Hoboken Business Alliance Names New President

Hoboken NJ

15 February, 2022

10:11 PM

Description

Press release from HBA: Feb. 15, 2022 The Hoboken Business Alliance's (HBA) Board of Trustees has announced the election of James Runkle to serve as president of the body. Launched in 2020, the HBA is a designated Special Improvement District (SID) established by the Hoboken City Council to improve the district's area and stimulate business in Hoboken. The role of the HBA is to advocate for a safe, accessible and prosperous improvement district that attracts residents and visitors to shop, eat, play and stay in Hoboken. Assuming the position from Greg Dell'Aquilla who served as the HBA's president since its establishment, Runkle has been a resident of Hoboken for more than 20 years, and a local small business owner for the past decade. "We are all so grateful for the leadership Greg provided the HBA during our first two years, especially the skill with which he helped guide us through the onset of a global health pandemic," Runkle said. "While the future of COVID is uncertain, what I know is that our small but vibrant business community here in Hoboken has learned to adapt, and great days are on the horizon." A graduate of Stevens Institute of Technology with his MBA, Runkle started Drummond St. Strategy, a digital marketing firm, with a focus on helping non-profit and other local small businesses survive and thrive throughout Hudson County. He is also the founder of Heal Hoboken, an organization launched to help celebrate and support those workers who have carried Hoboken through COVID19, and a member of the board of The Hoboken Relief Fund. In one of his first acts as president, and with the unanimous vote of the HBA Board of Trustees, Runkle announced that Commercial District Services LLC, a Jersey City-based public space management company that provides managed services to the business improvement district industry in New Jersey and New York City, will fulfill the duties of executive director of the HBA while a search is conducted to fill the position full time. "CDS has played a key part in the growth of the HBA since Day 1," Runkle said, noting that the company has previously been responsible for the upkeep of the district through the hiring and supervision of maintenance workers. "As the HBA launches into the next phase of our growth, and helps guide the resurgence of Hoboken's small business community, I am confident that the team at CDS is going to put their expertise into action and help us become stronger." This press release was produced by HBA. The views expressed here are the author's own.