Local small biz owners attend State of Union address with U.S. Rep. Rush Holt
Chalk up Jan. 24 as a red letter day for two Central Jersey entrepreneurs, Abhay Joshi of Ewing and Maxwell Stock of South Brunswick, who attended President Obama’s State of the Union address Tuesday before a joint session of Congress.
“I’m honored to be here,” said Joshi, 47, a native of India who earned a master’s degree at New Jersey Institute of Technology and today deals globally in fiber optics.
“I’m thrilled, so are my wife and children,” added Stock, 41, a Rocky Hill resident, who is developing a drug to fight Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative diseases.
Both men were invited by Rep. Rush D. Holt (D-N.J.) to sit in the House of Representatives gallery and listen to the nation’s chief executive lay out his blueprint for “building an America to last” — with the focus on strengthening manufacturing and high-tech sectors.
Holt, in a late afternoon phone interview, said Joshi and Stock are classic examples of how U.S. investment in research and development pays off for America in terms of job creation and advancement.
“They are making a difference, creating jobs that could not have even existed 10 years ago,” said Holt, whose district includes Mercer and Middlesex counties.
Both Joshi and Stock took advantage of support offered through the Small Business Research Innovation and other federal and state programs, some long gone, to get started.
Joshi is president and CEO of Discovery Semiconductors Inc. on Silvia Street in Ewing. He launched his privately owned company in 1993 and today employs 25 to make high power fiber optics products for 600-plus customers in 20 countries. He estimates he’s gotten $6 million to $7 million through SMRI.
Stock’s company, Signum Inc., in Princeton Corporate Plaza off Route 1 in South Brunswick, makes drugs for neurodegenerative diseases, like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Founded in 2004, Signum got off the ground with a $1 million grant and recently entered into a partnership with GlaxoSmithKline to co-develop a drug for Alzheimer’s. Stock now employs 12, and he plans to keep hiring.
“Neither of these companies would be here today without support from the Small Business Innovative Research (program),” Holt said.
“They’re job creators who have taken advantage of the federal support offered through SBRI, as well as NASA and the National Institutes of Health,” Holt added.
