[INSPRATIONAL MUSIC STING] - Hi everyone, Steve Adubato.

We kick off the program with our good friend, and media colleague, Tom Hughes, Chief Executive Officer of ROI-NJ.

Their website is up.

ROI-NJ, one of our longtime media partners.

Good to see you, Tom.

- Hey, awesome, thanks, Steve, good to see you too.

And thanks to your team.

- You got it.

Hey, listen, let's talk about this.

The capacity to care, putting yourself first without guilt, this is a six part series with women, about women, about a whole range of issues women face.

Talk about it, Tom.

- That's right, yeah.

So ROI-NJ serves as the nexus for these kind of conversations, the platform for women.

You know, if we look at the EWNJ study from 2025.

- The Executive Women of New Jersey.

- The Executive Women of New Jersey study, the gender diversity study, having diversity on the board, having diversity on boards, or within organizations, or women in top leadership positions makes a difference on so many levels in an organization.

And with that in mind, but even prior to that, the importance of women in business, and leadership roles, is something that we have, sort of, dwindled down on.

And one of those opportunities that we looked at to form this series for women.

- By the way, check out the ROI-NJ website to see, is it on video, Tom?

- It's on video, yes.

We have coverage, both print and digital coverage, of the event on ROI-NJ.

- And as ROI engages more in video content, let me also share that we're gonna be expanding our partnership with ROI, to provide more of our content there.

We don't have the luxury, I'll get into our series Media Matters in just a moment.

Nobody has the luxury to say, "This is all we're gonna do, print or video."

This... You gotta be there for everyone.

Is that an exaggeration, Tom?

- No, I think you're right on the money, Steve.

You have to be on all platforms, right?

So you have to have the right content.

When you have the right content, it needs to be disseminated over all platforms.

It's the only way to do it.

Your viewers, your readers, are coming from all over, you know, from New Jersey, we're New Jersey centric, but our readership is statewide, even in other countries.

And in the United States.

So all states, countries, and, of course, the state of New Jersey, which is our focus.

But you've gotta be on all sorts of platforms.

- And you have a video team.

A video journalist?

- Yeah, so what we started was a video journalist, about three or four months ago, covering the events, interviewing, both with video and having the written word.

And you say, "Why are you doing that," right?

It's a big job.

Well, it is, but it also attracts a new generation of readers for us.

Right, so we have our core group of readers who typically like the print or digital product.

And then we have those, yeah, same, same.

And then we have those that want snippets of information.

And that could be through our video, and it could be right on the ROI site, or through social media platforms, which we are aggressively growing as well.

- And the reason we're focused on media matters, and saying media matters, because this is at a time where there's a lot of flux, a lot of uncertainty in the media landscape in the state of New Jersey.

But as I said, many times, we will, our program in "State of Affairs," "Think Tank," "One-on-One," and Remember Them, will be a part of whatever that platform is, or those platforms are, moving forward.

So, let's shift gears if we could here.

ROI deals in a whole range of topics and issues.

Would you say business, the business community, is your primary audience, Tom?

- That's right.

Yes, the business community is our primary audience.

And our news has some business relevance to it.

- Okay, there's a whole bunch of other topics, whole bunch of other listings, and go on the site to find out more.

But I'm gonna ask you this, new governor, Mikie Sherrill, top two or three business-centric, which also are related issues, transportation, childcare, et cetera, et cetera.

Top two or three business issues the Governor needs to tackle would be, should be?

- Affordability in the state.

Affordability running a business in the state, living in the state.

We need some assistance in education, as well.

And energy.

What are we doing in the state, right?

You look at New Jersey as a consumer of energy.

And we have, you know, other storage, data storage, that is going to be pulling as well.

We've gotta get that under control.

That grid, what that looks like, needs our attention.

And, I think, she'll be able to help us there as well.

- To what extent do you believe it's the role of an organization like yours, a media entity like yours, to help business owners, entrepreneurs, others who care about what's going on in the state, Return on Information, which is the name of the publication.

How do you see your role helping people better understand AI, and how you're not gonna be able to avoid it, so you better figure out how to use it and make it work for you?

- Well, look, it's everywhere.

You know, during, what was it, 2019, during the pandemic, a little pre-pandemic, AI was being tested and charted among many organizations, right?

And now, fast forward five years, look, we are using it to help us organize our editorial inbox, for example, right?

We get hundreds, hundreds, hundreds of information.

The mundane information, the mundane job of taking that information, and putting into organized copy for our editorial teams to look at, or organized content for editorial teams to look at, is something that, you know, we are already doing right now.

You know, so all almost acting as an agent for us to help organize data, so.

- Hold on, one second.

How?

At what point, from your perspective, you're an employer, I'm an employer, we want all of our people to work, do well, take care of their families, et cetera.

At what point, maybe there's not an exact point, does AI no longer become an assist, or a tool, and start to replace people, employees?

- Look.

Look, if you're not at the table, understanding how to use it, then you're not gonna be a part of the discussion.

I think that that will be down the line for sure.

You know, it's a terrific tool.

And I think we, as employees, employers, actually, have to make our teams comfortable with it, expose them to it, and help them understand that this is part of the play right now.

And if we don't, it's shortsighted.

- You can't avoid it.

- You can't avoid it.

Absolutely not.

- You can't even say it's coming, it's here.

- It's here.

- And by the way, our colleague, Mary Gamba, who runs our operation day-to-day, and works with our series Lessons and Leadership, Mary's been using it for years, and then said to me, "Steve, you should need to start using it."

I thought I understood what it was and what it could be.

Not even close.

Can't avoid it.

Lean in.

And Tom, last word, confident about the media landscape in the state of New Jersey moving forward?

Confident?

- Steve, confident there's not enough of it.

There's a lot of news out there.

We have platforms, there's plenty of content for all of us, absolutely.

- Tom Hughes, Chief Executive Officer at our media partner at ROI-NJ.

Wish you and your team all the best, Tom, thank you.

- You too, Steve, thank you.

Thanks to your team for having me.

- You got it, stay with us, we'll be right back.

- [Narrator] State of Affairs with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by The Turrell Fund, a foundation serving children.

EJI, Excellence in Medicine Awards.

A New Jersey health foundation program.

Kean University.

Hackensack Meridian Health.

Johnson & Johnson.

New Jersey Sharing Network.

Community FoodBank of New Jersey.

United Airlines.

And by The Fund for New Jersey.

Promotional support provided by Meadowlands Media.

And by NJ.Com.

- (Narrator) This holiday season, the Community Food Bank of New Jersey the state's largest anti-hunger, anti-poverty organization, together with the hundreds of food pantries, soup kitchens and nutrition programs it serves is calling on all of us to unite.

Unite to end hunger.

Together we can make the holidays brighter for our New Jersey neighbors in need and help build a food secure future for our state.

New Jersey, now is the time.

Unite to end hunger.