Event Speakers
Andrés Acebo
University President, New Jersey City University
Andrés Acebo is a Hudson County native who grew up in Union City, N.J. and has maintained strong ties to the community. He is only the second Hispanic to serve as the leader of a four-year public institution in the state of New Jersey — following in the legacy of another NJCU leader, Dr. Carlos Hernandez, who led the institution as its 11th president from 1993-2012. Acebo is also the youngest known president ever to lead a public university in the State of New Jersey.
Acebo has worked diligently with NJCU’s other senior leaders, external stakeholders, and entities, including the bond rating agencies, which has resulted in the removal of the University from the rating agency’s negative watch. His efforts with the senior leadership of NJCU’s academic affairs division have led to the development of an academic rightsizing framework that honors collective bargaining rights and creates a pathway for the reallocation of resources and an updated academic portfolio.
He also has worked with the Division of Academic Affairs to affirm NJCU’s Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) accreditation while working with Senator Menendez and our congressional delegation to identify significant future federal aid which will provide equitable access to high-demand online nursing education.
He originally joined the university in February 2021 as a senior leader facilitating institutional planning, policy, and program development and was responsible for facilitating effective decision-making and coordinating the execution of strategic initiatives while providing close coordinative support to the President as an ongoing liaison for external governmental affairs issues. As Executive Vice President, he continued those critical contributions.
Amy Amoroso
Director, Veterans Business Outreach Center SBA Region II
Amy Amoroso serves as Program Director for McNulty’s VBOC, covering the territories of NY/NJ/PR & USVI. She is the initial point of contact for VBOC program clients and is responsible for facilitating and delivering Boots to Business, B2B: Reboot training programs, conducts client counseling services, case management, performance reporting, compliance, serves as POC for stakeholder and collaborative partners, and as moderator for network and outreach events.
Amy is a subject matter expert in business plan development, financial analysis, starting/growing and or selling a business, business lending, marketing, SDVOSB certifications, Boots to Business instruction, and networking.
Amy is a founding member of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. The USMCA is a unique program connecting individual SME Resource Partner counselors to other counselors in the US, Mexico, and Canada to strengthen their abilities to help clients and increase their knowledge and networks across North America. Amy is also a panel judge and counselor with the VETRN program.
Amy also coordinates, schedules, and teaches B2B with the ARMY’s Fusion online program. Instructing service members, veterans, and spouses from around the world on entrepreneurship.
Amy trains and works closely with VBOC staff in strategic planning, stakeholder engagement, program and event planning, and marketing to spread awareness of available services. Amy is a board member of UMAC, VETCON Alliance, and NVSBC. She volunteers with the American Red Cross, Veterans Administration, and AMVETS Post 35. Amy also owns her own small business and is a military spouse with over 25 years of experience in business consulting.
John Blackstock
Deputy Director SBA, NJ District Director
As New Jersey District Director, John Blackstock oversees Small Business Administration programs and operations to serve over 2 million business owners and entrepreneurs in the “Garden State.”
John has gained his leadership and experience from over +20 years of military service, and before serving at the Small Business Administration, with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Department of Commerce.
One of John’s many qualities is treating clients with dignity and respect while providing customer service, results and connecting business owners with Resource Partners to start, expand, and sustain their businesses.
Kelly Brozyna
State Director/Chief Executive Officer of the New Jersey Small Business Development Centers (NJSBDC), America’s SBDC New Jersey.
She is excited to be part of this amazing NJSBDC team and is prioritizing collaboration through new partnerships that result is helping small/medium businesses succeed. Prior to joining the NJSBDC, Brozyna was the founder and President of the Colorado Business Development Foundation (CBDF), a 501C3 non-profit from 2015-2020. The CBDF was created to assist entrepreneurial resources through fundraising to enhance consulting, training, and events for entrepreneurs in Colorado. From 1997 to present, Kelly Brozyna has been part of the National SBDC program managing multi-million-dollar budgets assisting businesses in starting, growing, and diversifying their portfolios. She has been part of the national accreditation committee that ensures SBDC programs nationally are effective and efficient in resources allocation.
Since Kelly began with the SBDC, she successfully created and implemented numerous new initiatives to assist the growing needs of small business entrepreneurs: Veteran’s programs/Conferences, Women’s Conferences, Emerging Industry programs/services, Creative Industry programs/services and strategically moving the SBDC Network to a performance-based program.
Kelly was thrilled for the opportunity to work at Rutgers School of Business who is the host for the statewide NJSBDC network. “The ability to bring students and faculty to team up and work with small businesses was an additional asset for the small business community”, Brozyna stated. “Stay tuned for many new programs and services offered to enhance NJ’s economy by growing small businesses statewide”.
Kelly Brozyna attended New Hampshire College School of Business and obtained a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. Kelly also has a master’s in communication with Dispute Resolution from the University of Denver.