The 2019 NJBIZ Power 100

In this special “Power 100” issue, NJBIZ ranked the 100 most powerful people in New Jersey. NJBIZ stated, “Reading a really good list is fun. Compiling a really good list … not so much. It’s a lot of work. Indeed, a lot of work went into compiling the NJBIZ Power 100 list. The entire editorial staff was involved, sharing insights gleaned from daily reporting and offering analysis of who the important players are in New Jersey right now. That part was relatively easy: reporters follow and interview influential people every day. By definition, the individuals making news – elected officials, high-ranking bureaucrats, go-to lawyers and lobbyists, prominent activists – are the folks to watch. But for this list, at least, we wanted to look beyond what is happening right now in the statehouse, the courts and city hall. We wanted to identify economic actors who are in positions to help shape the future. These people may not be on NJTV News every night, but if they are successful New Jersey will be a better state in which to live, work and do business.” Sills Cummis & Gross Managing Partner Max Crane, and Sills Cummis & Gross Members Ted Zangari and Jerry Zaro made the cut.

NJBIZ had this to say about Crane, Zangari and Zaro.

Max Crane
“Revenue at Sills Cummis & Gross increased from $87.9 million for the 2017 fiscal year to $90.2 million in 2018, and managing partner Max Crane is accustomed to the growth. Crane began as an associate there in 1984, and since becoming managing partner just over a decade ago, profits per partner have grown by 40 percent. Litigation, corporate, real estate and bankruptcy are mainstays at the firm – including acting as co-counsel in a class action brought by Wyckoff, Glen Rock and Midland Park against the Ridgewood Water Utility to invalidate a 37 percent rate increase over five years. On the transactional side, they represented New Jersey-based toy giant Alex Brands in the sale of its Buzz Bee Toy division to that division’s management team in Hong Kong. Real estate deals done by the firm throughout the state remain strong and the firm’s bankruptcy attorneys are handling health care bankruptcy matters throughout the U.S.”

Ted Zangari
“Zangari is the go-to guy when it comes to advising clients on how to invest in Opportunity Zones. The member of Sills, Cummis & Gross, who chairs the firm’s real estate department along with its government relations and public policy and redevelopment law practices, is often interviewed for articles and tapped for speaking engagements on the subject. He steers a team on large-scale mixed use projects including land assemblage, redeveloper designations and agreements, tax increment financing and other public incentives, environmental remediation, commercial condominiumization and construction contracts.”

Jerry Zaro
“The chairman of the Gateway Development Program Corp., Zaro has been making the case for federal funding of the estimated $20 billion bridge and tunnel infrastructure project. The project features the replacement of the 108-year-old Hudson River rail tunnels that connect New Jersey with Manhattan and the Portal Bridge. The bridges and tunnels carry nearly 200,000 commuters each day and are plagued by delays. A collapse of the system would jeopardize 20 percent of the nation’s economy. The project to create the new tunnels and bridges would produce 12,000 new jobs and generate $19 billion in economic activity, Zaro argues. But he has cautioned that the project is being held hostage, calling it ‘a national disaster happening in slow motion.’ Part of Zaro’s job is to stop that disaster.”