US Senator Robert Menendez will headline the morning program and Governor Jon Corzine will give the afternoon keynote address at the New Jersey Business & Industry Association’s (NJBIA) 2006 Public Policy Forum, NJBIA President Philip Kirschner announced today. 

This year’s event is entitled New Jersey’s Growth Challenge: Can We Be Restored to a Leadership Position?  It will run from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, December 12, at the Sheraton at Woodbridge Place in Iselin.  It will also feature economic experts, political pundits, business executives and top legislative leaders who will give their insights into what the business community can expect in the coming year.

“New Jersey is at a crossroads,” Kirschner said.  “How will we confront the challenges facing our private-sector economy?  Our Public Policy Forum will give the State’s business and political leaders the perfect opportunity to tell us what they think.”

The program includes:

• Presentation of the 2007 Business Outlook Survey (8:35 a.m. until 8:55 a.m.) by Philip Kirschner, detailing what NJBIA member companies think about the economy in the coming year in terms of sales, profits and employment;

• Presentation of the Paul L. Troast Award to State Senator Paul Sarlo and Assemblyman John Wisniewski (9:00 a.m. to 9:10 a.m.);

• Morning address by US Senator Robert Menendez (9:10 a.m. to 9:35 a.m.);

• A legislative leaders panel (9:35 a.m. until 10:45 a.m.) comprised of Assembly Republican Leader Alex DeCroce, Senate Majority Leader Bernard Kenny Jr., Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts, and Senate Republican Leader Leonard Lance.  NJ 101.5 Radio Correspondent Kevin McArdle will moderate the discussion;

• A political outlook panel (11:00 a.m. until noon) moderated by NJN Correspondent Jim Hooker and featuring State Democratic Party Chair Joe Cryan, Republican State Party Chair Tom Wilson, Rider University Political Science Professor David Rebovich, and Politifax Publisher Nick Acocella;

• A concurrent panel discussion on New Jersey’s economic outlook (11:00 a.m. until noon), moderated by NJBIA Vice President Chris Biddle and featuring Steve Kalafer, chairman of Flemington Car and Truck Country; Gary Rose, chief of the NJ Office of Economic Growth; Rae Rosen, senior economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York; and Dan Levine, of ADP (Mintax) Inc;

• Presentation of the Leonard C. Johnson Award to Charlene Brown (1:00 p.m.) of at&t; and

• The keynote address by Governor Jon Corzine (1:10 p.m.).

Members of the media planning to attend should contact Steve Wilson at 609-393-7707, ext. 245.  A platform and a mult-box will be provided.