Page 24 - RE-NJ

22 MARCH 2026
Lata Reddy (left), senior vice president for inclusive solutions at
Prudential Financial and chair of the Newark Alliance, interviewed
New Jersey Economic Development Authority CEO Evan Weiss
during a Feb. 9 fireside chat at the Newark Summit for Real Estate,
Economic Development & Placemaking.
Photo by Gellman Images / Courtesy: roundtable&advisory
A GUIDING FORCE
Why time with Newark Alliance will loom large
for new EDA chief Weiss
E van Weiss had his reasons for
leaving state government in
2021. One of them, he recalls,
was “because I started to feel so
removed” from the constituents
who were affected by the sweeping
policies and billions in funds he
helped deploy as a top adviser to Gov.
Phil Murphy.
He rediscovered that connection
as head of the nonprofit Newark
Alliance, a role he held for four
years — and one that will loom large
as he returns to Trenton as CEO of
the state Economic Development
Authority.
“I don’t want to not be able to talk to
By Joshua Burd
business owners directly, developers
directly,” Weiss said recently at
the Newark Summit for Real
Estate, Economic Development &
Placemaking. “It’s a huge bureaucracy,
we have hundreds of staff … I just
want to make sure that we stay —
personally and my senior team — in
deep in terms of having a sense of:
‘How does this actually translate? We
have all these products. How are they
actually working for you?’
“Easier said than done, but if I have
one lesson, I want to walk around.
I want to be able to see things
firsthand myself, to understand how
it’s getting communicated down into
the community.”
That’s no surprise for someone who
is tasked with accelerating economic
growth, expanding access to capital
for small and minority-owned
businesses and driving innovation
while making the state more
affordable, goals highlighted by Gov.
Mikie Sherrill when she tapped Weiss
to lead the EDA in mid-January. That
dovetails with making the authority’s
programs more accessible and even
more impactful to a broader swath of
the business community, Weiss said,
as he hailed the chance to lead “an
incredible team” and an organization
that he feels “is unique, nationally.”
“It’s a challenging time,” he said
before a crowd of hundreds of
Newark stakeholders. “There’s a lot
going on, as you all know. And so
being able to have the amount of
tools and the team that’s been built
here and partners like all of you
makes me a lot more optimistic that
we’re going be able to make our way
through some pretty tough sledding
ahead.”
Weiss spoke at the Feb. 9 event
during a fireside chat with Lata
Reddy, senior vice president for
inclusive solutions at Prudential
Financial and chair of the Newark
Alliance, which focuses on inclusive
economic development with
substantial support from the private
sector. Among other topics, he noted