Carol Voorhees was 27 years old and out of work when she walked into NJM in 1996. The company she’d been at had just gone under. She didn’t have a college degree.
“It was like, ‘Oh my God, now I’m looking for a job, and I don’t have education — what am I going to do?'” she said.
What she found at NJM was more than just an entry-level spot in the information technology department. There was gender equity and representation. And opportunity for all.
“I was very lucky when I started 30 years ago,” she said. “I had female supervisors. I had female leaders that I was able to look up to.
“There was never a time in my 30-year career here where I felt like the fact that I had no college degree or was female was going to hold me back.”
Three decades later, Voorhees became NJM’s president and CEO in July 2025 — the first woman and tenth chief executive in the insurer’s 113-year history. She’s proud of the distinction. And proud to note it reflects on the core values of the company.
Voorhees said NJM invested in her the way it had invested in the women who came before her.
“I stand on their shoulders, and hopefully we serve as role models for new women who come in — or men too,” she said. “Anybody who wants to work hard and understand the policyholder mission and really contribute to the company — get that service gene and get the culture — can succeed here.”
Voorhees says she’s the ultimate example.
NJM supported her while she went back and earned a bachelor’s degree in organizational leadership from Thomas Edison State University and a master’s in insurance management from Boston University college degree. And it supported her when she rose from entry-level IT staff to managerial positions to Chief Information Officer in 2018, Chief Operating Officer in 2024 and CEO in 2025.
The CEO title comes with more than a distinction. Is it noteworthy that she’s first woman to be the CEO — or is she a CEO who just happens to be a woman?
Voorhees answers the question with a nod to the culture she felt on that first day, back in 1996.
“I don’t necessarily feel like I’m in my position because I’m a female,” she said. “I feel like I’m in my position because I got opportunities over the last 30 years to grow and take chances and be supported in those chances and have success in my career.
“But I am very proud to be the tenth and first female. That’s something I wear as a badge of honor.”
