation techniques, focus on verbal commands rather than excessive force, foot patrolling and checking in with local businesses have been some of the guiding tenets driving the policing culture in the county. Connecting with local youth using social media has also been a successful, innovative way to facilitate interaction. To date, the police department’s TikTok page has amassed more than 4 million views. Overall, the department has been praised nationwide for its handling of the George Floyd protests and its efforts to drive crime down to historic levels.

3 Education It is no secret that Camden County’s eds and meds sectors are pillars of the local economy. With a robust public education system and world-class higher education offerings, Camden County has many opportunities for families and students looking to further their education.

Approximately 76,000 K-12 students attend one of the county’s 36 school districts, two non-operating school districts, one Educational Services Commission and 13 charter/renaissance schools. Higher education offerings are anchored by Camden County College, Strayer University, Rowan University and Rutgers University-Camden. Committed to providing the highest-level educational experience to all students, these three institutions are an integral part of the local community and key players in the different economic development strategies, especially related to healthcare and life sciences.

CAMDEN COUNTY INTERVIEW

Giving back Locating HQ in Camden County an ‘opportunity to give back to the community’

Sidney Brown CEO – NFI Industries Why is Camden the ideal location for NFI Industries’ HQ? When we moved here two years ago, there were a few things that attracted us. One was access to a greater labor force, both from South Jersey and from the Philadelphia metro area. As we grow, we need more talent. Sourcing that talent from a greater area made sense to us. We also saw this as an opportunity to give back to the community, to hire folks from Camden and create training opportunities. Being along the interstate highway system, the airports and the rail system is very convenient for our employees. The state of New Jersey also provided incentives, which made it attractive to develop here in Camden.

How strong is the logistics market in the region?

When the pandemic hit, people diverted their attention from experiences to tangible goods. People were spending money on fixing their homes, buying new appliances, and so forth. Goods were being purchased and, therefore, there was a huge spike in demand for tonnage being shipped. Ships were overloaded, there weren’t enough containers and the ports couldn’t handle the volume.

The capacity crunch in terms of warehouse, trucking and marine capacity has caused rates to rise. This demand hasn’t slowed despite the pandemic beginning to recede, in part due to a very strong housing market but also due to the continued push for people ordering online. By ordering online, there is a change in the supply chain.

Warehouses have become the new retail storefronts. This isn’t new but the pandemic accelerated this — and this trend toward online purchases isn’t going away. In fact, it’s a secular trend that is going to continue at a strong growth rate for the foreseeable future. Warehousing and transportation is what we do, so we are in a very good position and many of our competitors are also doing well.

I have never been more optimistic than I am now about the future of what we do, the services we provide and the

outlook for our industry over the next three to five years.

Specifically in Burlington County, we have a significant initiative that will add a tremendous amount of warehouse space and jobs, and help South Jersey continue to be a leader in distribution in the Northeast.

In what ways is technology impacting the supply chain?

Autonomous trucking and robotics in warehouses have been a huge topic of discussion. I believe that as more demand is created, technology will have some solutions in addressing labor shortages. The solutions may not be fully autonomous or fully robotic but there are some very interesting technologies that we have been experimenting with that will continue to evolve and affect the landscape. This is not a static industry and how we innovate is key to our success. www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com

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Market voices: Leadership perspective

Jeffrey Gottlieb CEO ResinTech Inc.

The future of Cramer Hill and the City of Camden is truly exciting. A new $70 million Cramer Hill Waterfront Park located on 62 acres with more than 3,000 feet of shoreline on the Delaware River is about to open. Downtown Camden is also building a new transportation hub, hopefully including a light rail stop. And most recently the city received a $35 million federal grant from HUD to rebuild the city’s oldest housing project, Ablett Village, located across the street from our facility and offer local residents modern, energy efficient, lower density housing, and for many a short walk to work at ResinTech. As the worst of COVID-19 passes, ResinTech is excited to actively participate in Camden and support these great transformations.

The services that we (Camden County) provide to our military community and their families are excellent. This is well known and recognized. For instance, when the Philadelphia VA Medical Center was vaccinating veterans and wanted to organize a mobile clinic outside of Philadelphia, we partnered to hold one in Camden County and vaccinated roughly 1,400 veterans. When asked why Camden County was selected, they said we had a well-established Office of Veterans Affairs, that we value our veterans and that we would support the logistics that were needed in organizing this clinic in Camden County. This is just one example of the reputation we have for honoring our veterans.

Jeffrey Nash

Commissioner, Parks Liaison Camden County

Commissioner , Veterans Affairs Liaison Camden County

Because Camden County is an older county, a lot of the infrastructure, including parks, had become dilapidated. Camden County has done a great job in providing maintenance and upgrades to those parks. Camden County is soon to announce Parks Alive 2025, a five-year strategic plan beginning in 2021 to renovate and revitalize all 23 parks in the county system. The plan will cost about $50 million, which is an extraordinary investment. However, much of it will be done in-house. We’ve received significant grants from both the state and federal government as well as nonprofits, such as the William Penn Foundation.

There are a few huge, transitional projects taking place in South Jersey.

Specifically, the Ørsted offshore wind project is going to bring a new industry and many specialized jobs to the area. Establishing a clean energy industry and tackling the problem of climate change is a must, and there are all sorts of opportunities associated with reducing our carbon footprint. The solar industry is also taking the nation and region by storm right now and we’re seeing a transition to electric vehicles with all of the major manufacturers now producing them. All of these changes present opportunities.

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Melinda Kane

| Invest: South Jersey 2021 | CAMDEN COUNTY

Robert Weil

Chairman Camden County Regional Chamber of Commerce

CAMDEN CONSTRUCTION COUNTY OVERVIEW

( ) The Michaels Organization calling the county home, for example, a strong infrastructure is vital to continue to attract and retain economic growth in a post-COVID world. From parks to transportation projects, the county has a strong pipeline of ongoing infrastructure developments slated to reshape the local landscape.

On the transportation front, ambitious projects such as the overhaul of the Walter Rand Transportation Center and the ongoing work on the Glassboro-Camden Line are set to catalyze transportation and mobility options in Camden County and South Jersey as a whole. As the county’s largest transportation hub, the Walter Rand Transportation Center (WRTC) serves as a vital convergence point for multiple transit systems in the region and it is the Delaware Valley’s gateway to New Jersey. In February, Gov. Phil Murphy announced a $250 million overhaul of WRTC. “We’re making a lot of investments across South Jersey. We are entirely redeveloping the Walter Rand Transportation Center in Camden, which is desperately needed and will reimagine transportation in the region,” Murphy told Invest:.

With 26 bus lines, intermodal connectivity with the PATCO Speedline subway system and the River LINE Light rail, as well as supporting intercity independent bus services, the overhaul of WRTC will not only streamline intermodal connectivity in Camden County but also guide transit-oriented development in the burgeoning business and healthcare districts that immediately surround the transportation center. “We are especially excited for the redevelopment of the Walter Rand Transportation Center. This will be a game changer and will bring a world-class transportation center to Camden City while creating opportunities for both commercial and residential real estate,” Cappelli told Invest:.

The project is still in the planning stage but NJ TRANSIT recently completed approximately $2.8 million in repairs that include work to its five-story parking deck and electrical, lighting and concrete patching needed to help facilitate future construction at the WRTC, according to the governor’s office.

Just as visionary as the WRTC, the Glassboro-Camden Line, an 18-mile light-rail line proposal, is expected to leverage the infrastructure investments happening at the Walter Rand Center to expand regional transportation options through Camden County going as far south as the Glassboro township in Gloucester County. The GlassboroCamden Line project moved a step forward in February when the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection reportedly finished its environmental impact study, a decisive measure in the feasibility of any ambitious infrastructure project.

Now in the preliminary engineering design and project

Dana Redd Chief Executive Officer Rowan University/ Rutgers-Camden Board of Governors

What makes Camden great for businesses?

Location, location, location. Camden has the thirdlargest and busiest transportation hub in the state of New Jersey, not to mention our eds and meds research institutions and assets, which have a global reach. We also have a very active port, as well as a diverse and highly skilled workforce. The partnership and collaboration opportunities presented to the city have really helped transform Camden. Camden is definitely a place to look at regarding investment and growing your business.

What is the outlook for Camden’s eds and meds sector and what is the role for Rowan and Rutgers?

I’m really excited about the future of the eds and meds sector in Camden. The Joint Board is engaged in an urban planning process for the third phase of the health sciences campus, which will be directly across from the Walter Rand Transportation Terminal. When we started this process earlier this year, it wasn’t too long after our launch that the governor came down and announced $250 million to revitalize the transportation terminal. The Joint Board, in collaboration with both universities and other anchor institution partners, is really envisioning what this next phase could potentially look like contextually and in relationship to the development at the WRTC. I also want to emphasize the importance of community engagement since any visioning process that happens in Camden really embraces responsible redevelopment.

We plan from the bottom up, meaning we include the voices and ideas of our residents. We involve them at the front end of the process.

In terms of the outlook for both Rowan and Rutgers, I’m certain that the leadership will position their universities to be competitive in this region, making sure that we are attracting students to both campuses and to the Southern New Jersey region. I believe that not only will they play a significant role in expanding Camden’s research footprint but they will also play a role in preparing the workforce to respond to the growing demand for healthcare professionals. www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com

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Kevin O’Dowd Co-CEO Cooper University Health Care

What is the state of the healthcare market in South Jersey?

The state of healthcare in South Jersey is very strong, which we believe is an outcome of the close collaboration among the southern New Jersey health systems during the pandemic. The South Jersey healthcare market continues to be one of the most competitive in the region. Our goal is to ensure that Cooper continues to distinguish itself as the leading academic health system in the region with nationally and internationally recognized doctors, advanced care and a spectrum of programs and services to meet the complex needs of the community.

How is Cooper helping to make healthcare more affordable?

There are a number of complex historical and structural issues that cause healthcare costs to continue to rise.

With national healthcare expenditures estimated to reach $6.2 trillion by 2028, there continues to be a priority focus on providing healthcare services that are both fiscally responsible and provide high levels of quality, effectiveness and equity.

We believe individuals should be focused on staying well rather than how they will be able to afford healthcare if they get sick. That is why we are honored that Cooper is represented on Gov. Murphy’s Health Care Affordability Advisory Group to combat the unsustainable rate of growth of healthcare costs in the state. Everyone is concerned about healthcare costs because even those fortunate enough to have health coverage through their employment continue to see a significant and growing percentage of their paychecks going to pay for healthcare premiums and deductibles even before they access any healthcare services.

For Cooper, our strategy is to remain the lowest cost academic tertiary care health system in the region. That means keeping a close eye on expenses and seeking innovative ways to make care affordable.

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| Invest: South Jersey 2021 | CAMDEN COUNTY

management phase, the South Jersey Transportation Authority has already committed $200 million toward the next phase of the project. With a vision that includes creating 14 new train stations, while increasing connectivity with PATCO lines and other mobility options, the Glassboro-Camden Line is a hat trick infrastructure, sustainability and economic development victory not only for Camden County but for the Garden State overall while also serving as a vehicle for cementing affordability in the local market as it continues to grow.

Equally as important to the region’s economic recovery is the Port of Camden. Situated on the eastern bank of the Delaware River between Camden and Gloucester counties, the port is one of the busiest on the East Coast, bringing commodities such as Cocoa Beans, plywood and fruit from around the world. The port has been instrumental in keeping several industries afloat in the face of the pandemic.

Overall cargo operations were up through the first half of 2021 and the port is projected to surpass 2019 overall cargo levels by year’s end, South Jersey Port Corporation Executive Director and CEO Andrew Saporito told Invest:. “Steel is up 50%, plywood is up 47% and cocoa is up 75%. But while cargo is surging to pre-pandemic levels, demand for products like slag, which is used in cement mixing, is recovering at a slower rate because many of the big construction projects were either delayed or stopped during the pandemic. Those are picking up again with all the money expected to come in from President Biden’s new infrastructure initiatives. This year, we expect to surpass the overall cargo levels we saw in 2019,” Saporito said.

As it relates to quality of life improvements via infrastructure, the county and its municipalities are keen on delivering on the 10-Minute Walk promise of ensuring residents have access to high-quality open spaces within a 10-minute walk of their homes by 2050. An effort that began in 2018 based on a national movement, the city of Camden, with support of the county and local stakeholders, unveiled its first ever Parks and Open Space Plan in December 2020. With objectives that range from the creation of safe recreational spaces, expansion and maintenance of park amenities with a keen focus on community programs, Camden anticipates approximately $25 million on investments earmarked for its park system over the next five years.

Residential Camden County’s commitments to infrastructure improvements bode well for its residential and commercial real estate growth in a post-COVID future.

On the residential front, Camden County offers levels of

CAMDEN CONSTRUCTION COUNTY OVERVIEW

affordability to homebuyers of varying needs coupled with a litany of municipalities suitable for a thriving family dynamic. Though not immune to rising costs of properties and construction, largely buoyed by low interest rates, an active housing market, low supply figures and supply-chain disruptions, Camden County’s affordability factor has remained resilient in the face of the real estate frenzy sweeping the nation. Considered a suburb of Philadelphia, the Camden County median single-family sales price stands at approximately $267,000 as of May 2021. That is a 27.5% increase yearover-year with a supply of inventory whittled to an average of 1.1 months, according to New Jersey Realtors®.

In a sweeping effort to improve the local housing stock, several residential redevelopment projects are happening across the county to renovate and improve neighborhoods that previously were considered a public safety concern. Leveraging federal and state dollars in the process, and armed with a $15 million state grant, the city of Camden took the lead on this front in July by knocking down approximately 300 homes to make way for new homes or open spaces. “We have some strong CDCs and nonprofit developers in Camden, and we want to help build their capacity so they can create affordable housing options within our neighborhoods,” Carstarphen told Invest:.

Razing blighted properties goes hand-in-hand with the city’s public safety improvements in an effort to turn the page on its past. In 2021, the city of Camden experienced its lowest crime rate in 50 years.

Similarly, the county announced a $35 million investment to transform the Ablett Village community in Cramer Hill, one of the county’s first public housing projects. Using Housing and Urban Development funding, the city of Camden, its housing authority and developer The Michaels Organization, envision approximately 425 new affordable homes and apartments, community amenities and attractive green spaces.

Eds and meds Guided investments in Camden County’s growing eds and meds corridors complement the county’s efforts to revitalize local neighborhoods. The Delaware Valley’s robust healthcare, life sciences and education sectors have historically been concentrated across the river in the city of Philadelphia, much to the benefit of the entire MSA. Notwithstanding, institutions such as Cooper University Health Care, Rutgers University-Camden and Lourdes Health System acquired by Virtua in 2019, have served the Camden and South Jersey communities for decades and are the cornerstones of the ongoing renaissance happening in the county.

Anthony Mazzarelli Co-CEO Cooper University Health Care

How is technology revolutionizing healthcare?

As an academic health system and teaching hospital, Cooper is committed to providing the most technologically advanced care and developing and adopting innovative technologies to make care delivery more efficient, improve safety, improve patient experience and outcomes, and reduce costs.

One example of this was the launch of The Nuance DAX system. Cooper was one of the first health systems in the nation to introduce Nuance DAX, which revolutionizes the physician-patient experience by securely capturing and contextualizing physician-patient conversations.

By populating the patient’s electronic medical record through this new AI technology, our physicians spend less time at their computer screens during visits to focus more attention where it’s needed: on their patients.

What legislation could impact the sector?

President Biden signed an Executive Order promoting cost transparency and competition in different sectors of the American economy. The Executive Order makes several recommendations related to prescription drugs, hospitals and health insurance among others. One significant provision urges greater oversight over hospital mergers to ensure patients are not harmed. The Executive Order also reiterates the Administration’s support for implementing a public health insurance option. All of these recommendations could have a significant impact on health systems.

What is your near-term outlook for South Jersey’s healthcare sector?

Healthcare will continue to see dynamic change on a number of fronts from governmental policy changes to medical technologies to increased consumerism. The pandemic will continue to affect public health for the foreseeable future as there remain many unknowns related to COVID-19. There will be much more attention paid to strengthening our state’s health care system to be prepared for any new health care crises. www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com

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CAMDEN COUNTY OVERVIEW

Over the last decade, the city of Camden has experienced an infusion of millions of redevelopment dollars that has revitalized Downtown Camden with promising momentum-building slated to benefit the overall county and South Jersey region. Created by the New Jersey Medical and Health Sciences Education Restructuring Act of 2012, the The Rowan University / Rutgers – Camden Board of Governors (RURCBOG) is tasked with guiding development and leveraging the educational and research assets to support growth across the region.

Opened in 2019, the Joint Health Sciences Center is the latest Camden-based eds and meds project to come onboard during a decade that saw hundreds of millions of guided investments on this front and the centerpiece of the Health Science Campus project. The $70 million center houses lab and training spaces for multiple universities and is a convergence point sustaining the operations of different universities, a community college and two medical schools. The center marks the completion of Phase I of RURCBOG’s long-term vision for the redevelopment of the Health Science Campus.

