Union County Women Mean Business

Sherry Heidary

Unlocking The Power of Mentorship

Associate Professor of Chemistry Sherry Heidary began working at Union College in July 2007. During the last 16 years, she has held several leadership positions at the college. She has served as the Chair of Chemistry Department, Chair of many Academic Committee at the College, including the Standard I of Middle State Self Study, Faculty Advisor to the Student Government Association, Faculty Advisor to Phi Theta Kappa Honors Society, Faculty Advisor to American Honors Council. She is currently a commissioner to the Union County Commission on Status of Women, Union County YWCA Board member, and a Trustee on Union County College Foundation Board.

She is the first recipient of the prestigious Fiat Lux Award in 2017, and two times recipient of Dr. Richard and Barbara Neblett Prize Award for Educational Excellence in Teaching and Learning in 2013 and 2017. In 2015, she was awarded the NISOD Excellence Award – National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development – Excellence Award in Teaching, Learning, and Leadership at Community and Technical Colleges.

Professor Heidary holds a BS in Polymer Engineering, and a MS in Polymer Science from Penn State University. Her interest in STEM courses flourished by her chemistry high school teacher and the love of teaching from her mother. She finds teaching STEM students, interesting, challenging, exciting, and extremely rewarding. Her mission in life is helping her students achieve their goals and dreams. She is an avid ballroom dancer and loves to travel.

Marcella Gencarelli

Improv(e) Your Pitch:  Master Persuasive Communication

Marcella is currently Vice President, Business Banker II, Valley Bank.  She has over 20 years of banking experience and proficiency in business development, coaching and relationship building.

Initially a successful entrepreneur in the food industry, Marcella transitioned into the corporate world of banking by utilizing skills acquired through creating differentiated marketing and client experiences, business development strategies and maintaining strong relationships. 

Marcella attended Essex County College and obtained various American Bankers Association certifications. During her time at PNC Bank, she received the Circle of Excellence and Service Excellence awards by being a top performer and exceeding in categories such as sales, client meetings, customer experience and net promoter scores. She was recognized as the Summit Area YMCA Mission Volunteer of the Year and received the Boy Scouts of America 2019 Tribute to Women Award. North Jersey YWCA 2023 Tribute to Women of Influence (TWIN) Award.

Marcella is the founder of the women’s networking group, Warren Ladies Lunch, and the founder of 50 Leaders Over Fifty. She is Co-Chairwoman of the Suburban Chamber of Commerce, an Advisory Board member of Summit YMCA and an Executive Board Member of BSA Patriots Path Council. She is a Campagna Condo Board member, Montville Township Historical Preservation Committee member and is a board member of the Montville Chamber of Commerce. She served on the Women’s Center for Entrepreneurship’s Women of Influence committee, is a former board officer of the Millburn Chamber of Commerce and a former member of the Summit Lions Club and the Rotary Clubs of Caldwell, Summit/New Providence and Berkeley Heights.

Susan Levy

Unlocking The Power of Mentorship

Susan has over 35 years of global, cross-functional experience in the consumer healthcare industry and is currently a member of the Board of Directors of CHPA, the Consumer Healthcare Products Association.. 

Prior to founding SBL Consulting Group in 2011, Susan worked in Corporate Strategy at Merck & Co. where, she worked directly with Merck’s CEO and his leadership team to create and evaluate white space opportunities to deliver long-term, profitable growth.  She is certified in Strategic Planning by the American Management Association.

Before Merck acquired Schering-Plough, Susan served as Senior Director, Global New Ventures and Strategic Commercial Development for Schering-Plough Consumer Healthcare, where she was responsible for US and international in-licensing of new technologies, acquisitions, alliances and Rx to OTC switches.

From 1996 to 2004, Susan worked at Warner-Lambert/Pfizer.  Her marketing assignments there included global marketing for Visine, and both Rx and OTC marketing for Nicotrol.

Susan began her career in R&D at both Unilever and SmithKline Beecham where she worked in product development and portfolio analysis roles.

Susan received her BA in Chemistry from Cornell University and attended NYU’s Stern School of Business for her MBA.  

In 2020, Susan was recognized as a Top Woman in Health and Wellness by DrugStore News. Susan was named a Leading Woman Entrepreneur and Business Owner of New Jersey in the October 2014 issue of New Jersey Monthly magazine.

Roz Miller-Choice

Know it, Share it, Pivot into Profits

Roz Miller-Choice is known as The Expert Maker®.  She has an uncanny ability to help people to uncover their genius and show them how to turn their expertise into a profitable business.  

