South Jersey leaders on market strategies and outcomes

South Jersey leaders on market strategies and outcomes

2023-01-30T14:17:00-05:00January 30th, 2023|Banking & Finance, Economy, Healthcare, South Jersey|

Writer: Joshua Andino

2 min read   January 2023 — With the annual Invest: South Jersey launch conference only a few days away, here are what some local business leaders are working on as the region forges a new path in 2023.

With market volatility, labor constraints and the rapid increase in interest rates impacting industries in a myriad of ways, a steady hand and continued focus on strategic objectives and client delivery are common themes that local business leaders across South Jersey are emphasizing. On the eve of the latest Invest: South Jersey leadership summit this Thursday, Invest: revisited some of the insights that South Jersey’s business leaders shared with the annual report, asking where their concerns and objectives lay for their local communities, the year ahead and the overall performance of their respective organizations.

Phillip Heath, President & CEO, Samaritan Healthcare & Hospice

How are you carrying last year’s momentum into 2023? 

One of the many significant developments in the past year is our significant financial investment in the expansion of our palliative medical services. Samaritan launched our Palliative Medical Partners specialty practice in 2009. Samaritan’s medically-based palliative services have always included physicians and nurse practitioners; our expanded team now includes social workers, nurses, and care coordinators as well. The growing need and recognition for our essential services was highlighted even more throughout the pandemic as we provided uninterrupted care at home for all our patients and their families. By expanding our services, we have increased access for our community’s most vulnerable patients. In the last year, we increased our palliative consultation visits by 31% and provided services for nearly 6,000 patients. 

Despite the way the economy is shifting, Samaritan continues to provide more services or more patients each year. As a community-based, not-for-profit provider serving the South Jersey region since 1980, we continue to serve our patients and their families in the comfort of home, honoring their goals for care while providing high-quality, cost-effective care. Through our service expansion and technology optimization, we continue to provide the right care in the right time and setting. 

Albert Fox, Managing Director, Wealth Management Financial Advisor Fox, Penberthy & Dehn at Morgan Stanley

How do you see the market shifting?

The environment is always challenging, and it is always changing. The public is oftentimes wrongly guided by the emotion and information the media portrays. For example, when have you ever seen someone sitting at an airport checking their portfolio before  boarding their flight? The commercials make it appear as a common thing to do before boarding a plane, but you wouldn’t take care of your health that way in the same way that you shouldn’t do it for your financial plans. 

What has changed the most in wealth management is the speed by which information is thrown at all of us and the expectation by which we are supposed to hear it, digest it and make decisions. Financial services professionals have to guard against the immediacy of the news cycle and apply long-term thinking, discipline and lack of emotion to what is happening on a day-to-day basis. 

Wealth management is constantly evolving and is not for the faint of heart. Every day there is a new set of obstacles and opportunities, and there is a great lack of financial education, especially for the younger generations. With the pandemic, people had to either develop, invest in themselves and figure out an opportunity, or face the consequences of poor financial planning.

George Destafney, EVP | Regional President, New Jersey Region, OceanFirst Bank

How is OceanFirst Bank meeting customers where they are? 

Our focus is on retaining and delivering for clients. We’ve gone through a branch optimization and have 39 branches strategically positioned across the state of New Jersey, as well as our newest branch, which opened last year in Philadelphia. We put a lot of emphasis on omnichannel delivery, from state-of-the-art call centers to an online presence and chatbots that complement our brick-and-mortar locations. 

There are efforts by banks to focus more on the deposit market and on CDs. A year ago, the deposit market wasn’t as competitive as it is now. Recently, we introduced a  promotional CD rate which is something banks have not done in a while, but our customers had an appetite for them. 

We continue to spend and invest in our digital footprint. We recently launched our new commercial platform for treasury clients, OFBconnect, an investment in the next generation of technology and user ability. It gives our commercial clients more features and benefits plus increased functionality with online banking. But at the same time, they can still walk into a branch for assistance.

To hear more about what South Jersey’s business climate holds for businesses and community stakeholders, register for the Invest: South Jersey 2023 annual launch conference at the Doubletree by Hilton Cherry Hill below.

For more information, visit: 

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/invest-south-jersey-2022-2023-launch-conference-tickets-504719568817

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