{"id":13385,"date":"2026-06-09T09:07:27","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T13:07:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/?p=13385"},"modified":"2026-06-09T09:50:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T13:50:16","slug":"dr-hubert-benitez-speaks-at-jersey-city-summit-for-real-estate-investment-placemaking-innovation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2026\/06\/09\/dr-hubert-benitez-speaks-at-jersey-city-summit-for-real-estate-investment-placemaking-innovation\/","title":{"rendered":"Dr. Hubert Benitez Speaks at Jersey City Summit for Real Estate Investment, Placemaking & Innovation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Business leaders, local politicians, and higher education professionals gathered at Harborside (Exchange Place, Jersey City, NJ) on Thursday, June 4 for the 11th <\/a><\/span>Jersey City Summit<\/span> for <\/span>Real Estate Investment<\/span>, Placemaking & Innovation.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>More than 1,250 attendees were in attendance to listen to discussions by a diverse roster of speakers. Jersey City Mayor James Solomon<\/a> was in attendance and a special video message was delivered to the crowd of attendees by New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The afternoon was highlighted by a fireside discussion between <\/span>New Jersey City University<\/span> President <\/span>Andres Acebo<\/span> and <\/span>Saint Peter\u2019s University President Hubert Benitez<\/span>, moderated by NJBIZ reporter Matthew Fazelpoor.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Also in attendance from Saint Peter’s were members of the President’s Cabinet – Dr. Guillermo DeVeyga, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer; Paula Mercado-Hak, Vice President and General Counsel & Chief External Affairs Officer; and Daniel Bocchino, Interim Assistant Vice President for Communications and Marketing.<\/span><\/p>\n

Both university presidents discussed the culmination of the 2025-2026 academic years on their campuses, highlighted by their recent commencement ceremonies. President Acebo noted that the NJCU commencement served as the last ceremony the university would have as an independently run institution, while President Benitez celebrated the return of commencement to the Saint Peter\u2019s campus.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dr. Benitez reaffirmed the university\u2019s standing in the Jersey City community, noting that while high school students within New Jersey often leave the state to attend college elsewhere, the focus for both local schools should be on educating the local workforce to support Hudson County and the surrounding communities. He remarked that \u201cThe hallmark of Saint Peter\u2019s is keeping our Jesuit values in all we do as an engine of workforce development\u201d for the community at large. Dr. Benitez went on to discuss the newly opened Health Education, Simulation and Innovation Suite at the School of Nursing and Health Professions, highlighting Saint Peter\u2019s commitment to significantly expanding nursing enrollment and leveraging this and other innovative learning spaces to strengthen its presence across a range of health care disciplines and workforce development initiatives.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>President Acebo acknowledged the sometimes divisive role AI plays in education, and noted that it can be democratizing in terms of educational opportunities and should be used intentionally in conjunction with business development. The leaders reiterated a commitment to educating the local Jersey City and Hudson County community. Dr. Benitez specifically highlighted Saint Peter\u2019s designation as a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI), with programs offered entirely in Spanish, while emphasizing that the University\u2019s distinguishing characteristic is not simply what it does, but how it does it: delivering an accessible, well-rounded education grounded in the Jesuit values that guide its mission and commitment to forming students for lives of purpose, leadership, and service.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

As both Saint Peter\u2019s and NJCU focus on their next chapters of their evolution, the focus at Saint Peter\u2019s will continue to be on revitalizing and reimagining the school\u2019s place as the Jesuit university of New Jersey, offering a value-based education accessible and affordable to all.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Business leaders, local politicians, and higher education professionals gathered at Harborside (Exchange Place, Jersey City, NJ) on Thursday, June 4 for the 11th Jersey City Summit for Real Estate Investment, Placemaking & Innovation. More than 1,250 attendees were in attendance to listen to discussions by a diverse roster of speakers. Jersey City Mayor James Solomon […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1293,"featured_media":13389,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3,5,2],"tags":[24],"class_list":["post-13385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-current-students","category-faculty-staff","category-future-students","tag-featured"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDr. Hubert Benitez Speaks at Jersey City Summit for Real Estate Investment, Placemaking & Innovation - News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Saint Peter's University welcomed its largest freshmen class in either years as the 25-26 year kicks off with Mass of the Holy Spirit.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2026\/06\/09\/dr-hubert-benitez-speaks-at-jersey-city-summit-for-real-estate-investment-placemaking-innovation\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"dbocchino\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2026\/06\/09\/dr-hubert-benitez-speaks-at-jersey-city-summit-for-real-estate-investment-placemaking-innovation\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2026\/06\/09\/dr-hubert-benitez-speaks-at-jersey-city-summit-for-real-estate-investment-placemaking-innovation\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"dbocchino\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/e34d0022b2f64ab992c01054c76a4ab2\"},\"headline\":\"Dr. Hubert Benitez Speaks at Jersey City Summit for Real Estate Investment, Placemaking & Innovation\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-09T13:07:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-06-09T13:50:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2026\/06\/09\/dr-hubert-benitez-speaks-at-jersey-city-summit-for-real-estate-investment-placemaking-innovation\/\"},\"wordCount\":515,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2026\/06\/09\/dr-hubert-benitez-speaks-at-jersey-city-summit-for-real-estate-investment-placemaking-innovation\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/230\/files\/2026\/06\/651-DSC06871-scaled.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Featured\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Alumni\",\"Current Students\",\"Faculty Staff\",\"Future Students\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2026\/06\/09\/dr-hubert-benitez-speaks-at-jersey-city-summit-for-real-estate-investment-placemaking-innovation\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2026\/06\/09\/dr-hubert-benitez-speaks-at-jersey-city-summit-for-real-estate-investment-placemaking-innovation\/\",\"name\":\"Dr. Hubert Benitez Speaks at Jersey City Summit for Real Estate Investment, Placemaking & Innovation - 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