Las Nuestras. SHCCNJ Celebrates Five Women Named to ROI-NJ’s 2026 Influencers: Women List.
April 28, 2026
At SHCCNJ, our women lead. They always do.
A chamber is only as strong as the people who build it, and ours was built from the inside out, starting with the woman who has been holding it together for over a decade before most people knew our name. Recognition like this is the first of many — because when you build a chamber rooted in community, mentorship and the belief that representation is not a goal but a responsibility, what follows is inevitable. Our women are not waiting to be recognized. They are too busy showing up, breaking ground and opening doors for the ones coming behind them.
ROI-NJ's 2026 Influencers: Women list honors more than 300 women leaders across New Jersey's business and civic landscape. Five of them are ours — and anyone who knows them is not surprised.
We begin where it all starts — with Aixa Lopez, our Chief of Staff and the heartbeat of this organization for over a decade. A bilingual engineer who began her career at 21 managing production lines, became Director of Public Works at 29, overseeing more than 200 employees and led water infrastructure projects valued at over $500 million.
Aixa brought that same quiet, relentless excellence to SHCCNJ and never left. She does not seek the spotlight. She builds the foundation so everyone else can stand on it. Para nosotros, she is irreplaceable.
Monica Martinez Milan is a Newark-born, first-generation daughter of immigrants who spent two decades navigating corporate America, building IT infrastructure for Fortune 100 clients, survived a serious health crisis and then did what the naysayers said she could not. She opened Stumpy's Hatchet House in Green Brook with her husband and never looked back. In 2024, she became the first Latina chairperson in the 108-year history of the Somerset County Business Partnership, during which membership reached an all-time high of 900+. Recognized by Governor Murphy, honored with the Remarkable Women Award, the Good Scout Award and the Latina of Influence Award, Monica is proof that determinación beats doubt every time.
Claribel Cortes is the Middlesex County Surrogate — the first woman and first Latina to hold that office in the county's history. She is the first Latina director in the Associated Press's 170-year history. She is a seven-star finisher in the World Major Marathons. She is the daughter of a small business owner. She is our former vice chair. And she is, quite simply, a force. Claribel does not break barriers — she walks through them and then holds the door open for everyone behind her. Claribel is the founder of Rising Heights & Co.
Elisa Charters, co-founder and president of Latina Surge and founder of Juegos AI Lab, brings to the SHCCNJ board the rare combination of a public-sector dealmaker and a tech visionary. An executive who has negotiated over $20 billion in public development transactions, been appointed by four consecutive New Jersey governors, survived September 11 and emerged from it as one of the state's most passionate advocates for opportunity, equity and the advancement of women in leadership — Elisa is not just building a seat at the table. She is building the table.
Deborah Visconi, President and CEO of Bergen New Bridge Medical Center, has spent more than 25 years transforming complex health systems into models of excellence. A results-driven executive with an entrepreneurial spirit, she has repositioned Bergen New Bridge into a nationally recognized model for integrated, whole-person care — with an unwavering focus on behavioral health, addiction services and the communities that need it most. Deborah does not transmit vision into PowerPoints. She transmits it into action.
Felicitaciones, Aixa, Mónica, Claribel, Elisa y Deborah. You are the chamber. You are the community. And you are exactly who we want our daughters to grow up to be.
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