Located adjacent to the Walter Rand Transportation Center, Joint Health Sciences Center exemplifies the fashion in which the eds and meds sector is driving investments in the county. In 2020, the board issued a request-for-proposal for the campus’ roughly $65 million Collaborative Life Sciences Center. As part of Phase III, the new life science center will feature a health sciences library, and collaborative classroom and lab spaces for students across the partner educational institutions affiliated with the Health Science Campus project. “The Health Sciences Campus Plan also will uplift Camden, attract businesses to South Jersey and provide attractive college placement and workforce

opportunities for residents, including the creation of employment and business opportunities for lowincome residents,” the board wrote on its request-forproposal documents.

Looking ahead Featuring a strong investment rating, attractive affordability factors, access to key metros along the Delaware Valley and the Northeast, Camden County has all the facets characteristic of a successful, growing region. As it prepares to emerge from the COVID landscape, Camden County is ready to capitalize on decadeslong efforts to diversify its tax base, attract and develop industries, and update its local infrastructure to meet the needs of a growing population. The eds and meds sector is expected to anchor the county’s economic development strategies moving forward.

Commercial and residential redevelopment efforts afoot position the county as one of the most attractive metros to live, work and play along the Delaware Valley. These guided redevelopment efforts coupled with a strong push to improve the region’s public safety strategies are quickly eradicating negative perceptions about the Camden market while cementing its status as the market to watch in the Garden State.

Capital Analytics would like to thank Camden County for its contributions in compiling this chapter. To learn more, visit their website at: www.camdencounty.com

Infrastructure, Transportation & Utilities: Investments, including those resulting from public-private partnerships, are shoring up the region’s infrastructure framework and enhancing its transportation network. The work is expected to help ensure a rapid recovery from the pandemic.

www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com

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Economic catalyst: Job creation, connectivity and business attraction are among the key goals for ongoing investment Prior to COVID, South Jersey had made large strides with its infrastructure development. In the wake of the pandemic, development and critical investment in this segment, including utilities and transportation, will act as a catalyst to help the region to a faster recovery – and the path forward is already laid out.

The main goals for infrastructure development are job creation, increasing connectivity and providing a competitive environment to attract new businesses.

Alongside proposed capital plans for both the New Jersey Turnpike Authority (NJTA) and South Jersey Transportation Authority (SJTA), private firms such as Ørsted have contributed significant investments in offshore energy infrastructure that positions the region for further growth.

One of the ways the government is supporting development of infrastructure is through publicprivate partnerships (PPPs). In 2018, Gov. Phil Murphy signed legislation that would allow government bodies to enter into agreements with private sector partners on new developments and maintenance of existing projects. After the last year, Murphy threw even more support behind infrastructure development with his 2022 budget, focusing on inclusive neighborhoods 90

with affordable housing options, investments in transit without fare hikes, and critical upgrades to water and broadband infrastructure.

Landscape The American Society of Civil Engineers gave the country an overall infrastructure grade of D+ in 2013 and little changed in the intervening years as the country was awarded C- in 2021. Data from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) show states and localities provide the lion’s share of infrastructure funding in the United States, providing $320 billion as compared to $96 billion from the federal government. According to the Infrastructure Report Card, driving on roads that need repair costs New Jersey drivers $713 per year. Almost 8% of bridges are rated structurally deficit and 229 dams are considered high-hazard potential. The CAPEX gap in New Jersey’s schools is estimated at $1.58 billion and drinking water needs are projected at $8.6 billion.

Infrastructure is vital to any economy because it ensures businesses can run smoothly, connectivity is maintained with business hubs and that economic diversification takes place to disrupt the cycle of seasonal employment. When seeking a new business ( )

| Invest: South Jersey 2021 | INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORTATION & UTILITIES

INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORTATION & UTILITIES INTERVIEW

Connections Port authority committed to ‘connecting people to friends and family, to employment opportunities and to recreational venues’

John Hanson President & CEO – DRPA | PATCO How were DRPA and PATCO impacted by the pandemic?

The pandemic has created a very unpredictable time and one of the things we are committed to is leading through our strategic plan. We have stewardship over important infrastructure assets in the South Jersey region. Our mission is connecting people to friends and family, to employment opportunities and to recreational venues.

We recognize that it is our job to serve the region. Our mission requires a face-to-face connection and is based on people being together, so this has been a challenge during the pandemic.

How will the Glassboro-Camden Line (GCL) impact South Jersey’s transportation offer?

The GCL is a fantastic project that furthers our mission and provides people and businesses with the connectivity they need to access jobs, healthcare and workers. This will extend the Philadelphia-Camden metro region by opening it to a group of people who do not have access or who may lose access through affordability if we see gas prices continue to rise, as is expected this year.

Consumers are always at the mercy of cyclical events and things like the GCL and the PATCO line ensure that people are able to travel and connect. It is also important in promoting alternative transportation methods that are not cars. Essentially, it will go toward providing an equitable situation for those who are priced out of car ownership or for those who do not want to own a car. We are at the beginning of the preliminary design stage right now and we’re targeting 2027 for trains to start rolling.

What other capital projects are you working on?

Our main domains of stewardship are financial, maintenance and human resources. We also recognize that we have an obligation to environmental stewardship. As part of our capital program, we have embarked on a very aggressive solar energy project,

which is being funded by our partners at Sun Power.

We’ve covered several parking lots in solar panels and we expect that more than 50% of the total electricity consumption for DRPA and PATCO will come from this generation source.

The largest capital investment project we’ve ever embarked on is the Ben Franklin Bridge suspension and rehabilitation project that is underway. At a project cost of $217 million, we are dehumidifying the main span of cables, we are doing paving and steel work and carrying out enhancements to the north side pedestrian walkway.

On the south side, we’re replacing the decorative lighting.

At the Walt Whitman Bridge, we have a $74 million project to rehabilitate approximately two miles of I-76 in South Philadelphia between the bridge’s toll plaza and Passyunk Avenue. www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com

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Carl Ortell CEO Holman Enterprises

How is Holman helping its clients navigate today’s challenging landscape?

It goes without saying that the pandemic has fundamentally changed the way many organizations conduct business and we certainly weren’t immune to the pandemic’s impact. Fortunately, our organization was well prepared to overcome many of the shortterm challenges and we remain in a strong position for sustained growth. However, as we emerge from the pandemic, this continued recovery will be a particular area of focus for our entire Holman family of businesses.

From a business perspective, we remain focused on helping both our B2B and B2C customers navigate this time of unparalleled uncertainty. Our truly unique perspective of the entire automotive landscape and ability to leverage the competencies of our various businesses continue to be a key differentiator for Holman. Whether that means offering creative solutions to retail customers who are shopping for their next vehicle during this time of unprecedented demand or working with fleet operators to adjust their strategies to align with the new realities of their business, we welcome the opportunity to travel the road ahead together.

What is Holman’s economic impact on the South Jersey community?

Among the core tenets of our corporate philosophy is an unwavering commitment to supporting and making a meaningful contribution to the communities in which we live and work. That being said, I couldn’t be prouder of Holman’s economic and social impact on the South Jersey community – a place we’ve called home for nearly a century.

Today, we employ nearly 3,000 individuals throughout the region and provide automotive services to countless others. I’d also be remiss if I didn’t touch on our philanthropy and community service, which continue to be fundamental to who we are as an organization.

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| Invest: South Jersey 2021 | INFRASTRUCTURE...

New Jersey’s main power sources in 2019 were natural gas and nuclear power.

( ) location, companies often look to infrastructure as a barometer of a region’s attractiveness. Strong public transport, commuter links and proximity to efficient airports is often sought after. In South Jersey, the transit and transport systems have been highlighted as a potential barrier to future economic growth, according to the Southern New Jersey Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) for 2020-2025. South Jersey has historically been isolated from the rest of the state and the greater Philadelphia area by a lack of four-lane or interstate highways. Public transport links are sparse and the NJT Route 553 bus from Bridgeton to Atlantic City is one of the most active transit lines in the entire NJ Transit system, highlighting high unmet demand.

Another area highlighted for improvement is the Jersey Shore’s prolific boardwalks, which are in need of replacement and repair so the region remains an

INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORTATION & UTILITIES OVERVIEW

Kris Singh President & CEO – Holtec International New Jersey can be the headquarters of small modular reactors (SMRs), the hub for innovation and supplier to the world. Each SMR costs about $1 billion. The worldwide demand for SMRs is estimated to be 3,000 right now, or $3 trillion. Just imagine the effect supplying that demand would have on the local economy. It is very possible to produce a great bulk of the equipment out of our New Jersey plant if the state government appropriately participates in the growth.

We believe the cost of nuclear energy through SMRs will compete favorably with natural gas. The new generation of nuclear power will be competitive even with natural gas at $7 per million BTU.

attractive tourist destination. According to the CEDS, “the region lacks infrastructure in the places most attractive to the growth industries of the present and future. This includes broadband and internet connections which are so vital to the communications industry and all sectors of business as well as limited access to public water and sewer in many areas of the region.”

This year, President Joe Biden is pushing for a $973 billion infrastructure deal, which could see an upgrade in key infrastructure across the country. The American Jobs Plan aims to build new rail corridors and transit lines, ease congestion, cut pollution, slash commute times, and open up investment in communities that can be connected to the cities. The administration has shown interest in improving rail connectivity, allocating $80 billion to Amtrak, which could go some way to beginning the Gateway Program – the planned expansion of the system between Newark, New Jersey and New York City.

Regionally, there are more new projects in the pipeline.

The New Jersey Department of Transport recently announced $30.1 million in funding for improvements that will facilitate heavy-truck traffic to ease logistics.

In its green roadmap, the Murphy administration has also detailed plans to turn the entire bus fleet green in the next 20 years. An intermodal New York-New Jersey port-rail project is progressing, with Waverly Loop scheduled to open at the end of 2021. The next step is to build a light rail line between Glassboro and Camden, providing South Jersey residents a direct route into Philadelphia’s metro area. At the end of 2020, the governor also announced the state would replace two bridges and resurface Route 27/Dehart Place to ease traffic flows.

Gov. Murphy’s Energy Master Plan sets a target of 100% clean energy by 2050 Climate change As a coastal community, South Jersey is particularly vulnerable to sea level rises, storms and flooding.

Although 2020 saw a relatively mild storm season, eight coastal flooding events occurred along the Atlantic City coast, caused by smaller winter storms. These storms were rated minor or moderate yet still caused flooding, indicating a worrying rise in sea levels, according to experts at the New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium.

With a more active season expected in 2021, this could be costly for the state, with costs for dune fencing and dune damage repair reaching $600,000 per event. In April this year, the state released its State of New Jersey Climate Change Resiliency Strategy, which outlined 125 actions across six policy areas that must be implemented to counteract the effects of climate change.

In January 2020, Murphy unveiled New Jersey’s Energy Master Plan, which sets out strategies to reach the goal of 100% clean energy generation by 2050. Infrastructure is a key component of the plan with goals including the electrification of transportation systems, ( ) www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com

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®

oundtable:

Energy innovation South Jersey is leading the charge in revolutionizing the energy industry. Here, leaders discuss the future of the energy grid.

Gary Stockbridge

Mike Renna

Region President Atlantic City Electric & Delmarva Power

President & CEO South Jersey Industries

In what ways is SJI helping to push New Jersey toward its clean energy goals?

Certainly, in the state, the region and nationally there is an emphasis on reducing our carbon footprint and greenhouse gas emissions. SJI has embraced that goal.

We’ve spent a lot of time identifying areas where we as an energy delivery company could not only support those goals but, more importantly, accelerate them. SJI has committed to what I believe to be industry-leading greenhouse gas reductions for our operations. We’re looking to reduce the emissions from our operations by 70% by 2030 and 100% by 2040. Beyond that, I think we’re the first and only utility company that has committed a certain percentage of our CAPEX on an annual basis to decarbonization investments. In this case, we’re committed to investing at least 25% on an annual basis on decarbonization projects and initiatives. That’s quite a bit when you think about the fact that, on a five-year average, we’ll spend $2-3 billion in terms of our traditional CAPEX. So, 25% of that would be for decarbonizationtype investments.

What does the future of hydrogen look like?

A future of hydrogen at a significantly reduced, lowcarbon gas stream is possible. It can certainly be in place by 2050. There is a misconception that gas can’t be part of the solution. I’ll further say that in the end, we’re agnostic: I don’t care what the molecular content of the fuel flowing through the pipes is, as long as it’s safe and available. If at some point down the road, we as an industry are delivering hydrogen, great. That’s the business we’re in: delivering energy.

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What role is Atlantic City Electric playing in the transition to greener energy?

We do business in a lot of states and I think New Jersey is at the forefront regarding green energy, so kudos to the governor for his legislation and everything he has done in this regard. First and foremost, we continuously look at our fleet and facilities to make sure that we’re walking the talk relative to the conversion of our fleet to electric vehicles and running efficient buildings in contributing to that effort. The good news for us is that we play a bigger role within the state than just our own footprint. Almost all of the activities and clean energy priorities that we’ve been working on are either driven by legislation, are under regulatory review or have received regulatory approval.

Thankfully, these are nearing the launch phase. All these programs will help the state achieve its green goals one customer at a time.

What does the future of the energy grid look like?

In our industry, we often talk about the utility grid of the future. In my mind, this is a smarter grid with a lot of data going through it, which would help us and our customers understand how our energy is being used. It also needs to be a self-healing grid, understanding when issues are happening and performing self-repairs to a certain extent. This includes innovative technologies to improve system reliability, such as specialized equipment that can restore service faster or isolate damage in the event of a power outage. We need to be able to bring on distributed generation quicker. In the utility grid of today, we still run into issues of congestion and there’s still a general lack of knowledge regarding how energy is used.

| Invest: South Jersey 2021 | INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORTATION & UTILITIES

INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORTATION & UTILITIES ROUNDTABLE

Rick Thigpen

Senior Vice President – Corporate Citizenship PSEG

How is PSEG helping to foster South Jersey’s clean energy economy?

South Jersey is now the capital of the clean energy economy in New Jersey, and PSEG is very proud to be one of the leaders in making that happen. We are continuing to carefully and thoughtfully reduce our use of fossil fuels. In June 2021, we closed the last coal plant in our fleet and we expect to sell our natural gas generation assets by the end of the year. We are transitioning our power portfolio to focus specifically on carbon-free generation — overwhelmingly nuclear and, in part, solar and offshore wind.

What is your response to critics of clean energy costs?

There’s no doubt that we have to be mindful of the cost of carbon-free electricity but we also have to be mindful of the cost of inaction related to reducing our use of fossil fuels. If we do not carefully manage the consequences of climate change, we’re going to face consequences far beyond any financial cost we’re going to pay. Striking that proper balance, where people can afford the transition, is very important and we believe that preserving our existing nuclear power capabilities is an integral part of managing that transition.

How do you promote energy efficiency?

We’re teaching individuals and families the importance of using less energy and to use cleaner energies when possible, and to do so in a way that doesn’t ask them to sacrifice any of the activities they enjoy. We were recently approved for a program to invest over $1 billion in energy efficiency as a partner to our customers and help them reduce their energy usage.

Joris Veldhoven

Commercial and Finance Director Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind

What economic impact will your offshore wind project have?

At the state level, most of our impact will be in South Jersey, where the New Jersey Wind Port is proposed. Including all the direct, indirect or induced benefits, it’s estimated that we will provide over $1.8 billion in terms of economic impact as measured by state economic growth.

To hold ourselves accountable, we’ve given a guarantee of at least $848 million in direct investment. It requires work to be held accountable to that level but it’s something we’ve chosen to do voluntarily to ensure New Jersey’s communities reap the most economic benefit possible from our project.

What is the significance of your hydrogen project?

The green hydrogen project is a pilot project and is something that Atlantic Shores has some experience with globally. We really wanted to bring that to the Garden State. As far as we know, we are the first and only green hydrogen project in the state, which comes with a big responsibility. We found a great partner in SJI and they’re equally excited about the potential of hydrogen and what it can mean. We’re going to develop a 10-megawatt electrolyzer, which makes hydrogen from water and renewable power. This is why it’s called green hydrogen as opposed to other forms of hydrogen that traditionally involve hydrocarbons. A hydrogen-based economy has a lot of potential, as seen in other states. It’s a great carrier of energy and is relatively efficient. The pilot project’s primary use will be to inject hydrogen into the state’s gas grid so that it helps to decarbonize existing consumers, like transportation and industry, in New Jersey. www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com

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INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORTATION & UTILITIES OVERVIEW

Perspectives: Industrial evolution Corey Apirian CEO – Davinci Micro Fulfillment The No. 1 advantage (of micro fulfillment centers) is that smaller footprints in an added number of areas allow you to get closer to the customer. They also remove the complexity related to massive 100,000- to 1-millionsquare-foot distribution centers. Complexity equals cost.

