N.J. Chamber President and CEO Tom Bracken’s Statement on Bill Hagaman Receiving the ‘Leadership Award’ from the Jobs for America’s Graduates Program

Congratulations to Bill Hagaman, managing partner of Withum and an executive committee member of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, who received the ‘National Network Leadership Award’ on Thursday from the national Jobs for America’s Graduates (JAG) program.

The award recognizes Bill’s outstanding support for the JAG program, which helps young adults of great promise – most of them dealing with barriers such as low-income – succeed in high school and prepare for a career, military service or post-secondary education.

Bill is the only person in the country to receive the Leadership Award.

Bill  has served on the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s board of directors since 2016 and has taken an active role in supporting and promoting the New Jersey chapter of Jobs for America’s Graduates (JAG-NJ), which is managed by the N.J. Chamber Foundation. When COVID-19 shut down the state and much-needed funding was diverted away from the N.J. Chamber Foundation, Bill inspired N.J. Chamber of Commerce board members to make contributions to JAG-NJ –​ resulting in more than $100,000 in new contributions.

Because of this, the N.J. Chamber Foundation was not forced to cut JAG New Jersey programs for the 2020-21 academic year.

Congratulations to Bill and thank you to all of our board members who stepped up to answer Bill’s call for support. In many ways, this award reflects the spirit of the entire N.J. Chamber Board of Directors. The Board’s commitment and support is what allows the N.J. Chamber of Commerce and the N.J. Chamber of Commerce Foundation to do the work we do.