NJIT Highlanders Among People of Color Named Influencers in NJ

ROI-NJ recognized several members from the NJIT community in its annual list celebrating the diversity of New Jersey’s most impactful people of color, including university administrators, notable alumni and members of boards and committees.

Teik Lim

The first president of color to lead the institution, Lim is of Chinese descent and grew up in Malaysia, where he endured racism as an ethnic minority. One of Lim’s visions is to ensure that NJIT is a truly welcoming and inclusive community, accessible to students of all backgrounds and financial means.

“[Lim] heads an institution that produced more engineers of color than any school in the state,” noted ROI-NJ.

Angela Garreston

Garretson manages public and community affairs, leading the office that serves to liaise NJIT with our federal, state and local public officials, government agencies and the surrounding Newark community. With two decades of political, civic and higher education experience — and a passion for serving the community — Garretson is helping NJIT grow in stature in the state and around the country.

Marjorie Perry

ROI-NJ noted Perry, the CEO and president of MZM Construction & Management, has a “no-nonsense, tell-it-like-it-is style … she excels on the job site, at the negotiating table and behind the podium. She is a sought-after speaker.” Perry, who earned an MBA from NJIT, was the university’s commencement keynote speaker for the Class of 2024.

Perry is the first woman and first African-American chair of the NJIT Foundation Board of Directors. She is an inductee of the New Jersey Business Hall of Fame, and a proud “Newark girl” who is a strong supporter of women and minorities in the construction industry — and is always looking to give back.

Chao Yan

The CEO of Princeton NuEnergy earned his Ph.D. from NJIT. His company can make a big impact in our clean-energy future through their innovations in battery recycling and materials technology. Princeton NuEnergy received national acclaim for this technology.

LeRoy Jones

Jones, who holds an MBA from NJIT, serves as chair of the New Jersey Democratic Party, as well as the Democratic Party chair for both East Orange and Essex County. He served four terms in the New Jersey General Assembly, where he represented the 27th Legislative District.

Luis De La Hoz

De La Hoz is a member of NJIT’s Hispanic and Latinx Leadership Council, whose mission is to increase enrollment, and helped the university achieve its goal of becoming a Hispanic Serving Institution and meeting the 25% hispanic student population threshold.

De La Hoz is chairman of the Statewide Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey (SHCCNJ) and is regional director of Community Lending at Valley National bank, where he works to help local, small and midsize businesses develop strategies for growth, with particular emphasis in supporting organizations with Latino and minority leadership.

De La Hoz, along with Carlos Medina as CEO of the SHCCNJ, were selected at No. 1 in ROI-NJ’s list.

Tomas Porturas

Porturas is Wells Fargo’s community relations vice president for New Jersey. He is responsible for region-wide corporate social responsibility initiatives, Community Reinvestment Act compliance management and other engagement roles to strengthen the communities Wells Fargo serves. He earned his master’s in management at NJIT.

Wesley Matthews

Matthews is the president and CEO of Choose New Jersey, a nonprofit dedicated to economic growth by bringing more business into the state. He began his career as a senior manager of Wireless Business Development at the telecommunications company Nortel. Starting in 2008, Matthews would spend 13 years as a public diplomat and first secretary for the U.S. State Department, being stationed at the U.S. Embassies in Berlin, New Delhi, Islamabad and Riyadh. Matthews is a board member of New Jersey Innovation Institute, an NJIT corporation.