NACD New Jersey Announces Honorees for 2025 Director of the Year Awards

National Association of Corporate Directors New Jersey Chapter

Announces Honorees for 2025 Director of the Year Awards

Leading corporate governance organization to honor three individuals and two company boards for exemplary board leadership on Monday, May 5, 2025

December 19, 2024 - East Brunswick, NJ – The National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) New Jersey Chapter today announced the recipients of the 2025 Director of the Year Awards. This annual event recognizes directors of public, private and nonprofit boards who have made valuable contributions to the boards on which they serve and advanced exemplary board leadership. The awards will be presented at a formal ceremony on Monday, May 5, 2025, at the Pleasantdale Château in West Orange, New Jersey.

In reflecting on the importance of these awards and recognition, Jeannie Diefenderfer, board chair of NACD New Jersey, said, “Effective corporate governance has proven more critical than ever, serving as an important foundation to help organizations navigate continued volatility and uncertainty. By fostering transparency, accountability and ethical practices, effective governance builds trust and confidence among stakeholders. We proudly celebrate directors and organizations in New Jersey that exemplify these principles, creating meaningful and lasting positive impacts on the business community and the people they serve.”

The NACD New Jersey Chapter will be honoring three individual board members and two boards. The 2025 honorees are:

Lifetime Achievement in Governance: Martha Clark Goss is recognized for her outstanding contributions to corporate governance and leadership. Since 1992, Goss has served on numerous corporate and mutual fund boards, including five NYSE-listed companies: Dexter Corp., Foster Wheeler Corp., American Water, Ocwen Financial and Claire’s Stores. She was non-executive chair of Channel Reinsurance and has served on boards of various private companies in banking, insurance, engineering, construction and natural language processing. Currently, she serves on the board of American Water and is a trustee of the Neuberger Berman Mutual Funds Complex. Goss has had a distinguished career in investments and finance, holding chief financial officer roles at Booz Allen Hamilton and The Capital Markets Co. as well as senior executive positions at Prudential Insurance Co. of America and Chase Manhattan Bank, N.A. Goss’s leadership has not only driven significant organizational transformations but also restored trust in these organizations.

Goss has also served as a faculty member at Deloitte University and has been a trustee, treasurer and trustee emerita of Brown University since 1987; president / past president of the Financial Women’s Association of New York since 2006; a member of the Committee of 200 since 1990; trustee, chair and trustee emerita of the Independent College Fund of New Jersey since 1986; and a member of the board of trustees of the Museum of American Finance since 2013. She has been profiled in various publications, including Directors & Boards, Fortune, Business Week, Working Mother Magazine, Board IQ and Fund Board Views as well as several trade publications. She is a frequent speaker on governance, enterprise risk management and audit committee topics for the Conference Board, the Mutual Fund Directors Forum and other organizations.

Leadership in Public Corporate Governance: Irene Chang Britt is a distinguished and forward-thinking independent board director and chair, renowned for her innovative perspectives on corporate governance. Currently, Britt serves in multiple board chair and committee chair roles on the public company boards of First Watch Restaurant Group, IDEXX Laboratories Inc. and Victoria’s Secret as well as private companies Amica Senior Lifestyles, Partake Foods, TIPO Entertainment (MikMak) and Just Meeting Rooms. She is an advisory board member of Peloton Capital Management. Her previous board and committee leadership roles include Dunkin Brands, Tailored Brands, Sunoco, Brighthouse Financial and TerraVia. Britt’s extensive career includes executive and C-suite leadership positions at The Campbell’s Co., Kraft, Nabisco and Kimberly-Clark Corp. She is widely renowned for leading transformational, market-beating growth and strategic turnarounds. Her most recent executive position was senior vice president of global baking and snacking, and president/CEO of Pepperidge Farm Inc., a division of Campbell’s.

Her integrity and leadership have been widely recognized, including accolades such as the Board Prospects Top 30 AAPI Directors (2023), Women INC Most Influential Corporate Board Directors (2019), NACD Directorship 100 (2017), Directors & Boards’ “Directors to Watch” (2016), NJBiz magazine’s “Best 50 Women in Business” and induction into the New Jersey Business Hall of Fame.

