By Peggy Carroll
“My idea of good company, Mr. Eliot, is the company of clever, well-informed people who have a great deal of conversation; that is what I call good company.” — Jane Austen, “Persuasion”
Agree with Jane Austen?
Then Morris Arts has good news. For the eighth year, it is presenting “Great Conversations,” an opportunity to meet , mingle and dine with fascinating people from the arts, sciences,, public service, sports, health care and industry — and at the same time, help to support local arts and artists.
It is the organization’s major fund-raising effort, helping to pay for array of programs aimed at building the community through the arts.
The event, which the organization bills as the “best dinner party in town,” will be held April 21, 2016, at the Madison Hotel, beginning with a reception at 6 p.m. and dinner at 7:15.
You can meet with the stellar “host conversationalists” over cocktails and then dine with a host of your choice, talking in depth about his or her work, insights and experiences.
The planners have put together a roster of more 30 prominent and interesting people who can tell you what goes into making a sports star to what goes into the pills your doctor prescribes.
From the Track to the Air
For starters, there’s Olympic track champion Joetta Clark Diggs, radio personality Broadway Bill Lee, New Jersey news anchor Mary Alice Williams, Crum and Forster CEO Marc Adee, and MetLife blimp pilot Terry Dillard.
Add to this list a fabric and quilt artist, the personal photographer of John and Yoko, the state climatologist, a restaurateur, a retired judge, leaders of health care concerns, pharmaceutical, laboratory, and hospital, and commanding Army officers from Picatinny Arsenal. Then there are authors and film makers whose works cover topics as diverse as women’s issues, Newark’s schools and the fight to save the Great Swamp.
Its goal: An evening of great conversation, great dining and, as Jane Austen holds, great company.
Here’s a list of the people you can meet:
Arts
Susan Shapiro Barash: Gender studies & women’s issues authority; author of 14 books including Little White Lies, Deep Dark Secrets: The Truth About Why Women Lie
Bisa Butler :Fiber and quilt artist
Chris Cannon: Restauranteur, owner of Jockey Hollow Bar & Kitchen Michelin Star Chef
Mary Alice Williams: NJTV News Anchor; former CNN and NBC broadcast journalist
Larry Fast: Electronic music composer, pioneering audio producer of platinum albums (including with Peter Gabriel); collaborating with Scott Morris on Great Swamp documentary
Bob Gruen: Internationally renowned photographer of Rock & Roll legends (John Lennon’s personal Photographer)
David Keefe: Combat Paper NJ founder; artist; Marine veteran
Broadway Bill Lee: Radio personality for WCBS-FM
Scott Morris: Award-winning documentary film-make; collaborating with Larry Fast on a documentary about Saving the Great Swamp
Dale Russakoff: NY Times best-selling author of The Prize: Who’s In Charge of America’s Schools?; former Washington Post reporter
Sports
Joetta Clark Diggs; Four-Time Olympic Track Champion
Terry Dillard: Chief Pilot – MetLife Blimp “Snoopy One”
Dave Kaplan: Yogi Berra Museum – Founding Director; co-author of four books with Yogi Berra including NY Times bestseller When You Come to a Fork in the Road, Take It!
Phillip Richter, Champion Equestrian, US Equestrian Federation, Hamptons Classic & Lake Placid Horse Show Board of Directors; Co-founder, Hollow Brook Wealth Management
Healthcare
Lidia Fonseca: Quest Diagnostics – SVP & Chief Information Officer
Mirian Graddick-Weir: Merck & Co. – EVP, Human Resources; among Black Enterprise‘s 50 Most Powerful Women
Mary Lou Panzano: Bayer Corporation – VP & Head of US Internal Communications
Ihor S. Sawczuk, MD: Hackensack University Medical Center President
Suneet Varma:Pfizer Consumer Healthcare – President Science
Debbie Hart: BioNJ – Founding President & CEO; among Scientific American Worldview‘s 100 Most Influential People in Biotechnology
David A. Robinson, PhD:NJ State Climatologist; Professor of Geography, Rutgers University
Stephen Zebiak, Ph.D.: El Niño & Climate Expert; Senior Research Scientist at the International Research Institute, Earth Institute, Columbia University
Public Service
Honorable Glenn Berman:Former Superior Court judge – Presided over NJ’s 2012 landmark cyberbullying case: State v. Dharun Ravi
James G. Mottola: Former US Secret Service agent; Sobel & Co. – Director, Forensic Investigations/Litigation Support
Brigadier General Patrick W. Burden: Picatinny Arsenal – Senior Commander & Deputy Program Executive Officer Ammunition with Lieutenant Colonel Ingrid A. Parker, Picatinny Arsenal Garrison Commander
Industry
Marc Adee: Crum & Forster : Chairman & CEO
Richard E. Constable III:Wyndham Worldwide – SVP, Government Relations & Commercial Contracts; former Deputy Comm. NJ Dept. of Labor & Workforce Dev.; former Asst. US Attorney
Gerard Insall; Avis Budget Group, Inc, EVP & Chief Information Officer
Douglas L. Kennedy: Peapack-Gladstone Bank – President & CEO; named Corporate Livewire‘s 2015 CEO of the Year.
Valerie Oswalt: Mondelez International, President, US Sales
How to Reserve a Place
Tickets are $225 per person and can be purchased through the Morris Arts website (morrisarts.ort).
At registration, ticket buyers sign up for their top five conversationalist choices in priority order. Seating assignments are made based on when your paid registration is received .
Morris Arts is a not-for-profit founded in 1973 to engage and build community through the arts. It serves as a resource for Morris County with a special focus on arts programming in the schools and in the community and art advocacy and support of local artists and arts organization.
Among its projects and programs: First Night Morris, college scholarships to high school students, artist residencies and Meet Me in Morristown – art offerings to attract people to town.
