Ken Mayer and Nick Hilton Join Daytop Village of New Jersey's Board of Directors

New Board Members Join Daytop Village of New Jersey, Inc.

Nick Hilton has been involved in the recovery movement in New Jersey for nearly four decades, with an awareness of alcoholism and addiction disease from earliest childhood. His attraction to the mission and the credo of Daytop Village of New Jersey, Inc. is the result of this involvement, and of his belief that the addictive disorder is a curable disease, given the right conditions, instructions, and support.

Born in Newark in 1948, Nick attended private high schools and graduated from Bard College in 1970. After college, he entered the Linden-based family business of manufacturing and retailing men’s tailored clothing, working at first in Italy, and subsequently in various positions in the New York offices, becoming chief stylist of the Norman Hilton line of suits and jackets and eventually president of the company in 1981. At the time, Hilton employed over 350 people and had over $13,000,000 in annual sales. In the 1990s, in response to international style changes in men’s clothing, Nick developed a complete collection under his own name, bringing shirts, neckwear, knitwear and sportswear under the Hilton umbrella.

With the closing of the family-owned factory in the mid-90s Nick began importing Italian-made apparel under his label, and by 2001 had opened a small store in Princeton. In the 15 years since this clothing specialty store has quadrupled in size, added all categories of fine clothing and sportswear, as well as, under the well-trained eye of his wife, business partner, and best friend Jennifer, also included a women’s store catering to the tastes of a sophisticated, quality-conscious clientele. Their daughter Catherine has recently joined the company, making the fifth generation of Hiltons to be engaged in clothing the men and women of the Garden State.

Nick involves himself in a number of extra-curricular and volunteer activities as well. An avid photographer, he does all the photography and the graphics design for the store marketing, as well as shooting for his own creative interest. A guitar enthusiast since boyhood, he also sings in the choir of his church. He writes a column for the store’s website entitled “Salt,” which offers information and advice on the state of the art of dress for the modern man, as well as memoirs, histories, and anecdotes of his family’s 125-plus years’ experience in the peculiarly volatile fashion industry. Nick also is a long-term member of the board of trustees at Carrier Clinic in Belle Mead.

The Hiltons live in Montgomery Township, and their proximity and familiarity with the staff and residents of nearby Crawford House have brought them into the Daytop NJ sphere. Nick has for years volunteered to give the residents monthly talks on the Twelve-Step recovery program, and has led many fund-raising initiatives for the women in early recovery at Crawford House. He says his principal motivation for seeking to join the Daytop NJ board was to be able to bring the kind of successful methods and ideas of Crawford House to the larger entity, and to continue to support the program through this involvement.

Mr. Mayer is a founder and co-managing partner of The MayerGelwarg Group at Morgan Stanley. The MayerGelwarg Group works with wealthy families, privately-held businesses, retirement plans, endowments and foundations to establish family office and multigenerational programs, estate planning, insurance and investment management strategies, pension design and retirement solutions, and charitable giving.

Prior to founding The MayerGelwarg Group, Mr. Mayer was a principal with Bernstein Global Wealth Management and its predecessor firm, Sanford C. Bernstein & Co, LLC which he joined in 1992. Before that, Mr. Mayer was executive vice president and chief financial officer for a NYC-based $100 million privately-held company where he directed the controllership functions of the business as well as the personal investments of its principals.

Mr. Mayer began his career in financial services at Chase Manhattan Bank where he was vice president and financial controller of the Domestic Private Banking Group. This group included the bank’s Personal Trust and Investment Services arm and its subsidiaries, The Chase Manhattan Trust Company of Florida and The Chase Manhattan Trust Company of California.

Mr. Mayer received his B.A. from Rutgers University and an M.B.A. from The W. Paul Stillman School of Business at Seton Hall University where he studied finance and international business.

Mr. Mayer grew up in Edison, New Jersey, and now resides in Bernardsville, New Jersey. He and his wife, Shikha (who is also a Daytop NJ board member) have two sons, Grant and Daniel.

About Daytop NJ: Daytop New Jersey delivers comprehensive substance abuse treatment and education programs to more than 500 teenagers, adults and families. The mission of Daytop New Jersey Inc. is to provide highly-effective and accessible behavioral-health services, restoring hope and improving the quality of life for persons served, their families, and our communities. The programs are individualized and provide comprehensive treatment options for substance use, including co-occurring disorders. Daytop New Jersey provides residential programs for teens in Mendham and Pittsgrove and a halfway house for homeless and indigent women, ages 18 years or older, in Skillman. In addition, services are provided on an outpatient basis to teens and adults at Daytop New Jersey’s outpatient facilities in Hunterdon, Morris, Ocean, and Salem counties. For more information visit daytopnj.org.

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