Michellene Davis Honored with New Jersey Award of Excellence

Michellene Davis of RWJBarnabas Health and immediate past president of Executive Women New Jersey, received the coveted Thurgood Marshall Award of Excellence for New Jersey during an event held by the Thurgood Marshall College Fund.

Davis is the executive vice president and chief corporate affairs officer of RWJBarnabas Health. She merited to receive the 19th annual award to recognize her dedication to civil rights, education and justice, all ideals the late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall exemplified.

The award was bequeathed at an event held recently in Belleville, New Jersey.

“This award means so much to me, because Justice Marshall embodied that which the premise of my life’s work is premised upon, such as advocacy, education, justice and civil rights. I am honored that my very small contributions were deemed worthy of this amazing award,” Davis said.

The Thurgood Marshall College Fund was established in 1987 in order to help colleges, universities and other institutions that have historically served the African American population. The annual award event helps raise money to support students attending these institutions, as well as publicize the goals of the fund.

Others recognized for their contributions to New Jersey public life through their dedication to the ideals of Thurgood Marshall were late former Governor Brendan Byrne; Ron Chen, former New Jersey public advocate and co-dean of Rutgers University’s School of Law; and Richard Thigpen, senior vice president, corporate citizenship, for Public Service Enterprise Group.