ResinTech Inc.

For Jeffrey Gottlieb, CEO of ResinTech, giving back isn’t something special a company does every now and then – it is part of their mission and something integral in what they look to do each and every day in the communities they serve.

ResinTech is a global leader in the manufacture and sales of water treatment products and services. In 2018, it made a strategic decision to build a $140M headquarters, factory and distribution plant in Camden. ResinTech views its responsibility in moving to Camden to continue and expand upon Gottlieb’s and ResinTech’s long-standing tradition of regional community engagement and philanthropy. The company has contributed time and money to local Camden-based community projects and organizations big and small, such as nonprofits like Cathedral Kitchen, The Boys & Girls Club of Camden County, UrbanPromise, The Kroc Center and its neighbors at Ablett Village, in an effort to play a role in Camden’s continued revitalization.

Personally, Gottlieb has been involved in philanthropic giving in the South Jersey Jewish community for decades, chairing the JCC Pro Am, a golf event to raise money for Open Heart Open Doors, a program which serves the special needs community, and by serving in various roles within the Jewish Federation of Southern New Jersey, including as the president of the Katz Jewish Community Center.

“As for ResinTech, in the beginning, our focus was solely on creating a thriving, sustainable, growing business,” says Gottlieb. “Then, about 20 years ago, a longtime friend and mentor said to me, ‘Jeffrey, you are very fortunate. God has blessed your family with health, success and a wonderful business. I think it’s time you get involved in philanthropy and give back to help others.’”

This interaction was a wakeup call for Gottlieb. He started by giving various small donations to multiple local organizations.

“I didn’t find this approach particularly rewarding,” he says. “I didn’t feel connected to these organizations where I was giving and supporting.” This led him to seek a more active role within these organizations to attempt to make change from within.

“Our goal is to help make a lasting, meaningful, positive impact within Camden. It is going to take hard work, heart and dedication along with local investment, local business creation and living wage Camden-based jobs. ResinTech wants to be an integral part of that.”

That, he says, is when he really started to feel “directly connected to the impact and the outcome in making a positive difference.” He later realized that the more connected he felt, the more time and money he was happy to give to local projects, charities and organizations.

His family saw this change and got involved as well.

“My wife, Laura, became passionately involved with ‘Bookmates,’ an interfaith literacy program supporting low and middle-income youth,” Gottlieb says. “My brother Larry serves on the board of Jewish Federation’s Senior Housing as well as having served as president of Jewish Community Properties, the real estate arm of the Jewish Federation of Southern New Jersey. The desire to give back has become a part of who we are as a family.”

“Now, we have this unique opportunity to be an active part of Camden, which has so much rich history and so much potential,” he continues. “Our goal is to help make a lasting, meaningful, positive impact within Camden. It is going to take hard work, heart and dedication along with local investment, local business creation and living wage Camden-based jobs. ResinTech wants to be an integral part of that.”

ResinTech’s new headquarters, located in Cramer Hill, roughly a mile from the waterfront, was developed on more than 27 acres of land that was formerly littered with abandoned industrial buildings which had previously been used decades ago as an incinerator, cement factories, and even a junkyard. ResinTech removed and remediated decades worth of contamination that existed on the land.

Jeffrey, Mike and Larry Gottlieb

“We’re extremely proud of having constructed more than 363,000 square feet of world class, new manufacturing in Cramer Hill,” says Gottlieb. “At last count, we have provided living wage jobs to well over 100 residents from Camden city, and that’s just the beginning.”

As he looks to the future, Gottlieb has high hopes and aspirations of developing the land adjacent to the ResinTech headquarters for a ResinTech warehouse expansion, including a 2 megawatt solar parking array as well as retail shops along the front of the property where local businesses that have Camden residents as workers can open and thrive.

One of the most exciting projects that has continued to shape and mold Gottlieb’s view of the upside potential for Camden is his committee work on helping to create a “Transformation Plan for Cramer Hill,” centered on the redevelopment of Ablett Village, a 306-unit public housing site. The ResinTech headquarters investment in Cramer Hill was used in the plan to show HUD that Cramer Hill had outside investment by businesses and could support additional housing investments.

“To play a small part and witness firsthand the residents of Ablett Village receiving a $35 million federal grant from the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to revitalize and rebuild their neighborhood was truly inspirational,” says Gottlieb.

Gottlieb tries to never lose sight of the fact that ResinTech is, at its core, a family business, he says.

“We never want to forget that there is a crucial, personal, human element to business, and that it is our responsibility as leaders of the company to maintain a positive work environment for our employees where they are provided with the time and resources and a culture of being able to help others in our community,” says Gottlieb. “As the company grows, our commitment grows with it.”

Over the holidays, ResinTech’s employees organized their 2nd annual food drive for Cathedral Kitchen. A team of employees went to The Boys and Girls Club and packed food for distribution to over 100 families and, together with ActionPak, the company ensured that each child living in Ablett Village received toys or gift cards for the holiday. They are hopeful and committed that, as Covid-19 restrictions lessen, they can safely begin to re-engage in person with the community and significantly increase their employee in-person participation.

As ResinTech continues to expand its local involvement and charitable endeavors in Camden, they view it as a long-term investment in the community rather than a short-term PR picture for the paper.

“The partnership of ResinTech with the community should not stop simply because the ribbon has been cut,” says Gottlieb. “The more involved we are in our surrounding community on an ongoing basis, the more successful that partnership is likely to be and the greater the dividend for everyone – for ourselves, for our employees, for our city and for the people of our community. We want to and will be part of the positive change happening in Camden.”