Leadership in Nonprofit Governance: Sara Peña brings two decades of impactful leadership across healthcare and government sectors. Peña’s extensive contributions to community empowerment and leadership have made her a respected figure in her field. Inspired by her son, Anthony, she founded the Boys to Leaders Foundation, dedicated to empowering young men through leadership training, educational programs and personal development. The Foundation’s Young Men’s Leadership Conference fosters a culture of communication and sustainable success. She was recently elected to the boards of Victoria Foundation and Women@NJPAC, the anchor cultural institution of New Jersey. She served on the executive board of LUPE Fund Inc., an organization focused on engaging and empowering Latinas in New Jersey through leadership, advocacy and education, where she has held various leadership roles, including president and treasurer. Peña serves on the advisory committee of The Young Women’s Foundation, an organization founded by a LUPE scholarship recipient.

As director of external affairs for PSE&G, Peña is committed to public policy and stakeholder engagement. She is a graduate of the Leadership Newark program and was recently inducted into the new class of Lead NJ. She serves on the boards of Seton Hall University’s Joseph A. Unanue Latino Institute’s and a charter school in Newark.

Large Company Board of the Year: Prudential Financial Inc. (NYSE: PRU) is a global financial services leader and premier active global investment manager with approximately $1.6 trillion in assets under management. Prudential Financial has operations in the U.S., Asia, Europe and Latin America. Prudential’s diverse and talented employees help make lives better and create financial opportunity for more people by expanding access to investing, insurance and retirement security. Prudential’s iconic Rock symbol has stood for strength, stability, expertise and innovation for nearly 150 years.

Small Company Board of the Year: Suburban Propane Partners, L.P. (“Suburban Propane”) is a publicly traded master limited partnership listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Headquartered in Whippany, NJ, Suburban Propane (NYSE:SPH) has been in the customer service business since 1928 and is a nationwide distributor of propane, renewable propane, renewable natural gas, fuel oil and related products and services as well as a marketer of natural gas and electricity and producer of and investor in low-carbon fuel alternatives, servicing the energy needs of approximately 1 million residential, commercial, governmental, industrial and agricultural customers through approximately 700 locations across 42 states.

Suburban Propane is built on three foundational pillars: (1) Suburban Commitment, which celebrates nearly 100 years of excellence and a steadfast dedication to the highest standards of dependability, flexibility and reliability, which form the backbone of Suburban Propane’s commitment to outstanding customer service; (2) SuburbanCares, which emphasizes the company’s ongoing efforts to give back to communities across its nationwide footprint; and (3) Go Green with Suburban Propane, which advocates for the clean-burning benefits of propane and renewable propane as a key solution for a sustainable energy future while actively investing in innovative renewable energy alternatives for the next generation.

Richard Mroz, NACD New Jersey Director of the Year event chair, stated, “We are delighted to honor the exceptional directors and boards in the New Jersey community who embody the highest standards of integrity, visionary strategy and principled leadership. Their steadfast commitment to excellence in corporate governance is truly admirable, and we look forward to celebrating their outstanding achievements at the 2025 Director of the Year Awards.”

Nominations for consideration of the awards are made by NACD New Jersey Chapter directors and reviewed by a selection committee made up of community and corporate leaders and noted authorities on governance. For more information about the event, visit the NACD New Jersey Director of the Year event page.

About the NACD New Jersey Chapter

NACD New Jersey provides a forum for NACD members to exchange knowledge and discuss leading boardroom practices in the New Jersey–based area. More than 20 NACD chapters enhance the value of NACD membership by providing directors with a local forum to address governance challenges in order to elevate their board’s performance. Members enjoy peer-to-peer dialogue about critical boardroom issues such as cyber risk, CEO succession planning, activism and leadership. To learn more about NACD New Jersey, please visit https://www.nacdonline.org/new-jersey/.

About NACD

For more than 40 years, NACD has been on the leading edge of corporate governance, setting standards of excellence that have elevated board performance. NACD arms today’s directors with insights and education that drive their mission forward while preparing a new generation of boardroom leaders to meet tomorrow’s biggest challenges. NACD is a community of more than 22,000 directors driven by a common purpose: to be trusted catalysts of economic opportunity and positive change — in businesses and in the communities they serve. To learn more about NACD, visit www.nacdonline.org.

###