Walking through a warehouse is one of the largest drains on efficiency. Autonomous robotics can reduce that but our smaller footprints make our model a mass model that allows a lot of agility and pinpoint accuracy.

Tim Kroll Airport Director – Atlantic City International Airport We’re hopeful our growth will be on the cargo side as well, not just passengers. During COVID, cargo activity has increased significantly. With e-commerce becoming more and more popular, cargo has been demonstrating steady growth and is definitely one of our goals. We’re under an agreement with a developer to potentially develop a cargo project and by January, we’ll know if the project to build a cargo terminal of at least 75,000 square feet will move forward.

Jonathan Seibert CEO – Vision Solar There is legislation in place that is laying the groundwork for a highly aggressive shift toward renewable energy in general and solar in particular. The legislation in place stipulates the conversion of 35% of the state’s power to solar by 2050. The state has done a phenomenal job in terms of enforcement policy to push people to use renewable energy.

( ) improving energy efficiency through stronger building codes and embracing clean energy development. However, critics of the plan have drawn attention to the mammoth task ahead, given that about 75% of houses in New Jersey are powered by natural gas. There have been concerns over the rising costs of developing renewable energies and injecting them into the grid, and whether those costs will be passed onto consumers.

The state is making strides in renewable energy by taking advantage of its coastal location to offset its carbon emissions and mitigate the effects of climate change. It has doubled down on offshore wind development with Ørsted’s two Ocean Wind projects, coupled with the Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind project, 96

which together will develop 3,700MW. The new wind farm has created the need for supporting infrastructure, and the governor last year introduced a $250 million investment in a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility for wind turbines.

But more than this is needed by the offshore wind industry. Experts are calling for policymakers to address the lack of consistent power generation and availability gaps. One overlooked area is wave power, which experts estimate can generate close to 65% of U.S. electricity demand and can surpass the potential of wind and solar when fully unlocked. The talent gap is also being addressed by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, which is helping roll out certified training programs for offshore wind workers.

New Jersey is also developing solar energy farms.

Developer Synnergy obtained city approval to build and operate a 1.3MW generating facility for municipal properties in Millville, Cumberland County. Synnergy had promised cost savings of 35% from the solar field, which is connected to the regional grid belonging to Atlantic City Electric.

The state is also ramping up availability of charging stations to promote the use of EVs. Atlantic City Electric received approval in April to expand access in all communities in its service areas, for a total of 3,250 EV charging stations. However, the quest to roll out EVs has faced some challenges in the past year. A program offering a $5,000 rebate for those purchasing EVs expired in December and ended up undersubscribed.

There are now doubts over the future viability of the program.

Utilities New Jersey’s main power sources in 2019 were natural gas and nuclear, together accounting for around 84% of the state’s utility-scale electricity generation. But the state was also the country’s seventh-largest solar electricity producer in the same year, displaying its commitment to the clean energy transition. New Jersey aims to move to 35% renewable energy generation by 2025 and 50% by 2030. In 2021, the state slipped to No. 17 in the country in terms of new solar capacity added after ranking ninth in 2019 and 11th in 2020. This was mainly due to the unwinding of a $800 million per year subsidy package as the state continues to grapple with balancing the cost of renewable energy and making it affordable enough for consumers.

The state is well-covered when it comes to utilities.

Electricity is provided by Atlantic City Electric, Jersey Central Power & Light, Orange & Rockland, PSE&G and Vineland Municipal. Elizabethtown Gas, New Jersey ( )

| Invest: South Jersey 2021 | INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORTATION & UTILITIES

INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORTATION & UTILITIES INTERVIEW

Committed The Glassboro-Camden Line is moving forward with cooperation among regional authorities

Stephen Dougherty Executive Director – South Jersey Transportation Authority (SJTA) What is the status of the Glassboro-Camden Line?

The Glassboro-Camden Line is an exciting project for the SJTA. In September 2020, we implemented our first toll increase in 12 years. Once that went into effect, we started several different projects locally on the roadway and here in South Jersey. One of the biggest was the commitment to help advance the Glassboro-Camden Line, which we think is exciting in the context of the Atlantic City Expressway. We’ve earmarked a significant financial pledge of up to $200 million in partnership with the Delaware River Port Authority. Earlier this year, both Authority boards approved an MOU to work together to move that project forward. It’s interesting for us to be able to partner with a fellow agency here in South Jersey with a similar mindset and mission to improve our region and be able to get people moving in a more efficient way.

What is the main challenge in promoting an efficient and safe transportation system?

One of our biggest projects from a capital standpoint is All-Electronic Tolling. We are working closely with the New Jersey Turnpike to bring this technology to New Jersey. We expect to put out an RFP (request for proposal) that will convert our cash system to a purely all-electronic tolling system. It will eliminate toll barriers where drivers stop and pay cash. As of today, about 82% of our customers use E-ZPass as a payment method.

Customers without E-ZPass will receive a bill in the mail to the address in which their car is registered. The system will take a picture of their license plate and they will be charged the toll along with an administration fee to cover the cost of that process. It’s a customer-first approach. Another benefit is that once the system is up for a few years and we have data on where people are getting on and off, we can start to rationalize the toll structure and make it more distance-based, based on

segments of the roadway that people actually use. From a safety standpoint, you will not have to worry about folks stopping on the entrance and exit ramps. Patrons will not need to stop to pay cash, which is the main barrier we have today. From an environmental standpoint, this stopping increases the emission of greenhouse gases.

Any toll road that is being built throughout the country and the world is going to an all-electronic system and no one is collecting cash anymore. This will allow us to get caught up not just with the region, but all around the world. We feel like we have to offer a better product or service to our customers all the time so that we can continue to grow the Expressway and improve the experience for all those involved. Specifically, we believe that all-electronic tolling is a major step in that direction from a convenience and safety standpoint. www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com

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INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORTATION & UTILITIES OVERVIEW

New Jersey American Water spent more than $464 million on system upgrades and improvement projects in 2020 ( ) Natural Gas, PSE&G and South Jersey Gas are the gas providers, while water and wastewater services are provided by a number of regulated companies. Several of South Jersey’s utilities also provide alternative energy.

Gas Utilities have been under pressure in the past few years.

Gas companies had to contend with delinquent accounts due to a moratorium on shut-offs that ended July 1, 2021.

However, a grace period to repay bills runs until the end of the year, heaping further pressure on gas providers.

PSE&G has set up a deferred payment arrangement for 12-, 18- or 24-month periods and JCP&L is working with customers on an individual basis, in some cases forgiving some or all of the past-due amounts.

South Jersey Industries (SJI), the owner of South Jersey Gas (SJG) and Elizabethtown Gas, is the largest standalone gas utility in the state. It has 700,000

customers and about 10,000 miles of distribution and transmission pipelines. Despite pandemic-related challenges, the group reported a 27.4% year-over-year increase in revenue for the first quarter of 2021. SJI continues to invest in critical infrastructure through its ongoing Accelerated Infrastructure Replacement Program and Storm Hardening and Reliability Program at SJG. The group is on track to complete the replacement of aging bare steel and four targeted system enhancement projects within the barrier islands. In April, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities approved the expansion of SJG’s energy efficiency programs for three years, from July 2021 to 2024 with proposed investments of $133 million.

Water The state of New Jersey has several regulated water and wastewater providers. New Jersey American Water is the largest water and wastewater utility in the state, serving 2.5 million people in 17 counties. The utility was ranked No. 1 in the 2020 JD Power Water Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction Study for large Northeastern regions. In January, New Jersey American Water announced that it had spent more than $464 million on system upgrades and improvement projects over the course of 2020, an $80 million year-over-year increase.

But the investment program comes at a cost. In October, the utility sought and was granted a hike to its base water and wastewater charges that increase the average bill for a wastewater customer by $2.52. The average water customer will see a $2.56 increase. At the same time, a credit was approved, which will result in a pass-back of $32.5 million to customers until August 2021, meaning

Howard Kyle President – National Aviation Research and Technology Park Atlantic County was rated as one of the most severely economically impacted counties by COVID-19 in the country by a Brookings Institution study. That follows on the heels of a decline in what had historically been the major industries in Atlantic County: gaming and tourism. The development of the NARTP is an attempt to establish a new industry here. The development of the park is not an end in itself. It’s part of a larger effort that incorporates the Atlantic City International Airport, a state airport that has been designated as a Smart Airport Testbed Facility, the FAA Tech Center and the surrounding one-mile area that constitutes an aviation innovation hub.

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| Invest: South Jersey 2021 | INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORTATION & UTILITIES

INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORTATION & UTILICONSTRUCTION OVERVIEW TIES OVERVIEW

water customers will see this offset the increase in bills.

There was substantial investment in water infrastructure in 2020. New Jersey American Water in July 2020 announced its START program to create jobs and invest in water and wastewater services. It expects to create 2,000 jobs through $150 million of annual investment. The group also invested $500,000 in improving the water infrastructure in the Delran service area, replacing over 2,600 feet of aging water mains. Suez also invested more than $140 million on infrastructure improvements in New Jersey through 2020, having carried out 170 projects in 69 municipalities.

Telecommunications Telecommunications is overseen in New Jersey by the Division of Telecommunications, which sets prices and ensures competition. The state of telecoms infrastructure was highlighted by the pandemic when millions were forced to work from home. Although New Jersey’s broadband access is first in the nation with 86% of households accessing the network and 99% connected to high-speed broadband, almost half a million people in the state still have no access to the internet. Elizabeth, Trenton and Camden have been ranked the sixth, 12th and 26th worst-connected cities in the United States.

Thankfully, the digital divide is already being addressed.

Federal funding from the American Rescue Plan will be allocated to expanding broadband access for rural, lowincome and moderate-income areas of New Jersey.

Transportation & logistics Transportation and logistics plays a key role in New Jersey’s economy, contributing $23 billion to GDP and providing 200,000 private sector jobs. Over 13,000 transport and logistics businesses are located in New Jersey and the South Jersey region has access to some of the major port and airport hubs globally. The Port of Newark is the largest port on the East Coast, New York’s JFK airport is the ninth-largest nationally in terms of cargo and Philadelphia International Airport is in the midst of a $90 million cargo expansion investment.

The region also has the second-densest rail and road networks in the country and over $800 billion in goods are shipped to and from sites in the state each year. The South Jersey region also has several airports of its own: Atlantic City International, South Jersey Regional, Cape May Airport, Woodbine Municipal, Millville Executive Airport and Camden County Airport.

As revenue drops from tourism hit the transportation sector hard, a substantial increase in cargo buoyed by e-commerce has served to partially offset the impact for South Jersey’s ports and airports. While the Port

Joseph Divis Interim President AT&T New Jersey

What is the state of demand for connectivity?

In a word: robust. We saw a roughly 700% increase in customer VPN connections in the first few weeks of the pandemic due to businesses shifting to a work-fromhome environment. The growth of mobile network traffic that we experienced in 2020 has accelerated an existing trend — since 2007 and through 2019, our national wireless network saw a 661,000% increase in data traffic. Data demands across AT&T networks will continue to grow; we expect consumers to use around 4.6 terabytes per month in 2025, roughly five times more data than they do today. Because of this, we’re making significant investments each year so that we are prepared to meet connectivity challenges, with this past year being the ultimate stress test on our broadband infrastructure. When you need it, you can’t build it overnight. You have to invest in it before you need it.

Our preparation has allowed us to provide a foundation of connectivity for families, telehealth, education and e-commerce when needed most, and it’s not just AT&T that has been preparing. Over the past decade, there has been $1.8 trillion of private investment in America’s communication networks.

What are your expectations for South Jersey’s network connectivity?

The business community is in the midst of an evolution.

Some companies may remain 100% remote postpandemic, while others will maintain a hybrid approach.

We expect that the enterprise will continue to evolve with regard to its connectivity needs; consistent with that will be the need for security and robust bandwidth across all locations and all platforms. Connectivity will continue to play a vital role in quality of life and we will continue to invest in our structural infrastructure and in spectrum. The C block auction just happened, which was another mid-band block of spectrum that we will begin deploying into our networks this year and beyond.

This will create more lanes for network traffic and allow us to push more 5G capability to our customers. www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com

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Andrew Saporito Executive Director & CEO South Jersey Port Corporation

How would you describe the significance of the new investment in the Paulsboro Marine Terminal?

With the signing of the agreement for the EEW manufacturing facility to support Ørsted’s and EDF/ Shell’s offshore wind projects, we have taken the first significant step toward preparing the port for the future.

The New Jersey EDA is in the process of building another offshore wind port, which will bring another 200 acres online and complement our work in Paulsboro. New Jersey is ideally located for offshore wind projects and, crucially, we have a governor who supports the activity.

It will bring a lot of jobs to the region.

To build on this momentum, EDA and the South Jersey Port will be doing a joint study of the Port of Salem, which is a smaller port just downriver from Paulsboro.

We believe Salem can become an important supply port for the local offshore wind support services industry.

How important is sustainability for SJPC? Two of our terminals are located in the city of Camden, nearby numerous residential areas. We need to be good neighbors and citizens, and so we have to look at making our operations more sustainable. That is why we are using a $6.6 million grant to make 23 pieces of our equipment electric. Eventually, we would like to make our Broadway terminal our first entirely sustainable terminal. We want to prove that you can take existing facilities and upgrade them in an environmentallyfriendly way.

What capital improvements is the company planning?

The Delaware River has been deepened to 45 feet. This will help our terminals handle larger ships. We would also like to see an increase in water depth in Camden at some point, depending on demand. There will be ongoing investment in our terminals up and down the river throughout the next five to 10 years because we need to ensure that we continue to provide the best service for our customers.

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Authority of New York and New Jersey registered losses from bridge and tunnel traffic and airline passengers, cargo remained strong and the New Jersey Turnpike Authority estimates a 14% year-over-year increase in traffic volumes in 2021.

New Jersey’s location sets it apart as an investment location of choice for transportation and infrastructure.

In February, the state announced a $250 million overhaul of the Walter Rand Transportation Center in Camden to create a transportation hub. And the U.S. Department of Commerce announced a $3 million investment in the Atlantic County Improvement Authority to help grow the region’s critical aviation cluster. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is also seeking to expand its facilities at Newark Liberty International Airport.

The industrial real estate market in South Jersey also contributes to its reputation as a logistics hub.

Construction starts in the third quarter of 2020 showed 4.2 million square feet entering development, meaning there is a total of 7.1 million square feet of new construction on the way in South Jersey. At the end of 2020, logistics giant Amazon announced a new fulfillment center in Salem County that will provide 800 jobs by the end of 2021.

Looking ahead The outlook is bright for New Jersey’s – and, in particular, South Jersey’s – infrastructure, transportation and logistics segment. The state is powering ahead to create infrastructure for the future and it will benefit greatly if the federal government approves a proposed $1 trillion infrastructure package. The state is ahead of the pack in developing certain sustainable infrastructure but recovery from the pandemic requires an acceleration of these investments. This gap can be partially filled by new PPP agreements to bolster South Jersey’s infrastructure. With strong job and population growth behind it, an explosion in industrial real estate, continued connectivity to some of the nation’s largest ports and airports and a dense rail and road network, the region is likely to see an influx of private infrastructure investment in the coming years.

But certain considerations are still holding the state back. Despite huge investments and commitments to decarbonization and clean energies, sea levels are rising and adverse weather events are becoming more and more common. According to Scientific American, climate change effects added $8 billion to the costs of Hurricane Sandy. This means that without sustainable infrastructure, flood prevention measures and resilience, the region’s Herculean efforts in renewable energies and pandemic recovery could be all but wiped out by the effects of adverse weather events.

Banking & Finance: Between consolidation, a maturing fintech market, the quest for new customer bases and tailored products and services for a crossgenerational clientele, the banking and finance sector in South Jersey is slowly but surely writing its next chapter.

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New approach: South Jersey’s pandemic takeaways are translating into future growth and resilience Banks and financial institutions in South Jersey have been at the epicenter of the pandemic recovery, pivoting to digital platforms to address new customer needs and providing the infrastructure for doling out the Payment Protection Program (PPP). But challenges remain as consolidation continues to shrink the banking landscape and persistently low interest rates squeeze loan margins.

Overall, the state of New Jersey closed 2020 with a local GDP of $626.7 billion, signaling a recovery from the 35.6% contraction between 1Q20 ($641.7 billion) and 2Q20 ($574 billion). According to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, the Garden State’s largest industries in 4Q20 as a percentage of GDP were finance, insurance, real estate and leasing, amounting to 22% of New Jersey’s GDP. The state is home to 23 commercial banks, 24 savings banks, three savings and loan associations, two limited purpose trust companies and eight credit unions. In aggregate, these financial institutions hold $123 billion in assets, with commercial banks holding the lion’s share at 68.1%.

