Denise began her career in the sales organization at Procter & Gamble in Boston, Mass. She later joined Pepsi-Cola in Trade and Business Development. She then spent most of the 1980s at Nestle USA, where she held senior marketing and sales positions, including Business Director for Confections Marketing, National Sales Manager Frozen/Chilled, and Vice President Marketing and Sales for Nestle Ice Cream Company.

 

In 1995, Denise moved to Nabisco Inc., where she served as Senior Vice President and led the Nabisco Food Company's sales organization and was General Manager for the Down the Street division.

 

Denise serves on various Boards including The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company and is a former Director of Ballard Power Systems Inc. She is a member of the GMA Industry Affairs Council. Non-Profit Boards include Students In Free Enterprise and Chair of the Advisory Board for Catalyst. She is former President of the New Jersey Women’s Forum and has served on the Food Industry Crusade Against Hunger.

 

In 2007, Denise was awarded the Aiming High Award by Legal Momentum, the Garden State Woman of the Year for Corporations by Garden State Women magazine and was selected as a Top Woman in Grocery by Progressive Grocer magazine. Denise was also honored with the Salute to Policy Makers award by the Executive Women of New Jersey in 2007. She was also named Executive of the Year for 2003 by Snack Food & Bakery magazine. Also in 2003, Denise received the Althea Gibson Beacon award for Business Leadership and was separately recognized as a New Jersey "Woman of Influence" by NJBiz magazine. In 2001, she was appointed to the New York YWCA Academy of Women Achievers.

 

Denise earned her bachelor of science degree in economics and psychology from Boston College in 1975, graduating magna cum laude. She was inducted into the Order of the Cross and Crown Honor Society for academic and extracurricular achievement.