Lt. Gov. Visits Avaya in Basking Ridge

Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno said she is visiting 100 businesses throughout New Jersey to show the current state administration's support for business, and on Monday she stopped by No. 56, , in Basking Ridge.

Guadagno spent time in a private office talking with two principal executives in the company, Kevin Kennedy, chief executive officer, and Pam Craven, chief administrative officer. Avaya provides technology solutions in a business-to-business setting.

"We talked about the cost of doing business in New Jersey," Guadagno said immediately after the meeting, as she stood in the lobby of the Avaya building at 211 Mount Airy Road.

Guadagno heads a red tape review commission, which she said is trying to untangle regulatory red tape that makes it difficult for businesses to function in New Jersey.

"I have invited them to give me a list of regulations that make it hard to do business in New Jersey," Guadagno said of the Avaya executives.

Other initiatives have involved providing favorable tax credits for businesses that grow jobs, said Guadagno's spokesman, Fred Snowflack.

"We didn't really know about some of the programs," Craven commented following Guadagno's departure. "It was very interesting."

Craven said the company's executives will look into possibly taking advantage of some of those programs, such as those that provide tax credits to businesses.

"We talked about job creation in New Jersey and particularly technology," Craven said.

Craven says Avaya employs about 1,000 people in the state, including about 800 in the Basking Ridge facility. She said the company is "growing" and does continue to hire employees.

She said that Guadagno had contacted Avaya to arrange the visit.

“It is truly a pleasure to visit Avaya and to learn more about the many technological services they provide,” Guadagno said in a press release later issued by her office. “The work here in Basking Ridge reinforces New Jersey’s role as a world leader in the telecommunications industry." 

Avaya is one of the world’s leading providers of telecommunication systems for small and large business enterprises, Guadagno's office said. According to the Lt. governor's office, the company owns and operates network operation and technology support centers, specializing in telephony services. It also offers assistance with the development and compliance testing of network products.

Avaya employs about 17,000 people worldwide, the release said. 

"To me, it's very exciting to be part of an administration that's been about the encouragement of private sector growth," Guadagno said while she was at Avaya.

Under the current administration, the state has produced 48,000 private sector jobs this year, she said. That figure compares with private sector job growth of 5,200 during all of last year, and a loss of 117,000 such jobs the previous year, Guadagno said.

In July, Guadagno had visited Hitachi on Martinsville Road in Basking Ridge, Snowflack said. He said she would be back in the area in the future, but he couldn't specify when or where.