Zeroing in on Southern New Jersey, the region has the state’s highest concentration of finance employment, 102

| Invest: South Jersey 2021 | BANKING & FINANCE

the lion’s share of which are with commercial bank branches. Burlington County shines through with a bevy of finance company headquarter operations. Its proximity to New York and Philadelphia, as well as an educated workforce to fill its banking and financial needs, are additional advantages for South Jersey.

“One of the great things about South Jersey is the diversity of the economy,” Louis Lombardi, senior vice president and regional commercial executive at Fulton Bank, told Invest:. “There is manufacturing, distribution, hospitality, recreation, and agriculture.

Fulton Bank is the largest agricultural bank in the Northeast, and we think that is a great growth opportunity. Secondly, South Jersey’s proximity to so many major metropolitan areas means it is in a great position to capitalize on the growth of e-commerce.

There are also very strong medical institutions keeping our healthcare banking group very busy. I think it is the diversity in South Jersey’s economy that makes the area so resilient from a business perspective.”

Landscape As of June 2021, South Jersey was home to 25 of New Jersey’s Top 100 banks headquartered in the state. ( )

BANKING & FINANCE INTERVIEW

Evolution Leveraging phone and video consultations has changed the customer dynamic in banking

Rob Curley South Jersey Market President – TD Bank How do you think the in-person aspect of banking will change as a result of the pandemic?

A year ago, I never would have expected that we could manage a business banking relationship without inperson meetings. However, during the heart of the pandemic, we leveraged phone and video consultations as our main two avenues of customer communication.

More recently, we implemented in-person meetings per customer request, while still ensuring we adhere to all COVID-19 safety protocols. Moving forward, I expect business customers to visit us less in-person for simple matters and more for consultation. There was a period when people thought face-to-face was the only way to do things but I think the industry has realized that video conferencing can be very efficient and is often preferred by our customers for simpler transactions.

How does TD Bank support the small businesses?

South Jersey is really a mom-and-pop business community. We don’t have a lot of major cities but the bank has significant market share here. The U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) program allowed us to solidify a lot of those relationships and contribute to the survival of the community. Our team worked long hours to help as many eligible borrowers as possible secure a PPP loan.

Additionally, pre-pandemic many small businesses did not embrace the technology banks offer, such as fraud protection tools and treasury management platforms.

We have had many discussions with our small business customers on the importance of digitization and many now understand the need to embrace these technologies in a remote environment and see the true benefit of the treasury management solutions we offer.

How is TD Bank helping to develop financial literacy?

Financial literacy is something TD Bank always keeps top

of mind. We offer financial literacy resources in-person via seminars as well as digitally, which was very helpful during the pandemic. For children in grades K-12, we offer our WOW! Zone program with TD Bank WOW! Zone Financial Education Resources, designed to help K–12 educators and parents teach children and teens about money in an easy, simple way to help prepare them for a strong financial future. For adults, we modified our inperson financial education seminars on credit awareness, homebuying and more to be offered virtually, along with the classes we offered to community organizations, chambers, small businesses and schools. We’ve also expanded our digital financial education options to offer nearly 40 online lessons on our website in addition to Finance 101, which includes a growing collection of tools, tips and financial education articles. www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com

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Louis Lombardi Senior Vice President & Regional Commercial Executive Fulton Bank

What commercial banking segments are doing well?

Right now, most of our clients are doing fairly well.

There are certainly a number of sectors that continue to face challenges but, for the most part, our portfolio has been very resilient. Our healthcare banking group is doing really well and the investment real estate group is focusing on logistics and distribution as well as multifamily asset classes. We’ve also started a life sciences and technology initiative, given the status of South Jersey and Philadelphia as a national hub for life sciences. That is a high-growth area.

How has your business been impacted by technology?

Technology is affecting everyone in every industry, and banking is no exception. We’ve invested in technology across all of our initiatives because technology is a factor in nearly everything we do. Integrating technology augments and improves the client experience. We are constantly on this journey to improve. As we do this, we want to ensure the focus remains on the client relationship, no matter how much technology we implement.

What do you see as the main market trends affecting clients?

As we meet with our clients, we’re hearing about a few trends. The labor shortage is definitely one of those, no matter the sector. Another thing we are seeing is an increase in prices, which is also across the board. The pandemic has disrupted the supply chain, which has created price increases, combined with the reopening demand that we’re seeing. It’s hard to imagine a situation where we can completely avoid some level of inflation.

If it does start to increase, that will likely result in higher interest rates. Generally speaking, we are seeing robust demand from most of our clients, with most seeing quarter-over-quarter revenue growth. Our clients on the whole remain optimistic about this year.

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( ) On average, these financial institutions showcased an average 14.85% year-on-year asset growth compared to 1Q20. In aggregate, South Jersey’s 25 top performing banks counted $27 billion in asset value (14% of New Jersey’s Top 100 banks); 195 branches (41%); 2,591 employees (13%); and 756,729 customer accounts (15%).

The Top 3 performers in the South Jersey region as of June 2021 included OceanFirst Bank, with $11.5 billion in assets, 9.12% asset growth, 55 branches, 978 employees and 268,534 customer accounts. ConnectOne Bank was second, with $7.4 billion in assets; 2.33% percent asset growth, 27 branches, 412 employees and 83,846 customer accounts, followed by Parke Bank, with $2 billion in assets,13.59% asset growth, seven branches, 97 employees and 20,282 customer accounts.

Faced with a daunting scenario from the pandemic, South Jersey’s banking and finance players tackled the issue head-on, providing continuous services, bolstering digital platforms and making financial aid available from different levels of government to local small businesses, which in turn helped underpin their own financial performance.

Sector performance Pre-pandemic, New Jersey had already established itself as a merger hotbed for financial players. Between June

Many well-known banks are reducing their physical branches while boosting investment in digital solutions.

BANKING CONSTRUCTION & FINANCE OVERVIEW

and August 2019 alone, five banks in the state reached a purchase agreement, including Stewardship Financial, Two River Bancorp, Bancorp of New Jersey and Oritani Financial. Within that time period, only Illinois and Texas ranked higher, with nine and eight mergers, respectively. In aggregate, New Jersey reported a total 18 bank acquisitions between 2019 and July 3, 2021, showcasing an ongoing healthy appetite for acquisition even in the midst of the pandemic.

On the deposits front, New Jersey’s financial fabric outperformed 2019, even with fewer institutions. In June 2019, the Garden State counted 58 New Jerseychartered banks and 13 federally-chartered banks. In aggregate, New Jersey-based banks held $14 billion in deposits outside of the New Jersey market and $106 billion within the New Jersey market. In June 2020, the state counted 52 chartered banks and 11 federallychartered banks. Outside the New Jersey market, these financial entities held $17.7 billion while inside the Garden State market they held $119 million.

The consumer lending environment was perked up by federal aid programs and funding, which are only now starting to run scarce, with the SBA reporting only $66 billion remained nationwide from its $292 billion portion of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan in May 2021.

Harry Stone President & CEO Cooperative Business Assistance Corporation (CBAC)

What is CBAC’s purpose within the South Jersey community?

The primary purpose of CBAC is to provide financing to small businesses in addition to providing technical assistance. We make commercial loans to businesses only. We provide as little as $1,000 and up to about $250,000. CBAC offers the Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) advantage, under the U.S. Treasury Department. As a result of that, we are also an SBA microloan lender. Our mission is to provide financing to those communities, businesses and individuals that are not able to get credit elsewhere and at reasonable interest rates as well. As a nonprofit CDFI, we’re able to spend more time with our customers, assisting them.

Our other real asset is that we partner extensively with commercial banks and economic development offices throughout South Jersey and Philadelphia How does loan demand through CBAC compare to pre-pandemic level?

Our lending volume doubled during the past year because small businesses needed working capital, specifically for two reasons. First, if their cash flow was strained because of decreased revenue, increased expenses, such as PPE equipment purchases, or business reinvention expenditures, such as outdoor seating for eateries. Second, certain businesses have skyrocketed as a result of the pandemic, with certain industries that have been busier than ever. They also need working capital to sustain their growth because they are adding employees, products and revenues.

What is your outlook on loan activity toward 2022?

With all the resources coming into businesses through loans and financial aid programs, which for CBAC represented double the volume it historically deals with on a yearly basis, a lot has been done in the last 12 months and we do not know yet where that is going to balance out. Inflationary pressures are looming and labor issues have emerged. It’s too early to project one way or the other what the demand is going to be. www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com

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BANKING & FINANCE OVERVIEW

In a further effort to assist small businesses, in particular, minority-owned businesses, Garden State banks are deploying financial instruments to complement governmental aid. Cherry Hill’s TD Bank is leading the charge with a $105 million equity fund directed at minority-owned small businesses. M&T Bank injected $75,000 into Rutgers University’s Center for Urban Entrepreneurship and Economic Development (CUEED), dedicated to Black-owned High-Impact Vital Enterprises, which are retail and service businesses critical to the viability of their communities. Bank of America also made a commitment to invest $1.25 billion over five years to bolster racial equality and economic opportunities within the state’s minority populations, including an equity investment to New Jersey’s “40 Acres and a Mule” (FAM) fund.

players in the banking and finance landscape, whose relevance is felt not only across the state but also at the national level. Pre-pandemic, community bank Lakeland Bank was the only Garden State lender to make it to the S&P Global Market Intelligence annual ranking of 2019’s best performing banks. More recently, five New Jersey community banks made the list of American Banker’s 2020 Top 200 Publicly Traded Community Banks: Unity Bancorp (15th); Parke Bancorp (16th); Marlin Business Services (26th); 1st Colonial Bancorp (128th); and First Commerce Bank (161st).

Moreover, PNC Financial Services Group unlocked a coast-to-coast footprint with the $11.6 billion purchase of BBVA USA. The transaction made PNC the fifth-largest commercial banking organization in the United States, with more than $560 billion in assets and a presence in 29 of the country’s Top 30 largest markets.

And proving that bricks and mortar still has life despite the digital onslaught emerging from the pandemic, South Jersey’s 1st Colonial, based in Camden and Gloucester counties, expanded its footprint into the Philadelphia market with a retail branch in Limerick.

“While several of our competitors are closing branches, we just opened a branch in Pennsylvania. Our goal is to attract customers who want the ability to transact on their terms, how and when they want to. We don’t want to be positioned as digital-only or mobile-only.

We still think that there is value in bricks and mortar, maintaining a branch light strategy,” said Robert White, president and CEO of 1st Colonial Community Bank, in an interview with Invest:.

Top banks New Jersey is home to a strong concentration of relevant

CARES Act and PPP loans As of Feb. 1, 2021, 20,559 PPP loans had been issued (

Cherry Hill’s TD Bank has set up a $105 million equity fund directed at minority-owned businesses

)

Market voices: Banking trends

Greg Amato

Commercial Banker, Middle Market Banking & Specialized Industries JPMorgan Chase

Our industry continues to be rapidly disrupted and requires constant innovation to excel. We spend $12 billion a year on technology to make banking simpler, better and faster for our clients. Some of that spending comes through with treasury, cybersecurity, payment innovation, enterprise resource planning (ERP) connectivity and more. There will be a lot of changes in the coming years and our industry needs to be ready to adapt to those changes. We need to be able to create and deepen strategic partnerships and keep a focus on innovation in order to meet the changing needs of our customers and clients over the next decade.

I guess my final challenge in the banking world is finding good, young, qualified people who want to come into the industry. We have to make it more attractive to them. We have to mold how we approach careers in our industry; to make them conform more to the ever-changing environment that we operate within. We have to be able to relate to young people and supply them with the things that they need and want. Whether it is being an environmentally conscious employer, whether it is a flexible work schedule, or perhaps it is rotating responsibilities. If we want to keep people coming into our industry, we have to adapt to their changing desires and needs.

Joe Tredinnick Market President Republic Bank

Brian Jones

President & CEO The First National Bank of Elmer

(In terms of challenges) it all starts with good people, and like every business that’s trying to hire, there is certainly a challenge in finding those good people.

On the lending side, I talk frequently with other bankers who are unhappy with where their banks are going due to so much disruption in the banking industry.

So, on the lending side there is a fairly robust flow of conversation. However, finding talent for the retail, entry-level side of the bank is a real challenge. We’re doing what we can to stimulate workforce development at a store level through job fairs and making sure we’re talking to people. On another note, this year we’ve received more applications for internships than ever.

We’ve been very pleased with our mortgage business. It has grown tremendously. We also have been able to take advantage of the refinancing activity. The various programs that the federal government had in place to help stimulate the economy have worked as intended overall, driving down interest rates, which has helped a great deal. Purchase transactions have been quite robust and will fill the gap as refinance activity slows. We are very much focused on supporting individuals who are looking to acquire new residences, but we are all dealing with low supply and high demand.

Robert White

President & CEO 1st Colonial Community Bank

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BANKING & FINANCE INTERVIEW

M&A surge Reality of living in the digital world is partly responsible for the plethora of acquisitions activity in the sector

Vincent D’Alessandro First Senior Vice President & Regional President – OceanFirst Bank What makes the South Jersey market a great one for OceanFirst Bank?

South Jersey was the very first region outside our original footprint of Ocean and Monmouth counties with which to start our acquisitions. We recognized that the opportunities in South Jersey promote tremendous growth potentiality for the bank into an area of the state boasting a multitude of diverse communities and industries. South Jersey enables companies to grow and expand given the region’s affordability of land versus other areas of the tri-state region while providing great access to corridors and ports. The growth of South Jersey has also been enhanced by the recent pandemic migration of people from urban areas such as Philadelphia. We’ve found that clients in South Jersey are extremely loyal and are appreciative of our bank due to our commitment to the area of the state.

Why is M&A activity increasing across the industry?

The framework of what comprises managing a bank has changed dramatically over the last decade. We are now fully immersed in the modern-day reality that we are living in a digital world. Clients are looking for multiple channels through which to do business including having access to a full array of sophisticated and advanced products. Banks failing to dedicate resources to their digital advancement and in dealing with the new demands of a faster-paced environment may find themselves having no other option but to sell to a larger organization that can provide such enhancement to their clients. For this reason, along with the ever-changing and more demanding compliance requirements on banks, M&A activity is anticipated to remain high. Banks that fall behind the times and are financially struggling to grow fast enough are left with little options but to sell.

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What are the main challenges for the banking industry?

Banks will be challenged to continue to grow and reengineer themselves in an ever-changing world filled with higher levels of digital connectivity and the need for better efficiencies. The old-fashioned traditional bank will need to be focused on developing better technology in building digital platforms required to support its customers’ needs coming out of the pandemic and to gain the efficiencies necessary to deal with the changing industry without relying so exclusively on the old brickand-mortar structure of the past. Additionally, banks will need to remain vigilant in providing lending discipline to the borrowing community to not create over-leverage in the economy and potential credit risks in their loan portfolios. Being diligent in its lending activities while enhancing its digital offerings and continuing to recruit strong bankers are the main challenges for banks.

BANKING CONSTRUCTION & FINANCE OVERVIEW

As of February, 2021, 20,559 PPP loans had been issued to New Jersey businesses ( ) to more than 20,000 New Jersey businesses, totaling $2.0 billion and an average loan value of $100,220. This was above the national average of close to $82,000 per business. To add a further layer of protection for small businesses, New Jersey made the decision to make PPP loans tax-free. All expenses paid through PPP funds will be tax-deductible.

The huge effort by banks in getting this money to struggling businesses cannot be overstated. As soon as the SBA made the financial lifelines available to struggling businesses, New Jersey banks had all hands on deck to process the vital resources. But even before the PPP program set in, New Jersey banks were already heavily engaged in lending to small businesses. Eight Garden State banks made the Top SBA lender list in the agency’s fiscal year 2019. TD Bank came out on top of the list of 20 banks by approving 604 small-business loans across the state totaling $79.4 million. Regional Business Assistance Corp ranked third at 100 loans for $58 million; UCEDC was sixth with 69 loans for $3.4 million; Cooperative Business Assistance Corp was eighth with 59 loans for $1.4 million; Peapack-Gladstone Bank came in 10th with 31 loans for $22.3 million; The 504 Co. ranked 11th with 30 loans for $33 million; New Millennium Bank was 24th with 25 loans for $23.2 million and First Commerce Bank came in 18th with 20 loans for $5.6 million.

As the pandemic wore on, other financial institutions relied on strategic partnerships to distribute as many loans as possible. Cross River, a New Jersey-based community bank, leveraged its fintech partnerships to process 105,000 PPP loans worth an aggregate $4.5 billion as of June 6, 2020, ranking 15th in the SBA’s list of top lenders by value and fourth by the number of loans processed, only behind financial behemoths JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo.

Regulations The speedy acceleration in 2020 toward the

John Herring New Jersey Market President Liberty Bell Bank - A Division of The Bank of Delmarva

How has demand for the bank’s services shifted with the pandemic?

