Debra Tantleff
By Joshua Burd
The New Jersey Builders Association has installed Debra Tantleff as its new board chair, tapping a key figure in the industry as it prepares for a new year of advocacy and education for thousands of professionals involved in housing construction.
Tantleff, the founding principal of TANTUM Real Estate, is just the third female board leader for the organization since its founding in the late 1940s. She takes the helm as housing affordability and supply remain key issues in the state, joining a slate of five other elected officers who were installed Wednesday at NJBA’s board of directors meeting in Jersey City:
- Vice chair: Chris Amato of CMM
- Treasurer: John Kirkenir of Alliance Homes
- Secretary: Kristi Veri of Cleanscape Construction
- Associate vice chair: Richard Boisch of CRISP Insurance
- Second associate vice chair: Stan Graser of General Plumbing Supply
“I am enthused to see Ms. Tantleff take the reins of our organization as our first female chair and only the third female leader of the board in NJBA’s 75-year history,” said Jeff Kolakowski, the association’s CEO. “In a male-dominated industry, Deb has forged an impressive path to become one of the industry’s most accomplished and knowledgeable leaders. I look forward to helping her pursue her agenda as chair as NJBA continues to tackle our housing supply crisis.”
Tantleff succeeds Frank Belgiovine as the association’s board chair. She assumes the post with some 25 years of industry experience, including more than 12 years at the former Roseland Property Co. before she founded Jersey City-based TANTUM in 2004, and is known as one of the best networkers in New Jersey’s real estate industry and business community.
Carl Goldberg, her longtime mentor at Roseland, said as much Wednesday as he introduced her and highlighted her impact as a development executive.
“There are a lot of communities in the state of New Jersey, especially Morristown and along the Hudson River waterfront, that wouldn’t be what they are today if it were not for the efforts of Deb Tantleff,” said Goldberg, a co-founder of Roseland and founder and managing member of Canoe Brook Associates. “She’s an integral part of the housing industry and today her trajectory continues to go onward and upward.
He added: “We are at a critical juncture in the housing industry with rising interest rates and economic uncertainty (and) the onset of new affordable housing legislation. So I think Deb is the correct person for this point in time to assume the mantle of leadership here at NJBA.”
Tantleff, for her part, said “the opportunity to launch my own firm nearly 10 years ago could not have been possible without the literal ground-up education that I received along the way.”
“At every turn, it is the people in this room who have accompanied me on my path and, at every step, being part of NJBA is a priority that was instilled in me,” she said. “I was shown the importance of building relationships in this industry and that NJBA was the place to do it.”
The organization will remain front and center in the year ahead as business leaders and public officials remain focused on New Jersey’s lack of available housing and unprecedented growth of housing costs. To that end, lawmakers are now exploring the so-called fourth round of affordable housing guidelines nearly 50 years after the state Supreme Court’s landmark Mount Laurel case.
“I am pleased to be installed as chair of NJBA at a time when we have a Legislature and administration who share our goals of making housing more accessible and more affordable for New Jerseyans,” said Tantleff, who’s also an executive committee member at the Rutgers Center for Real Estate, according to her prepared remarks. “Last legislative session we were successful in seeing building code inspection reform signed into law and hundreds of millions of dollars allocated to housing, but we need to continue the momentum to keep pace with New Jersey’s growing population and to provide housing opportunities for residents of every generation.
“There are numerous policies at our disposal that we can implement to help the housing sector and I look forward to working with the staff, board, members and coalition partners to make them a reality over the next year and to hopefully bring some relief to New Jerseyans in search of a new home.”