Roz is also the host of the weekly television show called The Expert Maker TV series. In each episode viewers watch as a guest is transformed from being the best-kept secret into the Go-To expert in their industry, with the help of Roz and her team. The TV show is a recent winner in the 43rd annual Telly Awards, honoring excellence in television and video productions.

She has also been selected to give a TED Talk, which are considered influential talks from today’s thought-leaders.

As The Expert Maker®, Roz works with clients from every field, including fitness, mental health, academia, child development, lifestyle, beauty etc.

Entrepreneurs, authors, life coaches and small business owners have dramatically increased their revenue after Roz helps them to position themselves and showcase their expertise in the market-place.

She is the author of the soon-to-be released book, The Expert Maker: Turning Your Knowledge into Multiple Streams of Income.

Roz learned her video production, marketing, branding and creative writing skills in the broadcasting industry. She had a long career in television news and production.  She was a New York News Correspondent for CNN and CBS. She has co-hosted television programs for PBS and worked as a Reporter and Producer for WNBC, FOX and New Jersey based WWOR-TV.  

Dr. Jean Oursler

Fight? or FIGHT!? Unleashing Your Caveman Brain

With a Ph.D. in Business Psychology, Dr. Jean is one of the country’s top business consultants, a top-rated speaker, a world-class business performance coach and the creator of Caveman Brain®. Dr. Jean developed The Caveman Brain® Business Growth System to help individuals, teams, and companies who want to accelerate their business growth. This groundbreaking business growth system is the only one that uses skill set, mindset and tool kits to specifically align an individual, a team, and a company to achieve maximum results in the shortest time possible. Dr. Jean says “when you use this customized, done for you system, you can achieve results in as little as 30 days and what is great is that you can do it on your own or have one of our certified Growth Coaches™ to assist you. As a business psychologist, Dr. Jean employs a business growth philosophy grounded in a no-nonsense, results-focused approach, completely personalized to meet the needs of her clients. In fact, Dr. Jean’s clients call her The Results Queen® because she is all about getting unprecedented results — at an unprecedented speed — that creates and maintains unprecedented levels of performance. Dr. Jean uses her mission, “To Leave You Better, Than I Found You,” to help everyone understand what your Caveman Brain® is so you can prevent it from holding you back and use it to propel you forward to better results in your business. This engaging purpose and passion come across in all her presentations whether they be on a stage or in front of a microphone.

Cherron Rountree

Unlocking The Power of Mentorship

Cherron Rountree is a New Jersey native business executive with 20 years of diverse leadership experience. As the current President and Partner of Direct Development Design+Communications, Cherron specializes in strategic planning, project development, and public relations for both public and private organizations.

Cherron has an extensive history in public service and administration for New Jersey county and municipal entities, expertise in developing strategic partnerships and financial management, and has served as Administrator for both urban and suburban municipalities.

She has developed constituent relations, secured millions in grant funding, improved service to residents, negotiated partnerships, reduced taxes, and led redevelopment efforts that attracted new residents and businesses.

Cherron is a past recipient of the Gateway Chamber of Commerce’s Business Administrator of the Year Award, a part-time lecturer with Rutgers University’s Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, and a licensed real estate agent with White Realty in Union.

She holds a Master of Public Administration degree from NYU, a Bachelor of Arts degree from Rutgers University, and is a Certified Redevelopment Agency Executive Director.  

Amy Crisp Wagner

Unlocking The Power of Mentorship

Amy Crisp Wagner, a resident of Berkeley Heights, currently serves as the Deputy County Manager and Director of Economic Development for the County of Union, New Jersey’s seventh-largest county. 

As the Deputy County Manager, she is second-in-command of a government totaling more than 2,300 employees, and assists with the supervision of its day-to-day operations, policies and projects of the Commissioner Board.

As the Director of Economic Development, she directly supervises a staff of 54 employees and a budget totaling more than $11million. She is responsible for the administration of more than $6 million in state and federal grants. The Department of Economic Development includes Workforce Development operations, Community Development Block Grants, Veteran’s Services, LGBTQ Affairs, Strategic Planning and a number of other important programs.

For more than a decade in County government, Wagner has worked to develop various economic development, public safety, business and educational initiatives on behalf of the former Freeholder now Commissioner Board.

In all, Wagner has more than 16 years of government experience, working for Union County and previously for the Township of Berkeley Heights. She joined the County in 2010 as Policy Coordinator in the Department of Economic Development.

She has served her community of Berkeley Heights as the President of the PTO at various levels: grammar school, middle school and township-wide. She served for ten years on the Board of Trustees for the Berkeley Heights Police Athletic League, and was a trustee for the New Providence Community Pool.Wagner has three adult children, Jamie, Christopher and Blair.