Loan demand has continued to grow. There’s been a great amount of activity in the construction industry, both commercial and residential, rehabs and flips, and contract building. The real estate market has been crazyhot and that has presented some nice opportunities. We had developed a bit of a niche in construction lending before our merger and we were fairly active in the construction business. That has continued throughout the pandemic. The bank’s pipeline has performed extremely well. Overall, I would say we’re back very close to 100% in terms of business compared to prepandemic levels.

What impact have you seen from the increased focus on digital platforms?

We’ve definitely seen an increase in demand for our digital banking services. We’ve always used remote deposit capture to expand our reach in this market as we have a limited number of branches. I think there’s definitely less branch traffic and most of us expect that to be the new normal. A lot of young people are banking from everywhere and it’s great to have those options and opportunities. A lot of people have been surprised by the amount of business you can do over Zoom and on a remote basis without being in the office five days a week, so I do think there are some changes that will stay in place.

What is behind the consolidation in the industry?

If you’re a smaller bank and you’ve been around for a while but you don’t have a ton of capital, it’s difficult to navigate the regulatory and the compliance aspects of the business. Larger banks have entire departments dedicated to those issues. With smaller community banks, that isn’t always the case. Another factor driving consolidation is the opportunity to be a part of a larger organization and to take advantage of the opportunities that it affords. www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com

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BANKING & FINANCE OVERVIEW

New Jersey is home to 23 commercial banks.

digitalization of banking on a global scale led to the need for new regulation primarily focused on technology and transparency. Deloitte points to regulatory trends moving toward an evolving oversight of digital transformation and technological innovation; governance; anti-money laundering compliance; consumer protection and dynamic data environments.

It boils down to ensuring technological implementation does not compromise individual users’ financial data while fostering more transparency over how banks manage their capital and the different sources it comes from. “Regulators continue to refine existing regulations implemented in the wake of the financial crisis (global financial crisis) and are now focusing their attention on existing policy areas such as climate risk, digital currencies, technology, and innovation. Meanwhile, they are reviewing their own supervisory processes and reinforcing the core banking

supervisory pillars of governance, risk management, capital adequacy and planning, liquidity management, and compliance with laws and regulations,” Deloitte wrote in its 2021 banking regulatory outlook report.

Banks are also pivoting to increasingly disruptive and tech-intensive solutions to serve their customer base amid the rise of fintech players. In October 2020, Varo Money, a Silicon Valley fintech startup, began accepting federally insured customer deposits. It is also the first consumer fintech company to be granted a national banking charter. It is likely that the company is trailblazing the path for other fintechs to do the same going forward, possibly at a faster speed. The implication of this landmark is that it puts fintechs virtually on a level playing field to start competing with banks. Banks that fail to get on par with this trend risk falling behind.

In fact, fintech is on track to becoming a $1.3 billion ( )

BANKING & FINANCE INTERVIEW

Client-centric Focus on customers is vital when managing the balance between humans and technology

Denise Monahan Group Vice President – M&T Bank

What is the impact on client satisfaction from your investments in technology?

Our data shows continued high customer satisfaction ratings. It goes back to the core philosophy of M&T, which is understanding what is important to our clients and communities and then making sure that we develop the resources our clients need to be successful. M&T recently completed its new centralized technology hub in Buffalo that will support our operations across the bank’s entire footprint in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic. The bank’s continued investments in technology and technology talent will continue to drive efficiency and solutions for our clients. Being client-centric and client-driven is at the core of all we do in leveraging and managing the appropriate balance between humans and technology.

What business lines are seeing the most demand?

I would say the first is providing PPP and credit support to businesses of all sizes in a variety of industries that were either directly or indirectly affected by the COVID-19 shutdown. Second, would be delivering treasury management services, mobile and online technology platforms and solutions to support the transition to a work and business from home environment. The low interest rate environment continues to fuel strong activity in our mortgage business. Finally, this past year has created some growth and M&A activity in which we continue to facilitate the necessary credit and non-credit services to support our clients.

What makes South Jersey a great location for M&T Bank?

For M&T, it’s the growing diversification of businesses by size, industry and geography. South Jersey has always been a strong market for healthcare and higher education, both of which continue to expand. The access, land and natural resources, availability and affordability compared

to places like New York and Northern New Jersey have enabled South Jersey to attract and experience growth within industries like food and beverage, manufacturing, distribution facilities, storage, transportation and logistics, and renewable energy.

What is your near-term outlook for M&T Bank?

The outlook overall is positive, particularly as the number of COVID cases come down and the vaccine is more available. With all the stimulus, consumers have been able to save more money and the PPP programs have clearly helped businesses. The Fed’s monetary policy appears to remain accommodative and interest rates are still relatively low. The proposed infrastructure spending bill should enhance capital spending and facilitate a positive outlook in the second half of the year. www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com

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Albert Fox Senior Vice President & Executive Director Fox, Penberthy & Dehn at Morgan Stanley

How has the pandemic reshaped your operations?

The pandemic forced dramatic changes. In a 12-week period of time, we made a decade’s worth of progress with regard to our utilization of technology and our work environment. However, no permanent decision can be made in a still fluid situation. The new remote environment has its advantages, and it has opened the door to more options and resources for our clients. However, the vast majority of our clients still prefer an in-person experience, as do we. With such dramatic changes over the past year, we have done a great deal of work to revisit our clients’ situations, adapting our communication to what their needs have become while still remaining laser-focused on their goals and objectives.

What makes South Jersey a great place to do business?

We believe South Jersey is positioned to be one of the great suburban areas on the East Coast. It is 90 minutes from New York, 20 minutes from Philadelphia, 120 minutes from Baltimore, and an hour from the Jersey Shore. The level of industry, science, innovation and healthcare in such close proximity makes the area very vibrant.

How has demand for your services changed over the course of the year?

It has increased substantially. We have been revisiting and reevaluating our clients’ goals and objectives, taking a fresh look at what the next decade could look like for people. They need to reevaluate their priorities, and we can apply course corrections based on the new normal.

Many of our new clients have been reevaluating how much risk they are taking relative to their goals and objectives, and they are realizing that prior to meeting our team, their risk tolerance was not necessarily aligned with their strategies. As a team, we haven’t shifted our approach. We ensure everyone has a plan, especially one that can be sustained throughout unexpected events.

In our planning, we always account for the negative scenario and what has happened historically.

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Banks have played an important role during COVID-19, especially in the facilitation of the PPP loans process.

( ) industry by 2022. By 2030, the fundamental roles of finance will also require completely different skill sets, according to Choose New Jersey. As part of a second fintech hub in the United States and home to fintech trailblazers IPC, Cognizant, Indecomm and Cross River Bank, New Jersey could be a go-to market at the forefront of the banking of the future.

Mortgages The combined effect of a Northern U.S. urban exodus, New Jersey’s wide-open spaces and intense competition for a limited inventory have produced a highly dynamic housing market in the state. In August 2020, 32,759 homes were available for sale across New Jersey, compared to August 2019’s 54,025. The Mortgage Bankers Association reports refinances were 50% higher in 2020 compared to 2019, while purchase money mortgages were 22% higher over the same period. Partly behind the frenzy, are mortgage rates that are at a record low 2.87% for 30year mortgages and 2.37% for 15-year mortgages. The low rates are great for consumers but put pressure on bank income, squeezing margins and weakening revenues.

BANKING & FINANCE OVERVIEW

“From an interest rate risk perspective, we continue to evaluate our interest expense while remaining very competitive in our markets. Unfortunately, we have all had to take a hard look at pricing and drive some of the depository pricing down. On the loan side, we continue to price our loans consistent with the market.

We do ensure that we put rate floors in place so we can manage the interest rate risk effectively,” said 1st Colonial’s White.

On the flip side, mortgage delinquency rates rose from 8.81% in April 2020 to 10.49% in May 2020, hampered by the pandemic-fueled rise in unemployment. Between April and August of 2020, more than 160,000 New Jersey households did not pay their mortgages. By November, it amounted to a foreclosure rate of one in every 11,096 residential properties. Fortunately, under the CARES Act, borrowers with government-backed mortgages — Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration — were allowed to miss up to a year of payments without penalty. To combat housing insecurity, Gov. Phil Murphy signed the New Jersey Foreclosure Prevention Act in March 2021.

Net income of state-chartered banks, thrifts, and credit unions: Commercial Banks

Credit Unions

Saving Banks

LPTs

Savings & Loans

Total

1,200,000 1,000,000 800,000 600,000 400,000 200,000 0 -200,000 2017

2018

2019

Source: New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance

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Anthony DeSalle President & CEO Crest Savings Bank

What role do community banks play amid an industry in consolidation mode?

There have been waves of consolidations across the banking industry for many reasons and that makes a lot of sense for certain companies. However, community banks will always have a place in the market. Community banks are strongly tied to their communities and local decisionmaking is of great value to customers. We can’t do everything but we are uniquely positioned to understand our customers, we have a great understanding of our marketplace, and we can communicate more quickly and effectively than larger institutions. Some of our customers don’t fit at a larger bank and wouldn’t receive the same quality of service and market-specific expertise we provide.

How well can community banks compete in terms of providing digital services?

We offer a product line that competes with any regional or money-center bank. We have had online banking and mobile for many years and we have made it a priority to identify trends in technology as early as possible. Being smaller can be a challenge in terms of scale sometimes but we are highly flexible. We can pivot and make decisions very quickly internally, including when it comes to technology. We can deliver our products and services through all channels and we pride ourselves on meeting the needs of today’s consumer.

What does the future of the retail space look like for community banks?

Even if you look at the very large banks, some are opening branches in new markets. The future of branches at Crest Savings Bank will be different and undergo a continual evolution and COVID-19 has certainly accelerated that evolution. The branch experience is still necessary. We have the technology for the virtual engagement of our customer, but the more complex, personal transactions are better suited for face-to-face interaction in a branch.

Studies show that having branches matters since consumers enjoy the option of multiple channels.

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South Jersey is home to 25 of the state’s Top 100 banks headquartered in the state.

Growth Drivers Although the COVID-19 pandemic has been the banking and finance industry’s most difficult challenge since the 2008-9 financial crisis, many lenders and financial institutions came through with it unprecedented gains, thanks in large part to PPP. There are few signs that the growth enjoyed in 2020 will slow down in the near term.

One emerging vehicle in the finance sector are the so-called SPACs, or Special Purpose Acquisition Companies. While Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) see companies sell their shares to the public on a stock exchange, SPACs are shell companies that are used to raise money from investors with a two-year deadline to buy a company. Nationwide, SPACs are proving effective for companies looking for liquidity solutions and a viable alternative to IPOs, so much so that by mid-January 2021, there were nearly 300 SPACs registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) totaling close to $100 billion in capital. Although New Jersey has not proven a hotspot for IPOs in recent years (only eight were registered between 2018-19), the Garden State’s strong life science sector is expected to become a strong catalyst for SPACpowered ventures in the near future.

BANKING CONSTRUCTION & FINANCE OVERVIEW

James Andreacci Market President & Senior Vice President Truist

Is inflation transitory or is it the emergence of something more long term?

A lot of things are happening in the marketplace right now. There’s a lot of uncertainty from that standpoint but our clients are stable and are excited about everything that is happening. We’re starting to see some price increases but at the same time, we’re there to help our clients and provide stability as they go through those situations. The Federal Reserve governors are changing their outlook as to when rates will change. At this point, we’re starting to see that change coming.

Another key development could be Gov. Murphy’s proposed NJ Public Bank. Murphy has proposed opening a state-run bank to help build a financially inclusive New Jersey. The COVID-19 pandemic hit the brakes on the project in November 2020 but the governor and his administration are intent on seeing it through.

Looking ahead Despite the pandemic headwinds, financial activity in the past year gained speed rather than slowed down. Looking forward, as fintech players and digital platforms multiply, banks will need to adapt to the new landscape.

The disruptive transformations introduced by technology and innovation, along with new regulations, will consolidate the next phase for the sector that will continue to act as a pillar of growth and resilience for the state’s key industries, as it did during the distribution of the PPP loans and the dissemination of other financial tools.

The bottom line for the near- and long-term future is simple: To guarantee further growth, financial institutions will need to serve their customers wherever and however they want to be served.

What elements go into creating a safe and stable virtual platform?

Through Truist Ventures, we’re investing in technology companies that allow us to be on the cutting-edge of cybersecurity, even as a bank. We’re investing in local companies, constantly looking at what they’re doing and seeing if they can benefit our clients. The key is to invest in the right companies and grow our portfolio. Our technical team is providing the firewalls and making sure that we are constantly protecting our clients’ assets, the bank’s assets and everything else from that standpoint.

What industries is Truist focused on?

Food and agriculture, logistics, transportation, beverage, waste management, building material, defense contractors, manufacturers, medical — there is nothing that we can’t touch or help a client with because we cover many different areas and industries and we have specialists that allow us to gain depth.

How is the bank positioned for growth?

We’ve really grown in the South Jersey market. The past year was one of the best years we’ve had in the five years we’ve been in this marketplace. We’re ramping up and developing our culture here. We’re differentiating ourselves with cutting-edge technology, a consultative sales approach and building better lives in the communities we serve. www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com

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Healthcare: South Jersey’s healthcare industry felt the strain of COVID-19 in 2020, more so than in many other parts of the country. But as the vaccine rolls out and elective surgeries return, along with health industryfriendly administrations at the state and federal levels, the future looks bright.

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Recovery: It was a tough year for healthcare practitioners but a light is shining at the end of the tunnel Never in recent memory has the health sector proved itself so consequential for the rest of society as it did in 2020-21. The COVID-19 pandemic reminded everybody of the need to have an effective, reliable and accessible healthcare sector. The need for innovative medicine and a strong research sector was made readily apparent to a world put on pause until a vaccine could be devised and distributed.

The pandemic was also able to influence the field of health in ways less obviously related to COVID-19. The rise of telehealth, for instance, was a by-product of the stay-at-home orders and over-capacitated hospitals but it looks like remote medicine will continue to be a driving force in the health sector.

South Jersey was able to respond to these challenges with commendable aplomb throughout 2020 and the first half of 2021. A lot of its success can be traced to the fact that New Jerseyans enjoy more coverage on average than elsewhere in the country.

That said, the challenges posed by the pandemic were not light and there are areas of the industry that are yet to recover, though their prospects look bright moving forward.

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becoming a leading area in the country for the health sector. The number of people employed in health continues to rise and it continues to be a larger proportion of the economy.

Landscape Healthcare is big business in New Jersey. The numbers speak for themselves: nearly 487,580 people are employed in 22,645 healthcare establishments, and a third of these jobs can be found in hospitals (many of the rest are in smaller healthcare offices). Businesses in the sector accounted for over $44 billion of the state’s GDP in 2019, which was about 7.9% of all output.

The growth over the last decades has been astronomical: from 1990 to 2019, the healthcare sector has increased by 231,700 jobs — the only industry in the state to add jobs for every single one of those years — and, in that time, it has increased its share of those jobholding from 7.5% in 1990 to 12% in 2019, according to the New Jersey’s Health Care Industry Cluster report prepared by the New Jersey Department of Labor & Workforce Development’s Office of Research & Information for 2021-2021. This makes the health sector a driving force of employment in the area. ( )

HEALTHCARE INTERVIEW

Tele-strong Shift in regulations has underpinned use of telemedicine, improving care and cost-savings

Alexander Vaccaro President – Rothman Orthopaedic Institute How is Rothman Orthopaedics involved in the South Jersey community?

We are heavily invested in South Jersey and find that to be one of our primary markets at this time.

We’re proud of the partnerships we’ve fostered in the region. Jefferson has been our legacy partner. We have developed a robust partnership with Capital Health, as well as with AtlantiCare. We’re partners with the sports teams in South Jersey, such as the Ocean City Nor’easters, Jersey Shore BlueClaws and Trenton Thunder, as well as with many high schools and their athletic departments. We’ve also partnered with the South Jersey chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners. We are incredibly active in the South Jersey community.

How significant has the shift to telemedicine been for Rothman Orthopaedics?

I see 50% of my patients, as a spine surgeon, via telemedicine. Of those patients, 25% are out of state and 5% are out of the country. It used to be illegal to practice medicine across state lines before the rules that Congress implemented and the executive orders from the president’s office. Today, I can hold consultations with individuals in different states and these individuals are motivated to travel. This has increased business in South Jersey. For 50% of the people I operate on, I physically meet them for the first time on the day of their surgery because we have full access to them through telemedicine.

Through telemedicine and technology, such as 3D printing, we’re able to both diagnose and treat patients for certain conditions. For example, let’s say you hurt your ankle and needed a brace. First, I could do a validated examination virtually. Then, I could have you hold a quarter on the body part that is sprained, and I could use an app to normalize the relationship between

the size of the quarter and the body part. I could have a brace sent to you right away. It’s absolutely phenomenal.

