Erica Martinez, a technical operations manager at Verizon, didn’t see many women teaching or majoring in engineering while in college, but began to see a shift once she started working.

“I focused on the goal and didn’t really focus on being different,” she recalled of her days in college. “I feel like we’re at a point where we’re creating new norms.”

Verizon has been supporting the Independent College Fund of New Jersey for 47 of the fund’s 64 years. The fund is a cooperative effort involving leaders from 60 businesses and 14 independent colleges in New Jersey in order to broaden financial support for and awareness of independent higher education. Mark Bocchieri, a director of external affairs for Verizon New Jersey, is the immediate past chair of the fund. Recently, the organization underwent a change in leadership. Louis T. Manzione, who has a doctorate in engineering, was named its president. Manzione is thrilled to be back in New Jersey. He spent 24 years at Bell Labs in Murray Hill before becoming the dean of engineering at the University of Hartford in Connecticut. Verizon Update New Jersey sat down with Manzione to discuss the fund and its impact on higher education in the state.

Verizon Smart Communities will partner with Rowan University’s College of Engineering, Cooper’s Ferry Partnership and Camden City to develop an intelligent traffic system network in downtown Camden.

The effort is being funded through a $100,000 grant awarded to Camden County by the state to improve downtown Camden’s surface transportation performance.

Leecia Eve was proud to receive the 2018 Community Builder Award from the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice (NJISJ) at its 13th-annual Gala at NJPAC in Newark.

The annual event recognizes leaders and community members whose exceptional contributions support NJISJ’s mission. Among the evening’s other honorees were Lowenstein Sandler LLP, a national law firm with offices in Roseland, and the evening’s keynote speaker, the Hon. Loretta Lynch, 83rd Attorney General of the United States.

It’s called the “Green Team,” and it’s 29,000 Verizon employees around the world working to make a lasting impact on the environment.

A small part of that Green Team – some 30 employees in Verizon’s global communications department – visited New Jersey Audubon’s headquarters in Bernardsville, N.J. on a recent weekday afternoon.