Junior League of Montclair-Newark Inc. to host Spring Gala

WEST ORANGE, NJ — The Junior League of Montclair-Newark Inc. invites the community and partners for an evening of dinner, drinks, dancing and a silent auction at its 95th anniversary Spring Gala. This year’s theme is “Venetian Masquerade Ball.” The gala will be Saturday, April 23, from 7 to 11 p.m. at the Montclair Golf Club, 25 Prospect Ave., West Orange. Tickets are available for purchase at http://www.501auctions.com/jlmngala2016.

For 95 years, the Junior League of Montclair-Newark Inc. has been committed to promoting voluntarism, developing the potential of women and improving our community through the effective action and leadership of our trained volunteers, throughout Essex County. As a non-profit organization, the women of the Junior League of Montclair-Newark aim to build a better community by promoting education, health and wellness, literacy and the arts, for children at risk.

This year, it honors two women and one corporate partner, who embody the Junior League of Montclair-Newark’s mission:

• Karen Turner, Sustainer Community Service Award recipient;
• BASF — Deon Carter, Corporate Partner Award recipient; and
• Peggy Cafferty, Community Visionary Award recipient.

Karen Turner serves on the Montclair Golf Club Board of Trustees, and is also a trustee of the Montclair Foundation. Prior to these positions, Turner was a mayoral candidate in 2012 and a founding member of Concerned Citizens of Montclair, a grassroots organization. She served as the president of the Junior-League of Montclair-Newark in 2003, and has also held several leadership positions within the organization. Turner has volunteered for numerous organizations within the community including The Montclair Art Museum, Montclair High School, Montclair Scholarship Fund and Van Vleck’s House and Gardens. Turner was named Montclair’s person of the year in 2011 and received the Junior League of Montclair-Newark Community Volunteer of the Year award in 2012. She is a certified public accountant and has a degree in accounting from the University of Southern Maine. She works part-time with YPTC, New York, providing accounting and finance support to nonprofit organizations.

BASF/Deon Carter

Deon Carter is senior vice president, Precious and Base Metal Services, CCM, at BASF, a position he has had since October 2010. In this role, he is responsible for overseeing global precious metals procurement, sales, refining and trading, and leading Catalysts’ global salts and solutions business. Carter previously served as vice president, Business Management Refining Catalysts, Process Catalysts and Technologies, G-CCP/R. Carter joined the company as a result of BASF’s 2006 acquisition of Engelhard Corporation. He joined Engelhard in 1990 as a Process Engineer at its Jackson, Mississippi site. He then moved through a series of progressive account management and sales management roles with the company’s Chemical Catalysts operations in Houston and Singapore. In 2000, Carter was named site manager of the company’s Rome production facility, before relocating to Iselin in 2002, where he had a number of increasingly responsible business management roles with both Chemical Catalysts and Polyolefin Catalysts. He was named to his Refining Catalysts leadership role in 2007. Carter has a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Cape Town, South Africa.

Peg Cafferty is a storyteller who celebrates the use of every medium. She is an actress, writer, producer, activist, mother and wife. Cafferty recently was an executive producer and U.S. campaign manager on “India’s Daughter,” the film directed by Leslee Udwin that has inspired conversations around the world focused on ending rape culture and violence against women. Cafferty is an ambassador for Cinema for Peace and believes in the power of film to visually demonstrate human journeys in a universal way. Cafferty serves on the board of “Made By Survivors” and the gala committee for the TUSK Foundation. She has acted in films like Ladder 49 and FUR and produced films such as “Delivering the Goods,” “You Bury Your Own” and “Elliot Loves.” Cafferty is now the executive director of Anchor Productions, a new film fund dedicated to making films that make a difference. She likes to champion female writers and directors and hopes to inspire conversations around positive social change.

  Junior League of Montclair-Newark, Montclair Golf Club