Business Briefs

William Jacobs of Brick recently joined Northfield Bank as vice president and controller.

Jacobs was formerly an audit manager with the international accounting and auditing firm KPMG LLP. He served a wide variety of banking industry clients in the more than five years with KPMG, primarily in their Short Hills practice.

Jacobs is a certified public accountant and has developed and executed national and local training courses in financial services related topics for industry professionals.

He is a graduate of Georgian Court University with a bachelor of science in accounting.

Northfield Bank, a mutually owned bank founded in 1887, operates 19 full service banking offices in Staten Island, N.Y. in addition to Linden, Rahway, Avenel, Edison, Milltown, East Brunswick and Monroe Township. The bank also operates a loan production office in Brooklyn, New York.

A Business After Hours networking event, hosted by PNC Bank, 50 Chambers Bridge Road, Brick, and sponsored by the Brick Township Chamber of Commerce will take place Feb. 28, 5:15-7:15 p.m. The event will include hors d'oeuvres, wine, beverages and prize drawings. Cost to attend is $10 for members and $20 for nonmembers. Attendees are encouraged to bring an ample supply of business cards. Details and reservations: (732) 477-4949.

The Plumsted Township Committee recently welcomed two new businesses to Main Street. First National Mortgage Sources, owned and operated by local resident Glenn Pisani, is at 48 Main Street. During the past year, Pisani has been a volunteer for Plumsted's Neighborhood Preservation Program. John O'Conner Counseling has opened offices at 33 Main Street. O'Conner and his family have been operating businesses in New Egypt since the early 1980s. There are only two vacancies left in the downtown area. The Main Street Program, the Plumsted Business Merchants Association and the Neighborhood Preservation Program are headquartered at the 31 Main St. Welcome Center. Call (609) 758-6990 for more information on the $525,000 Neighborhood Preservation Program grant funding opportunities for businesses and homes.

New Jersey Builders Association, the state's largest building industry trade association, has launched the Ask the New Jersey Builder Internet Web site, www.askthenjbuilder.org, to answer homebuyer and homeowner questions on the process of purchasing a new home, as well as maintaining and improving an existing home. The Web site was launched to complement NJBA's weekly newspaper series, Ask the New Jersey Builder, which is published in newspapers around the state.

Corporate Resource Alliance (CRA), a statewide networking and referral organization for business owners, top-level executives and professionals, has elected its board of trustees for 2007. The officers are Andrew Politi, president, director of sales, National Service Bureau Debt Collection; Frances Kirschner, vice president, owner of Frantasy Enterprises Public Relations, Lakewood; Patrick McShea, secretary, owner of HyTec Telephone, Manasquan; Tom Mikulski, treasurer, owner of Commercial Flooring Concepts, Eatontown; Steve Callahan, member services, director of sales, Image Systems for Business, Middlesex; Stephen Reed, board member, partner in Cowan, Gunteski & Co., Shrewsbury; and Robert Flanagan, board member, partner in Red Flannel Graphic Design & Marketing, Freehold.