How is telemedicine helping to control medical costs?

Through technology, we’ve drastically reduced the cost of care. For doctors, telemedicine saves time and resources, and reimbursement rates reflect this. On the patient side, telemedicine saves time and transportation costs. Patients can have a 20-30 minute telemedicine visit with their doctor and go back to work. All of this filters down to increased societal productivity.

Remote monitoring is also helping to control costs.

Through the iPhone and various sensors, we can monitor patient activity after surgery. Patients also respond to subjective questions, or patient-reported outcomes.

With this information, we can determine whether or not a patient needs to revisit us sooner than later. www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com

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Mary Ann Boccolini President & CEO Samaritan Healthcare & Hospice

What innovations do you anticipate will become permanent in your field?

I am proud to say that our Samaritan teams provided uninterrupted care for all our patients – in hospice, palliative care and primary care at home – throughout the pandemic. COVID-19 served as a catalyst for the innovative utilization of technologies in care. We have incorporated telemedicine to supplement the in-person visits from our team. We developed virtual grief support, music therapy, and meditation resources to help relieve stress and anxiety. We will continue to use technology to enhance our care due to the highly positive response from our patients and their families. As we move forward, we will use technology to enhance the direct care we provide during the essential home visits by our compassionate professionals. We are also using other technologies inherent to strengthening our capacity to monitor, check in and reassure our patients. We provide an essential lifeline to help ensure their safety, comfort and peace of mind.

How are you keeping your services affordable?

The Medicare Hospice Benefit is a unique and comprehensive, patient-focused and cost-effective model of care. Services are fully covered for Medicare beneficiaries. The essential services needed to enable our patients to remain in the comfort of home includes our team of physicians, nurses, social workers, chaplains, spiritual support counselors, and home health aides along with medications, medical equipment and more.

Now the healthcare industry is exploring value-based care and alternative payment models, among other options, to assure the highest quality, cost-effective care for the best possible patient experience. With our excellent reputation, expanding services, advanced clinical expertise and infrastructure, Samaritan is well positioned to demonstrate the value of our care. For many years now we have consistently exceeded the national quality benchmarks as reported by the families of our hospice patients.

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Healthcare businesses accounted for over $44 billion of state GDP in 2019.

( ) All told, $29.8 billion in wages were paid out by New Jersey healthcare employers in 2019, which was about 12.7% of all private sector wages. And the future looks bright ahead: in the decade from 2018 to 2028, it is estimated that 64,860 jobs will be added, increasing annually by 1.2%.

Jobs in the New Jersey health sector can be divided into distinct groups: 49% work in ambulatory healthcare services, 32% work in hospitals and 19% work in nursing and residential care services. Indeed, of the 25 fastestgrowing occupations in the state, four are directly related to the health industry: nurse practitioners (No. 2 fastest-growing job), biochemists (12th), physicians and surgeons (22nd), and medical and health services managers (23rd).

The state’s hospitals, including those in South Jersey, are world class and it does better than the rest of the country on many metrics. Fittingly, as this state is the most densely populated in the country, there are 113 hospitals and 71 acute care hospitals. According to the 2019-2020 tabulations of US News & World Reports, five of these are nationally ranked and 15 meet highperforming national standards.

HEALTHCARE OVERVIEW

In South Jersey, Ocean Medical Center, Virtua Voorhees Hospital and AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center all rank impressively, coming within the Top 10 in the state, according to US News rankings. The leading star of the South Jersey hospital galaxy is Cooper University HealthCare, a part of the Cooper Medical School of Rowan University in Camden, and one of the mainstays of the region, having been serving South Jersey for 125 years and includes the world-class MD Anderson Cancer Center.

COVID-19 The COVID-19 pandemic, which started locking down the world in early 2020 and hit the United States in March 2020, put the South Jersey health system under unprecedented strain.

As the virus advanced in the state, Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy took extraordinary efforts to curb contagions, declaring a state of emergency on March 9.

This led to schools and universities closing and moving to online classes the following day.

On March 16, a statewide emergency began and many non-essential businesses closed. Even with these

measures, New Jersey had the 11th-highest number of cases per capita — 1,023,395 total reported cases (as of June 2021) — and the highest death count per capita: 26,452. By early July 2021, the state was still in Phase 2 of its reopening.

The health sector, while giving its all to address this crisis, faced a year unlike any other. Frontline workers experienced burnout on a massive scale. Overtime work and stress took a heavy toll on practitioners as they fought the surging virus.

Economically, the virus landed another severe blow.

From March 27, 2020, until May 2021, Murphy banned elective surgeries and dental procedures (those nonessential for health reasons) to help stop the spread of the virus and to free up hospital space and medical workers. For many healthcare providers, such surgeries are a financial lifeline.

As well, hospitals (like everywhere) had to devote a large swathe of their resources to increasing safety measures and access to personal protective equipment in the face of the pandemic. New rules and facts on the ground such as these had the incongruous effect of some health workers losing their jobs in the midst of ( ) www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com

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oundtable:

Healthcare trends The pandemic has accelerated advancements within the healthcare industry. While opportunities have been created, some issues remain prevalent.

David Baiada

CEO BAYADA Home Health Care

What is your assessment of home-based care cost structures?

We are in a period of transition in terms of how healthcare payment works. The reality is that the vast majority of healthcare remains on a procedural or fee-for-service structure, despite people’s best intentions and the desire to evolve to the mechanisms that incentivize better quality at a lower cost and better experiences at a lower cost.

The reality is that hospitals get paid when people receive procedures and we get paid when people get visited at home. We are still quite early into the journey of shifting the way incentives work, the way healthcare is paid for in a way that is going to create sustainable lower costs and better outcomes. What we are seeing is perhaps another innovation that has been catalyzed or accelerated during the pandemic, which is that we do think alignment across segments is going to happen faster. It already is.

How would you characterize South Jersey’s medical talent pool?

Labor’s inherent cycles of shortages are not new. We do think we have entered a period of permanent supply constraint where the demand for our services will continue to increase at a rate that is faster than the increase in supply.

Unless something structural evolves, there is no reason to believe we’re going to move from the prevalent supplyconstrained environment. It is critical to address the issue because it places significant emphasis on how organizations like ours think about differentiation in the labor market — attraction and engagement, retention, development and training — and all the other things that help you adapt to reality and compete more effectively in the labor market.

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Anthony DiFabio

President & CEO Acenda Integrated Health

What has been the impact of COVID on mental health?

While the initial focus of the pandemic was on everyone’s physical health, one of the most significant legacies will be its widespread impact on mental health and the overall well-being of all community members. No matter how mentally fit we may have felt at the beginning, each of us has been challenged over the past year and a half by fear, isolation and disruption caused by COVID. Throughout the pandemic, Acenda ensured its clients had seamless access to care and additional supports.

Simultaneously, we’ve seen an increase in the number of individuals experiencing significant emotional or psychological distress. Anxiety, depression and substance abuse have become more prevalent in our community.

Realizing the growing need for support, we’ve focused on providing quality care for our current clients as well as expanding access to our care for families and individuals who previously thought they would never need help.

How has the pandemic impacted demand for your services?

In many instances, those introduced to our care are identified through teachers, coaches, mentors and other community members. In the face of COVID, some of our programs actually saw a reduction in enrollment, at least for a period of time, because those community referral systems were not active. For example, at the beginning our child welfare services declined because COVID shut down schools, sports and neighborhood gathering places which disrupted our access to clients. We’ve seen this bounce back through hybrid models and a reopening of in-person activities.

HEALTHCARE ROUNDTABLE

Barry Ostrowsky President & CEO RWJBarnabas Health

Dennis Pullin President & CEO Virtua Health

How does healthcare activity in mid-2021 compare to pre-pandemic levels?

We have seen a rush among some people wanting to come back and receive long-deferred care that was dangerous in its deferral. At this time, in early summer, there is still a degree of hesitancy to come back to hospitals for certain services. While some services have fully rebounded, some of that demand is not what it used to be. Patients have gravitated to and embraced telehealth as opposed to going in person to physician offices. Our greatest concern is that there continues to be this deferral of care for a variety of reasons, some of which is the anxiety around the safety of a given facility, and some of which is not wanting to do it because they are back at work and do not want to the take time off because they can’t afford to do that. There is always some commitment financially for someone seeking care, whether it’s $1 or $1,000. There is some personal responsibility financially. In our vulnerable communities, that has become even a more acute problem.

What challenges emerged during the pandemic?

For many months throughout the pandemic, we dealt with the major obstacle of medical distancing. People avoided routine check-ups and care for acute issues because they were afraid that they might be exposed to COVID-19.

Unfortunately, that created a gap in care that resulted in increased poor health outcomes. Based on many of our metrics, we are largely operating at pre-COVID-19 levels again but we are still digging out of the COVID hole.

What legislative efforts are set to make a significant impact on healthcare?

When it comes to healthcare, we’ve learned a lot through this pandemic. First, we all woefully under-invest in public health. There has not been any real investment in the public health structure nationally, regionally or locally.

When we have a pandemic like this or anything close to it, we lack the infrastructure to respond effectively. In the governor’s budget, there are new resources identified to prepare for events like this. That is a welcome opportunity to build out a much more proactive, effective structure to future pandemics.

How are you ensuring healthcare remains affordable?

Healthcare cost is a tough topic in the United States; we rank highest in terms of healthcare costs per patient. As a result, the notion of value-based care has emerged. The problem is that it’s very complex. The American Hospital Association has identified 17 different and emerging payment models – highlighting the difficulty in assessment and control. One of the ways to help control costs and spending is to do a better job with health literacy. That is about helping people understand how to better manage their health and take advantage of the most appropriate avenues to seek care.

How do you expect healthcare demand to evolve?

For one thing, we’ve entered an age of consumerism.

People are now demanding services in a very different way. I think we need to work on eliminating the friction in the delivery system, because people need accessible, convenient, affordable care. To do this, we need to expand our points of entry and meet people where they are. For instance, over the next year, we need to transition into providing more digital care than ever before.

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HEALTHCARE OVERVIEW

( ) a global pandemic. A speedy recovery of economic loss is expected as the region puts COVID-19 behind it.

In terms of vaccinations, the government and health professionals were able to work together to produce results for residents of the state. Murphy oversaw an aggressive vaccination campaign that included health workers knocking on doors, incentives such as free beer and wine, passes to state parks, and dinner with the governor himself. The state was able to vaccinate its goal of 4.7 million two weeks before a self-imposed June 30 deadline.

With 77% of its adults vaccinated with at least one dose, New Jersey is safely ahead of President Joe Biden’s nationwide goal of 70% vaccination. There have been some discrepancies along ethnic lines that need to be addressed, however. Of the total number of residents fully vaccinated, only 7% identify as Black and only 15% as Latino, despite making up 15% and 20% of the state’s population, respectively. Despite these issues, the vaccine is available to anyone over the age of 12 and the state is looking forward to opening up fully and reaching herd immunity in the near future.

Performance In terms of medical coverage, New Jersey does slightly better than the rest of the country and has improved dramatically since 2010. As of 2019, 7.9% of New Jersey residents were uninsured, compared to 9.2% nationally.

This is an improvement from 13.2% at the decade’s beginning.

Even with this improvement, numbers show that it is South Jersey that bears a lot of this lack of coverage.

Furthermore, in a rating of the healthiest counties in New Jersey, it was shown that six of the seven least healthy counties could be found in the southern part

As of July 2021, nearly 60% of the population of New Jersey is fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Jean-Pierre Issa President & CEO – Coriell Institute for Medical Research

We are excited about the current administration’s commitment to science and potentially improving science funding. We are very appreciative of the support we receive from the state of New Jersey and the NIH. The most exciting program that has been talked about by the new administration is the serious commitment to curing cancer. Since our growth is currently targeting this, we are very hopeful the new program could translate into more funds coming into South Jersey. There is the realization that there is a need for NIH-funded research, and the role it can play as a very powerful engine for growth.

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HEALTHCARE OVERVIEW

of the state, with Salem and Cumberland coming in last.

From 2014 to 2020, New Jersey used the federallyfunded health insurance exchange mandated by the Affordable Care Act. As of 2020, New Jersey uses a statemandated system, Get Covered New Jersey — another Murphy innovation — that operates on the federal exchange, meaning that uninsured people have to pay the individual mandate.

This year, the state doubled its enrollment time, which allowed tens of thousands of residents to get medical insurance, sometimes on plans that cost as little as $10 a month.

The last few years have also seen several notable instances of hospital constructions and expansions, many in the South Jersey region. In Gloucester County, there is the Inspira Medical Center, opened in 2019, that offers a 465,000-square-foot, 210-bed facility and was built with a $365 million price tag. The hope is that it will offer a more advanced option to the area’s other, overused hospitals.

Bayshore Medical Center is on the cusp of completing a $48 million expansion that will grow that facility’s emergency care capacity by three times, as well as offer more rooms and imaging capacity.

The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia has opened a Gender and Sexuality Development Clinic — offering psychological and medical help for transgender youth — at the Voorhees Specialty Care Center in South Jersey.

And a donation of $3 million has been made to the Monmouth Medical Center by a local philanthropist.

This gift is part of an effort to establish a new medical campus in Tinton Falls, which will expand medical access in that part of the state. ( )

HEALTHCARE INTERVIEW

Coming together Cooperation among health networks proved key throughout the pandemic

Amy Mansue President & CEO – Inspira Health Network

How important is Inspira Health to the South Jersey community?

The last year has been a traumatic experience for many people in the healthcare community. This reminds us that no matter how long we do this job, there are events that rock us to our core. For Inspira, being able to serve our community and be there in a time of need has been a real gift. I cannot imagine how much more difficult this would have been had we not had our new state-of-the-art facility, which opened two months prior to the pandemic.

This was a test for everyone, but we were able to better care for our patients. All of the region’s health networks came together and worked collaboratively, and that sense of collaboration and information sharing is a testament to how much we all had each other’s backs. That will continue in some ways as we move forward.

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How has demand changed for telehealth services after its emergence during the pandemic?

You cannot talk about COVID-19 without talking about telehealth. As we look at the demand for that primary care service, the segment that has boomed is behavioral health services. People who have had behavioral health services over time actually prefer this medium of treatment. We are now seeing almost an elimination of patients not showing up to their appointments. Since the beginning of COVID-19, March 2020 through April 2021, we have had 178,464 telehealth visits, and almost a third of those were related to behavioral health. It’s difficult, especially for adolescents, to manage in this environment of isolation. The long-term impact of a lack of socialization is a significant issue, and parents need to be alert to how serious this is. We’re also seeing a dramatic drop from pre-pandemic levels in people who have been diagnosed with serious issues because there is still a fear of attending hospital appointments. The American Cancer Society estimates that 35% of Americans missed routine cancer screenings due to COVID-19-related fears and care disruptions when many facilities reduced or suspended services.

What is Inspira doing to control healthcare costs?

Part of the conversation is giving people the information they need to better manage their care. We’re trying to identify the risk factors that end up exacerbating health concerns. A lot of that is using our data and AI, which allows us to model healthcare outcomes. That may drive up costs in the short term because they will be accessing more primary care but, in the long term, this will generate massive savings. We want to continue proactively conducting those screenings. Our breast screening department has been awarded a grant to carry out the outreach for breast screenings that will hopefully prevent long-term health issues.

HEALTHCARE OVERVIEW

New Jersey is home to 43 teaching hospitals and five medical schools.

( ) With the arrival of the pandemic, questions began to emerge as to whether this hospital building spree would continue. South Jersey in 2020 saw a major lull in M&A activity in the health sector as institutions devoted their efforts to saving lives and making sure their business models were viable as their budgets were clipped by the halt of elective procedures. While there is reason to bet against a recovery as the vaccination campaign continues and the pandemic recedes, the numbers have yet to confirm this.

Telehealth Among the biggest health stories of the past year has been the rise in telehealth. With the onslaught of the pandemic, the number of people who were visiting their doctors virtually rather than in person skyrocketed. In some cases, visits to hospital doctors in 2020 were 95% virtual. For certain routine check-ups, many think this innovative approach is here to stay.

In South Jersey, there have been a number of notable expansions of telehealth services. In a display of the integration of telehealth into the existing hospital infrastructure, Ambulnz, a leading telehealth

provider, has partnered with Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals in Philadelphia and in the region at large.

As well, telehealth has shown its ability to address issues surrounding mental health. As the pandemic raged over the last year, many found their mental health adversely affected by the stress surrounding getting sick, someone close getting sick, or the toll taken by the lockdown measures. There was a glut of demand and a dearth of supply. To address this, 11 CVS pharmacies in South Jersey and Philadelphia introduced MinuteClinics as a feature in their CVS HealthHUB. MinuteClinics offers telehealth that is geared toward alleviating mental health conditions.

