Black-tie gala held at the Hyatt in Morristown, NJ
On April 23, the County College of Morris Foundation’s black-tie Gala honored New Jersey Natural Gas Company with its first annual Leadership Award, bestowed alumni awards for service, achievement, humanitarianism and Alumnus of the Year, and raised more than $90,000 for the college’s general scholarship fund.
Some 200 attendees, who included college administrators, faculty, alumni and corporate leaders, gathered at the Hyatt in Morristown, NJ. Guests were treated to dinner, dancing, the music of the Ken Zaback Orchestra and an elaborate silent auction, which included Broadway theater tickets, trips to resorts, dinners at area restaurants and a “walk on” part in the next Muppet movie – The Greatest Muppet Movie Ever Made.
Alumni receiving awards were Jerry Ketcham, of California, a 1973 graduate who was honored as Alumnus of the Year. Ketcham is senior vice president of Motion Picture Production with Walt Disney Studios in Hollywood. James Gannon, of Mountain Lakes, NJ, a 1981 graduate, received the Alumni Humanitarian Award. Gannon, who is a retired Morris County Prosecutor’s Office detective, lectures on law enforcement topics CCM throughout the country and the world, and has served as an instructor for the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI. Doris L. McClung, of Succasunna, NJ, a 1984 CCM graduate, was the Alumni Service winner. McClung held a number of positions during a long career at AT&T, including designing and managing training programs, drafting new consumer electronic technical standards and helping to write and produce product videos. Mary Beth Stoddard Crile, of Virginia, the Alumni Achievement recipient, is a 1993 graduate of the college. She is a geoscientist for ITT Geospatial Systems, where she is involved in management of satellite data for climate research.
In presenting the Leadership Award to New Jersey Natural Gas, CCM President Dr. Edward Yaw, cited the company “for more than 50 years of providing safe, reliable energy services for nearly half a million customers in Monmouth, Ocean, Middlesex and Morris counties.” Yaw also praised the company’s commitment to “enhancing customers’ quality of life by meeting their expectations for reliability and value in an environmentally responsible way.”
