Michele Siekerka, President and CEO of New Jersey’s largest business organization, NJBIA, has been a proponent of SheTek since inception. Michele joined as a member of the SheTek Advisory Board in the summer of 2019.

SheTek is honored to have Michele sit on our board given that she is one of the busiest women we know! She said that the passion behind SheTek drew her in, and she is thrilled to support the initiative as an advisor. With her many responsibilities, she only focuses her attention outside of work on education and empowerment. “It’s important to build that community of women. I can bring my legal skills and good governance practices to help not just SheTek, but other women starting out or taking the next step in their career.”

Michele is an attorney by trade and throughout her career has worked for companies, non-profits, chambers, and state government. Her leadership has been recognized by organizations throughout the state, including in Power and Policymaker list rankings by Insider NJ, Politicker NJ and NJ BIZ, as well as being cited as one of the 17 People to Watch in 2017 by the Bergen Record. She was also among NJ Biz’s 2015 Best 50 Women in Business. At NJBIA, Michele has been at the forefront of efforts to build more effective workforce development alliances in New Jersey between academia, business and government. And she continues to be a strong proponent of women continuing to grow and move into leadership positions.

When you speak with Michele, you can see the passion she has for what she does. “Relationship building is so important,” she noted. “It brings in a diversity of opinions.” Over the past 5 years, she has focused much of her attention on Women’s Leadership by drawing attention to the issue and finding ways that women can develop the skills to take on the C-suite and the Boardroom.

Michele is excited for the next generation of women and the opportunities that are out there for young girls and women today. Organizations such as Junior Achievement of NJ, where she serves as a board member, are doing great things at the high school level to let girls know that they can follow their interests, especially in math and science.

She supports the many women who are doing great things in the state of NJ. She states that “There are so many extraordinary women in the state and these are the women who are making things happen.” She is certainly one of those extraordinary women, and we’re very glad she’s a part SheTek.