Life Sciences Another growing health-related industry to watch is biotech and life sciences. South Jersey is uniquely served and populated by universities, including growing institutions such as Rutgers and Rowan. Princeton is not far away, in the center of the state, and Philadelphia with its wealth of higher education institutions is just over the Delaware River. www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com

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Al Maghazehe President & CEO Capital Health

How has mental health provision changed in the last year?

We have one of the region’s largest crisis centers, an outpatient outreach program and a pretty significant voluntary and involuntary inpatient unit. If we want to keep people well, this is something that needs to be addressed. During 2020, we experienced a significant surge in the number of trauma cases that stemmed from violent crime, such as gunshot wounds and stabbing injuries. We experienced double the amount of these injuries in the crisis center. Nobody talks about traumatic injuries stemming from mental health issues as a result of COVID. Mental health became much more significant as a result of the crisis. We are seeing more demand for programs to deal with serious mental health, depression and anxiety. COVID is coming under control but we are just starting to see the implications of the pandemic, one of which is mental health.

Do you have the proper staffing to handle increasing demand?

In terms of numbers, healthcare is a stable area where there is always demand, giving employees a level of stability. In this economy, where jobs are eliminated so easily, people want some level of insurance. But in healthcare, we are becoming more technologically sophisticated so anyone interested in healthcare will have to mirror this sophistication. That is where our challenge will be.

What are the most exciting innovations going forward?

Right now, we have problems in rural areas where doctors are not interested in working. I think we can use video technology to carry out surgeries remotely. This has already been tested in Canada. This could resolve so many access-to-care issues. Those kinds of things will be the future of what we will do and will eliminate a lot of the prohibitive costs related to access. In the future, there will be very few inpatient hospitals.

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There are 113 hospitals in the state of New Jersey, including 71 acute care hospitals.

Where there are universities, there is a growing biotech and life sciences sector, which is one of the fastest-growing industries in the United States, and due to continue growing. It was this industry, after all, that gave the world the COVID vaccines (Johnson & Johnson is based in New Jersey), thereby allowing the economy to recover from the pandemic. By one estimate, the state of New Jersey is home to 70 companies that are engaged in the fight against the pandemic.

In New Jersey, the industry continues to grow. It provides $83 billion in economic impact, representing 13% of the state’s GDP and, all together, is responsible for about 430,000 jobs (10.6% of all jobs in the state).

Adding dependents to that number, 950,000 New Jersey residents have a stake in the biotech and life science industry.

HEALTHCARE OVERVIEW

At $44.8 billion, the FY22 budget is the largest in New Jersey history with 64.55 million going to healthcare Regulatory landscape In terms of political developments, both New Jersey and the United States are being led by executives who value the expansion of healthcare. At the federal level, there is a president that is no longer bent on reducing access through the weakening of the Affordable Care Act, Medicare, or reducing consumer safeguards. Just last year, the Supreme Court sided with New Jersey and 15 other states when it threw out a Republican-led, Trump-backed attempt to overturn the ACA. Had the attempt been successful, over 1 million New Jerseyans would have lost coverage.

President Biden, with his thin margins in the legislative houses and a greater focus on infrastructure spending, is unlikely to pass anything as monumental to the industry as the 2010 Affordable Care Act. That won’t stop the administration from trying to expand access, however. The American Rescue Plan Act,

Brian Sweeney President & COO Jefferson Health – New Jersey

What fundamental shifts are occurring in the healthcare industry?

Many patients coming to the emergency department for lower acuity, non-emergency cases are now using urgent care, primary care or telehealth. We think this is a permanent shift and it’s helping to optimize the total cost of care. Telehealth programs and services are likely to become more comprehensive, as they have become critical in providing well-coordinated care. There will also likely be permanent changes going forward in terms of site of service from a surgical perspective. Many surgeries previously performed at a hospital can now be done in a surgery center. There has been a migration of lower risk, lower acuity cases to surgery centers.

What is being done to improve healthcare costs?

There is a lot of process redesign needed to position our organization at a point where we can drive the best possible outcomes at the lowest possible costs. Shifting patients to the most appropriate site of service is key in achieving that goal. We’re fortunate to have multiple surgery centers throughout the marketplace, where we can shift joint-replacement and same-day surgery cases.

We are also very focused on evidence-based guidelines, which will be accelerated as a result of COVID. One of the challenges in healthcare, especially for us as an academic organization, is that we have a lot of smart people on our team. Smart people have a lot of strong opinions, so trying to align them around standardized, evidencebased care is harder than you think. When we identify the best treatment, that which delivers the best outcome at the lowest possible cost, we all need to conform to it.

Decision-support software is helping achieve the most effective treatments. As a provider, it tells you the best possible course of action for specific symptoms and lab results. The physicians, PAs and NPs can override the suggestions because there will be exceptions. However, 90% of the time, the computer logic is right. Including input from the software leads us to better outcomes. We’re excited about the future of these algorithms.

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There are 11,000 active or open clinical trials happening in New Jersey.

Biden’s signature stimulus and infrastructure bill, also boosts subsidies that would make health insurance much cheaper on the open marketplace.

And it’s not just health insurance, but medical research in general that is in the crosshairs of this administration.

The experience of the COVID-19 pandemic reminded everybody of the importance of investing in medical and research infrastructure. Internationally, the United States still reigns supreme in terms of scientific research, and this is not a position Biden is going to easily surrender, as he highlighted in a speech to Congress in April 2021, suggesting the creation of an agency similar to DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, but in the realm of healthcare.

On the state level, Gov. Murphy’s 2022 budget continues his ambitious healthcare agenda. He has proposed the largest budget in New Jersey’s history — $44.8 billion — which is a 10% increase in year-

HEALTHCARE OVERVIEW

over-year spending. A sizeable amount of this budget is set aside for healthcare: $25 million to reduce monthly premiums for those who already buy their own healthcare; $20 million set aside to provide coverage for the state’s 88,000 uninsured children; $8.5 million for new mothers to hold onto coverage during the first year of their newborn’s life; $6.85 million toward 20,000 low-income senior citizens to use the Pharmaceutical Assistance to the Aged and Disabled and Senior Gold Programs; and $4.2 million toward jobs at the state Health Department Payroll.

Looking ahead Like elsewhere in the country, South Jersey is at a moment when it can redefine its economy. The shock of the pandemic upended the old order, and where the region goes in the immediate future will have an outsized influence on economic activity for at least the next generation. All signs point to health being a major pillar of South Jersey’s economy as the recovery gathers pace. The sector’s outsized growth in the past several decades, combined with a renewed interest from society and a government eager to help, will ensure that it is one of the preeminent industries of the region.

It would not be a moment too soon. The COVID-19 pandemic was a tough one for people working in the sector. This is expected to change though. For every elective procedure that did not happen last year, there is expected to be twice as many this year as people get back to normal. And with the increase in coverage flowing at both the federal and state levels, the coming year is sure to be a busy time for the healthcare industry.

Toni Pergolin President & CEO – Bancroft We’ve seen a spike in complex individuals. The community is beginning to understand there are more people with autism around us in our everyday lives. We get training requests related to treating people with autism. This includes first responders, flight attendants and emergency room personnel who may need to deal with a child with autism in a different way. We are beginning to see that there is an acknowledgment that these people are part of our community. The other trend along the same line is that while there is a labor shortage everywhere, people with disabilities are excellent workers. They are dependable and can do many tasks.

This is a great opportunity to help employers.

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HEALTHCARE OVERVIEW

Cornerstones: Telehealth legislation At the end of June 2021, the New Jersey legislature passed a bill that addresses a key issue with the implementation of telehealth: payment parity.

The legislation levels the playing field in terms of consultation payouts by insurers versus in-person patient visits.

Telehealth is not new in the medical arena. For years, doctors and hospitals have used telehealth in their practices. A number of factors limited its use, including technical knowledge and trust among patients, especially the elderly, but one key reason prohibited its widespread adoption: insurance companies paid less for telehealth consultations, meaning that healthcare providers made more on in-person visits.

The issue rose to the spotlight with the COVID-19 pandemic. Suddenly, patients either couldn’t visit their doctor’s office or the hospital for treatment of their various ailments or they were afraid to because of the virus’ spread. The answer was telemedicine, and the practice took office almost instantly.

Just as suddenly, the calls went out demanding payers provide equal payment for telehealth consultations. Just as quickly, contentions arose, given that the area had been mostly unregulated at the federal or state level. Insurers simply applied their assessment and doctors had little recourse to force changes.

New Jersey took a giant step to eliminate this hurdle with Bill 2559, which amended an earlier 2017 law that set the standards for telehealth practices and imposed

requirements for insurance coverage, including Medicaid. The ensuing issue was that telehealth rates could be set up to amounts paid for in-person visits, meaning doctors were usually paid much less for using telehealth. Bill 2559 puts the rate for both insurers and Medicaid on par with in-person visits, while adding more flexibility, including coverage for out-of-state telehealth consultations.

The legislation passed the New Jersey Senate in June 2021.

Education: There is a renewed interest, and need, to make education more inclusive and accessible. The growing fields of tech and the new industries of AI and automation are set to alter the world. Add to these trends the cataclysm of the pandemic and the next five to 10 years are certain to usher in changes and new dynamics in the education sector.

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Brave new world: As lockdowns redefined the landscape for education, a new landscape is emerging As goes the nation, so goes South Jersey. Or maybe it’s the other way around. As the Union’s most denselypopulated state, New Jersey plays an outsized role in the nation’s educational system — it is among the country’s largest exporters of students at the higher education level — and, as a result, trends happening here can have implications elsewhere.

Nothing in 2020-2021 was left untouched by the pandemic and this is resoundingly true for the education sector. Across the region, the lockdowns redefined how this essential service operated, with schools closed and classes going remote, or with a drastically reduced capacity as critical safety measures were installed. How schools respond to these shocks will reverberate through the coming years. Both the positive, such evolved education techniques, and the negative, including budget shortfalls, will likely be forces that South Jersey educators will have to grapple with. It is largely understood that there are tough times ahead for the higher education world, with many industry experts predicting that schools and programs may see an increase in mergers just to survive.

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vaccination program continues apace (and New Jersey is one of the most vaccinated states in the country), analysts are predicting a post-pandemic economic boom. And as many perceived notions fall to the wayside, the region is certainly well-placed to take advantage of a new economic model in education, which includes elements like remote learning.

Adding to its advantages, South Jersey is in close proximity to the major metropolitan areas of the mid-Atlantic and the tri-state area, there are scores of higher education institutions and a wealth of high-skill industries. A path forward is being forged, and it is sure to be innovative and consequential. Education in South Jersey is heading to a bold new place.

Landscape The lockdown put in place in March 2020 upended education in South Jersey. At the higher education level, schools faced an alarming budget crunch as revenues declined and operating costs increased. Nationally, colleges were hit hard by the pandemic, with a 16.1% drop in enrollment in fall 2020. Already under considerable financial strain (it is estimated that, at a state school, one student going through one academic ( )

EDUCATION INTERVIEW

Nimble leader Online, adult-centric educator focuses on curriculum flexibility to ensure students are ready to enter the workforce

Merodie Hancock President – Thomas Edison State University What differentiates Thomas Edison State University?

Thomas Edison is the only public institution in New Jersey that was specifically founded for adult education.

We are focused on expanding educational opportunities for adults and under-represented populations. These are the hard-working people who use their degrees to change their lives. To accommodate them, we turn every traditional construct on its head. We start terms every month, we have terms of varying length and we accept collegiate-level learning wherever and however it was acquired. We keep our curriculum nimble and stay aligned with employer needs. That nimbleness of curriculum is key for us because our students are going directly to their career path, rather than an 18-year-old who has years before they enter their desired field.

How has demand for your programs shifted?

Demand for our programs has been strong, and it was strong before COVID as well. We have invested heavily in online learning for many years. We know what we’re doing, we have the right technology and we’ve built out our classes. We are recognized as leaders in online learning, which has attracted new students in the current remote, pandemic environment. I think students are realizing, if you’re going to be in a remote environment, you might as well be with someone who invests heavily in it and knows what they’re doing.

As well, our students have been demanding more consultative services amid an uncertain economy.

They’re trying to find answers to questions related to what they are studying and determine if it is the right thing, how are they going to pay for it and what happens if they lose their job.

What makes Thomas Edison a leader in online learning?

Constant investment. We’re constantly reevaluating, challenging and building. We make major investments

in building and refreshing courses. When we refresh a course, we bring in subject matter experts from the related industry to look at the content of the course.

When we build a course, it’s truly a team effort that requires experts from multiple fields, and we’re constantly monitoring the value of the courses provided as the workforce needs change.

What are some of the challenges of online learning?

For online learning, students need to be self-driven. In a face-to-face class, you’re reminded about assignments and tests that are coming up. In an online class, you’re expected to read the syllabus, look at the dates and stay on track. We don’t accept many 18-year-olds because we’re not designed for that. We’ve kept our eyes on who we serve, which is a motivated, adult population. www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com

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Frederick Keating President Rowan College of South Jersey

How is Rowan College of South Jersey preparing for the emerging wind industry?

We’ve recently submitted the application, alongside competition throughout the region, to become the workforce training center for the wind industry. We’re trying to anchor our position in the WIND Institute of New Jersey to capture a piece of the emerging industry.

We feel that our application has substantial promise of being accepted, thanks to the industry and educational advantages available in our region. We have the port in Paulsboro and the EEW-Ørsted manufacturing facility in our area, so we are in the heart of the geography.

We’re now shifting our career tech division to match the workforce demand of the trades in the wind industry.

How can the higher education sector collaborate?

We’re all chasing each other, which is a mistake. There should be consolidation of effort geographically and academically. We could do it through niche programming by demand of the area. If there was consolidation in the South Jersey education system, we would become one-stop shopping for incoming students. New Jersey’s education model is still very singular, unlike other states such as Florida and California, and I think that’s our shortcoming.

What is your near-term outlook?

The higher education sector is shifting. There will be more regionalization and mergers. Four-year universities will be joining together, two-year colleges will also be merging, as well as two and four years. I hope guidance for this idea of a new landscape is forthcoming. South Jersey is going to be in a unique situation because we have quality but lack quantity. We have to do more to increase seat capacity. We can do that through developing online campuses as well as upper-level master’s, graduate and doctoral-level programs. Over the next year and a half or so, the higher education system will be determining whether we can do more regionally in South Jersey as a conglomerate or consortium.

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Forty percent of New Jersey residents have a bachelor’s degree or higher.

( ) year can cost up to $45,000), schools will continue facing tough choices moving forward. Furthermore, these tough choices come in the face of dissatisfaction among the student body: students are wondering why they should be paying full fees if they are only receiving half of the college experience, since many are at home and missing out on campus life.

At the K-12 level, there was similar pressure placed on schools as a result of lockdown measures: this resulted in overburdened parents seeking a private education for their children, rather than enduring another semester of remote classes.

In response, schools have been quick to point out that, not only have their operating costs remained the same, in many cases they have had to increase their spending on both digital infrastructure for students who are not on campus and for cautionary safety measures for students who are. Testing had to be introduced at campuses, as did sanitary stations and the requisite infrastructure to maintain social distancing. To address dissatisfaction among the student body, some schools have reduced fees by up to 15%.

That said, remote education most certainly has a future. For many students, it has made the learning experience easier. It increases the ability to be more flexible in one’s learning, helping students who are working or who are engaged in full-time care. As well,

CONSTRUCTION EDUCATION OVERVIEW

Joseph Marbach President Georgian Court University

it liberates the student from the requirement that they be on campus, something which could be helpful for a host of reasons. Moving forward, educators believe, higher education will be adopting a hybrid approach to learning, in which both routes will be opened to students. This has the potential to be one of the success stories of the pandemic, as, over the last year, the quality of remote pedagogy has improved by leaps and bounds.

New Jersey also has a state leadership that has a track record of working to reduce the financial burden higher education can put on its students and their families. The state has passed several measures aimed at increasing accessibility. In the 2018 state budget and coming into effect this year, as part of a plan to make community college free for all, the state allocated $50 million for tuition support for low-income students. Gov. Phil Murphy took it a step further in the 2020 budget, adding another $50 million to New Jersey’s outcomes-based funding scheme, which would mean that four-year public institutions could offer two years of tuition for free. New Jersey is poised to continue on this path of big spending: at $44 billion, its 2022 budget is its biggest yet. Up to $75 million of the money is being earmarked for school construction and building maintenance, especially in underserved urban districts.

The federal government is also playing its part in

How has Georgian Court University continued to grow despite last year’s challenges?

What we’ve found is that we need to focus on some new markets and find nontraditional students. That comes back to our mission of serving the underserved. We saw growth even during the pandemic in two areas. One is with second-degree completers. In January, we launched an Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (ABSN) program. We already have over a hundred applications and they’re being reviewed now. We’ve had significant demand in that area and we think that’s going to increase as health workers are held in such high esteem.

