While family-owned businesses are perhaps stereotypically thought of as smaller firms, some 35 percent of them are actually Fortune 500 companies, and all family businesses combined account for approximately 50 percent of the United States’ GDP. It was Sally Glick, principal and chief growth strategist at the accounting firm Sobel & Co., who regaled the audience with these and other statistics at the October 24th, 26th Annual New Jersey Family Business of the Year Awards Luncheon, held at the Crystal Plaza in Livingston, and sponsored by: the Rothman Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Fairleigh Dickinson University, PNC Bank, Sobel & Co., the New Jersey Business & Industry Association (NJBIA), Coughlin Duffy, Crystal Plaza and NEW JERSEY BUSINESS magazine.
Glick added, “With all of their succession, managerial, operational, leadership challenges, [family businesses] are – nonetheless – the single biggest job creators, not just locally, but nationally. The family business is responsible for 60 percent of the nation’s employment, and 70 percent of all new jobs created, overall.”
Nominations were in two categories, sales up to $10M and sales $10M and over. Tingley Rubber Corporation was announced as the award-winning family businesses of the year, in the sales $10M and over. The award was accepted by Tingley’s ownership, Bruce and J.B. McCollum.
Throughout the 26-year history of the New Jersey Family Business of the Year Awards program, it has nominated and recognized 1,071 companies, honored 250 semi-finalists, 130 finalists and 54 category winners, and generated event proceeds that are applied toward entrepreneurial scholarships at Fairleigh Dickinson University ($150,000 has been raised toward the scholarship fund).
Tingley Rubber Corporation is a 122-year-old, fifth generation owned business, headquartered in Piscataway, N.J. Tingley is a leader in the manufacture of protective footwear and clothing. Generations of workers have trusted the Tingley name for quality and service since 1896.