The other program that we’re launching in September is for students with intellectual disabilities. They are students who are not ready for a full college curriculum but they’re young adults and they’re ready for the college experience. We received a $2.5 million federal grant to run this program. We’re working with partners like the College of New Jersey, which has run a very successful program.

We’re working alongside them to raise awareness of these young people who get through high school and there’s nothing for them to look forward to. .

What would you say to critics who say that a college degree may not be as necessary anymore?

In general, we just find that people with a college degree are far more successful in just about any measure you can come up with, whether it’s lifetime income or when the economy is bad.

When it comes to other social indicators like who’s married, who’s happily married, generally, people with college degrees score higher in those areas. In some ways, we started to make education purely a commodity: What kind of job are you going to get? What’s the return on investment? At Georgian Court, we get high marks for return on investment and regularly moving people from a lower socio-economic status and into the middle class. But a college education should be more than that and that’s part of what we do at Georgian. We’re helping form individuals. www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com

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Rowan University has been named the fastest-growing public institution in the country for two years in a row helping support New Jersey’s schools: as part of the American Rescue Plan, the Biden administration’s signature coronavirus relief stimulus package, public schools across the state are due to receive $2.7 billion.

As this money gets divided up, it will make a world of difference to underserved urban communities such as Camden. With a lot of strings attached, both from the federal and the state level, the money will be accessible until 2024 and has school districts across the state figuring out how to navigate its strictures. One area in which a portion of the funds must go, according to the state’s plan for the money, is the issue of learning loss that resulted from time spent away from school during the pandemic.

Such emphasis on education from the highest levels of state and federal government appears to be paying off: New Jersey has a higher number of high school students than the rest of the country (90% to 88%). As well, New Jersey can boast a higher number of people educated

at the bachelor’s degree level or above when compared to the rest of the country (40% to 32%), and it has a safe lead on regional neighbors New York and Pennsylvania in this metric.

Although data specific to the South Jersey region as a whole is hard to come by, a cross-section of individual schools provides an idea of what majors are popular, with business and health-related majors both having a strong showing: at Rutgers University – Camden, registered nursing, business administration, psychology and criminal justice are all popular; at Rowan University in Glassboro, business, management, marketing, psychology and engineering reign supreme; and at Camden County College, the top majors are the liberal arts and sciences, health professions and related programs and business management.

Rowan University, in fact, is a sterling model of what a university can do in this age to stay viable and relevant. For two consecutive years, it has been named the fourth-fastest growing public institution in the country, with an enrollment that has doubled since 2008. In that time, Rowan opened a new medical school, integrated a second and was a key player in a $426 million development project that helped revitalize the community. Added to these successes, the school has $1.2 billion in facilities completed, being constructed, or in the design and planning phase. With 30% of New Jersey’s students going to school out of state, Rowan President Ali Houshmand realized the opportunity was rife to retail students: the market was there, but the options were not enough. Houshmand realized that Rowan would have to grow and become more accessible, but not at the expense of quality. By reducing costs and establishing targeted public-private ( )

Market voices: Education specialties

Monica Adya

Dean Rutgers School of Business-Camden

There is a considerable convergence toward data-driven decision-making.

Our graduates must be able to leverage both data analytics and information technology. Those are absolutely essential. There is virtually no field, business or otherwise, that has not been impacted by both technology and analytics. Even the so-called “softer” aspects of our business curricula are being injected with analytics, technology and innovation. It’s a trend that we expect to continue to see. Some of it used to happen because it was a way to draw international students but now it is increasingly driven by the need for the business executives of the future to understand technology and data analytics.

The pandemic has created even more interest for young men and women to enter a career in medicine, often referred to as the “Fauci effect.” In 2020, we had 5,000 applicants for 200 positions. Before the pandemic, our year-to-year application increases ranged from 4 to 8%. This year, we have had over 7,000 applicants for the same 200 positions. Across the United States, the number of applicants this year to medical schools increased by 16%, but we increased by 26%. This reflects the tremendous interest there is in pursuing a medical career here at SOM.

Thomas Cavalieri

Dean Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine

Donna Nickitas Dean and Professor Rutgers School of Nursing–Camden

We’re not just preparing individuals to enter large, complex health systems but to become an integral part of their communities. We have to make sure our students understand not just how to care for the well-being of others but also understand how to care for themselves and their own well-being amid stressful, traumatizing times. The Rutgers–Camden nursing school also is conducting research that will define best practices and advance nursing sciences for decades to come, including understanding the critical importance of health to all aspects of life, particularly the relationship among the social determinants of health (SDOH), health equity and health.

We’re a relatively new medical school, about 10 years into our development.

We made a conscious effort in the development of our curriculum and in the type of students and staff we wanted to recruit. We’re very much mission matched, and part of that mission is to serve patients from underserved communities. As part of our core values, we want to foster diversity, equity and inclusion. We also wanted to innovate our curriculum to best prepare our students for the practice of medicine since the rate of change will be exponential for the next generation of physicians, especially with the ability to leverage technology.

Annette Reboli

Dean Cooper Medical School of Rowan University

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Antonio Tillis Chancellor Rutgers University – Camden

How are you preparing students for a world of constant change?

One thing the pandemic taught us is our ability to pivot when it comes to the multiple types of modalities, not only in terms of instruction but also the ability to carry out the other major responsibilities of what it means to run an academic institution. We have to make sure that we have 21st century technology and beyond for operational purposes within the institution and advancements in learning. Because students have multiple ways of learning, we must bridge those who are overwhelmed by the rapid use of technology. Some faculty members weren’t too pleased about the need to use innovative technologies in instruction but now they are aware of their effectivenes, and many have become proponents of advanced technology in the classroom.

What are the main challenges facing the university?

In terms of the pandemic, I think our next challenge will be how to provide that level of support and care to students that we were able to give with federal funding. We’ll need to have some serious discussions about sustainability and assistance for students with certain insecurities. We must continue to keep our faculty, students, staff and visitors safe as they come to the campus and make them feel safe to recongregate if vaccinated. It’s difficult for everyone to understand that repopulation isn’t bad. We will still exercise the same care as we did before vaccinations accelerated.

Which programs are attracting demand?

We’re trying to create more opportunities and increase flexibility for students who are working. It’s crucial to understand the complexity of the 21st century student.

Many are either working or are care providers for their families, so we have to make sure that the academic programming we provide for the region takes into consideration the types of students we serve. We serve many veterans and we must ensure we understand the needs for this population as well.

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Camden Reach pilot program is aimed at boosting college-level qualifications to 65% by 2025 ( ) partnerships, the school was able to create a budget surplus, hire faculty, improve research capacity and build new buildings. The school’s star is now rising in the state, with many seeing it as a top-notch institution in South Jersey.

Programs in South Jersey are also working to address the shortfall in college education in some communities.

A pilot experiment called Camden Reach is part of a statewide effort to boost college-level qualifications to 65% by 2025 (in 2017, the figure was at 50%). The idea of this program is to get high-school students familiar with college-level courses, demystifying the next level in a student’s education and encouraging them to pursue it. Working with Bard College, five high schools in Camden will offer classes with college professors to its juniors, covering such areas as social sciences and psychology.

There is also an effort afoot to promote STEM (Science, Technology, Education and Mathematics) education in South Jersey, a vital investment today that will have far-reaching effects for the South Jersey economy in the coming years in terms of creating a highly skilled labor force. Through the South Jersey STEM & Innovation Partnership (SJSIP), using a program developed at Stanford University, an effort is being made to bring STEM education to public schools in the region. Initially, the program will serve up to 85,000 families in Camden, Salem and Cumberland counties but this number could expand as it seeks to grow in Gloucester, Atlantic, Burlington, Ocean and Cape May counties. Working with local institutions such as Camden County College, Mindbytes, and Salem Community College, SJSIP hopes to focus its efforts on three populations: students, skilled workers and employers.

Workforce training While a college education is rightly lauded as an (

)

EDUCATION INTERVIEW

Wind power Cape May college is preparing for a major role in the offshore wind initiative

Barbara Gaba President – Atlantic Cape Community College How has the college strategized its workforce development offerings?

Our Office of Workforce Development works closely with our business communities. We sit on several of the boards — the Atlantic County Economic Alliance (ACEA), the Greater Atlantic City Chamber of Commerce and the Atlantic County Workforce Development Board. We are very much aware of and attuned to what is happening with regard to workforce development. In this part of the state, we had been very focused on hospitality and tourism, both of which took a big hit during the pandemic. We are getting ready to be a part of a critical initiative related to the wind industry. Wind farms are going to be built off the coast of Atlantic City and we are planning to be very much a part of establishing a global wind organization and creating certified basic safety and sea survival training programs, including a support facility at our Atlantic City campus. To do so, we are applying for a $3.3 million grant for those specific goals.

What is your take on COVID-related learning loss?

We are concerned across higher education regarding the learning loss that occurred at the high school level during this past year. We intend to continue to reach out through virtual events. We reach out to high-school counselors and parents to participate in what we call virtual information sessions. We do offer GED and other high school preparation programs.

It has been a challenge because students have not been in school. We realize that when they do come back, we are going to have work to do, but we are prepared in terms of the programs that we offer to assist them.

Moreover, there will be no tuition increase; it will remain flat throughout 2021. We are very sensitive to the environment and realize that many people are struggling, particularly in this area. Our high reliance on tourism and the gaming industry translated into significant job losses.

How do you see the near-term playing out for the region’s higher education sector?

It is going to be a challenge, but we are anxiously looking forward to going back in the fall. We’re preparing for that as we speak. It is critical that we get back to normal as much as we can. We realize too that when we talk about normal, we really do not want to go back to what we were before. We learned a lot of lessons and our top priority is getting students back into the classroom. Despite all the challenges that we face with the pandemic, it has created some opportunities as well. We want to do better and one of the lessons of the pandemic is that there is a digital divide that we need to address. Many students lack the means and technology required for online learning.

Going back, we are going to provide computer laptops on loan for students. www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com

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EDUCATION OVERVIEW

( ) ideal for the youth of South Jersey, there is also an increased effort to teach technical and vocational subjects. Such an approach is essential for the economic vitality of the region; it is from this training that the jobs of tomorrow will come. Investing in vocational education is key in New Jersey. Furthermore, economic diversification is already a byword of South Jersey, and when one considers that students from the region often forge a path elsewhere in the country, it is a reminder that what happens in South Jersey reverberates nationally.

There is also a renewed effort to get the private sector more involved in secondary education. By being engaged, curricula can be designed to meet the needs of the local community, which could result in both economic growth and poverty alleviation. In South Jersey, institutions are at work engaging with the local business community. Rowan College of South Jersey is engaging with night schools to teach essential trades, and it is designing programs that will meet a rising demand from the wind industry. At Rowan University, there is a similar effort afoot to engage the local healthcare industry. School officials see great potential in such partnerships.

The pandemic has also prompted the state government to be more involved in workforce training.

Facing the massive (and sudden) unemployment that arrived in spring 2020 as the world shut down, officials in Trenton realized there was a need to act.

The New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, partnering with Metrix New Jersey, launched the SkillUp New Jersey program, a free online training program that will help job seekers throughout the state develop their skills and undergo training for

Some New Jersey colleges are requiring students to be fully vaccinated.

Michael Cioce President – Rowan College at Burlington County IT and cybersecurity are experiencing a boost in demand due to the consistent need for these occupations throughout the pandemic, which we labeled as “virus-proof” careers. Logistics, supply chain management and healthcare paths are also virusproof. Education has experienced a serious uptick due to the early retirement of older teachers who aren’t comfortable with online learning environments. The other big uptick we’re seeing is in criminal justice and political science in response to the equity and diversity issues that have emerged over the past year. Just as there has been a “Fauci effect,” there has also been a George Floyd, Breonna Taylor effect.

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EDUCATION OVERVIEW

Perspective: Community college Michael Gorman President – Salem Community College We are a small county with about 800 to 900 highschool graduates annually but 50% of high-school students do not have a life plan after graduation and will work jobs that will not necessarily move toward a career. These are often students of color and we’re looking to apply a blue ocean strategy because that is a group that needs the service we can provide under what is known as the Community College Opportunity Grant (CCOG). Our goal is to help them to build the confidence to believe that they can handle what we have to offer. Our biggest issue in terms of equity is trying to get to those students who are not equipped with a life plan the day after graduation. We have a responsibility to them to do something, even if they don’t attend here.

certification. All together, over 5,000 courses and 100 certification programs have been made available to New Jersey residents. With subjects ranging from project management to information technology, business analysis to Mandarin, these classes are sure to increase the effectiveness of New Jersey’s workforce.

There are other examples of companies engaging prospective employees in South Jersey. In April 2021, South Jersey Gas, working in partnership with the Atlantic County Institute of Technology, announced a new program in which the chance to gain real-world experience in the field of utilities would be offered to local high-school students. In this case the students worked with the Geographic Information System and Records departments to learn AutoCAD and GIS Recording. Such proactive educational measures on the part of South Jersey Gas are considered essential to ensuring that the region has a quality workforce moving forward.

Tech and innovation Besides the pandemic, 2020 will be remembered as the year of digital transformation. Across industries and sectors, 10 years’ worth of digital evolution was compressed into two months as lockdowns forced all but essential workers to work from home. Meetings were held over Zoom, people discovered that traditional brick-and-mortar industries like banking could more easily be done online, and e-commerce spiked dramatically.

In education, the story was similar. Campuses were shut down with classes going online and students attending school remotely. While there were many students who bemoaned the lack of in-person pedagogy, and a suitable on-campus college experience, for many people, remote education was a boon. Not having to commute to campus allowed them more flexibility in their already busy lives. Educators and administrators expect that a hybrid approach that combines elements of in-person learning and remote learning will be the future of the sector.

Rowan University has a new program, organized in tandem with local community colleges, which illustrates the potential held for the hybrid approach.

Faced with declining enrollments and prohibitive costs, Rowan saw the need and the opportunity to merge with community colleges in the area, allowing these colleges to use Rowan’s name while giving more students the chance to receive a quality education at a reasonable cost. A doctoral thesis in education, offered www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com

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Ali Houshmand President Rowan University

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The new Institute for Future Technologies aims to become one of the region’s tech hubs, emphasizing STEM

What has been the major focus for Rowan University over the past year?

Our academic environment, infrastructure plans, financials, technology, and equity efforts are all undergoing immense transformation. We are changing in so many ways, pivoting to pursue and implement new opportunities while also dealing with a variety of challenges the pandemic has presented or accelerated.

We are rethinking nearly $300 million of infrastructure projects, two of which are major housing projects consisting of a total of 1,400 beds. We have frozen those projects to restrategize. Technology has become the frontrunner, and we are investing millions of dollars into cloud computing and technological capabilities.

We’re also investing heavily in our efforts to level the playing field for disadvantaged students. Starting this fall, any student who comes to Rowan University and has a family income of less than $45,000 will attend for free, for all four years. Starting next in fall 2022, anyone who is up to $65,000 in family income will get two years of their education at Rowan University paid for by the state and Rowan University.

online and in a hybrid format, saw Rowan hiring adjunct faculty from community colleges and the course itself has proved popular with interested middle managers, just the type of professionals who are drawn to remote education because it is more accommodating of their busy lives. This story brings together many of the threads of where higher education will go in the region: not only hybrid learning, but also bringing together community colleges and research institutions in an effort to stave off declines in enrollment.

Technology is rightly seen as the driving force of tomorrow and there has been a renewed interest on the part of New Jersey institutions. Recently, Murphy announced a new Institute for Future Technologies, a combined effort from the New Jersey Institute of Technology and Israel’s Ben-Gurion University, that aims to become one of the region’s technology hubs, with an emphasis placed on STEM education.

What will be the role of physical campuses?

For a 17- or 18-year-old leaving the safety of home and their parents, the college campus serves as a safe environment to grow and learn to make decisions. That’s the role of a college campus and it’s one thing that should remain unchanged and never go away. There is no way you can replace that with virtual environments because at some point you have to get out into the world. Now the question is, what does the campus of the future look like? There are 34 universities in Downtown Philadelphia.

Almost all of them have dorms, and right now students are concerned about going to the cities. What if technology advances so much that there is a massive dorm or campus on the edge of the city where people from every university can live and grow and make decisions. Universities could pull these things together, and why shouldn’t they with their current costs being unsustainable?

Looking ahead These are exciting times to be in the education sector in South Jersey. There is a renewed interest on the part of the government and on institutions to make education more inclusive and accessible. The growing fields of tech, and the new industries of AI and automation that are set to alter the world in the coming decades, are spurring much of this enthusiasm. Add to these trends the cataclysm of the pandemic, which in going digital has changed the consumer experience of education, and the next five to 10 years are certain to usher in changes and new dynamics.

Access is also expected to grow as education becomes more digital and costs become less prohibitive. This is all good news, especially in a landscape like that in South Jersey that is preparing for a post-pandemic boom and is hungry for skilled workers.

| Invest: South Jersey 2021 | EDUCATION