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AUGUST 2014 BANKING & FINANCIAL SERVICES
Big Banks Lending Again?
Survey charts surge in small-biz loans Six years after the Great Recession transformed the U.S. business landscape, large banks are cautiously dipping their big toes back into the small-business lending market. However, smaller banks and non-bank lenders remain the most important source of capital for smaller companies. Big banks are now approving roughly one in five small business loan applications,
$1.50
Going Green Takes Hold
a post-recession high, according to the Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index, a monthly analysis of 1,000 loan applications on Biz2Credit.com for June of this year. Meanwhile, small banks, though down by 0.2 percent, are granting more than half of requests they receive from entrepreneurs. Small-business loan approval rates at big banks (defi ned as $10 billion or more in assets) rose to 20 percent in June from 19.6 percent in May, while approval rates at small banks slipped to 51.4 percent from to 51.6 percent the previous month.
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NEWCO: Putting Skin in the Game Page 30
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Trading Places John DeStefano on his new career, and New Haven’s small-business landscape Enter Your Events on www.ctcalendar.com John DeStefano Jr. is executive vice president of New Haven-based Start Bank (formerly Start Community Bank). If the name rings a bell, it should: Previously DeStefano was mayor of the Elm City from 1993 t0 2003. He holds an accounting degree from the University of Connecticut.
something else. And what happens is the migration of local decision-making. Isn’t it pretty tough to be a small bank — or any kind of small business — today?
...
Where do you see Start Bank fitting into the New Haven community? Two things: small-business banking, and banking the under- and unbanked. Small businesses will be a big part of the business. Banking the unbanked will be not making any money but will be a servingthe-community mission. Both of those [two markets] aren’t getting done.
WHO’S WHAT, WHERE
What do you see or hear that leads you to assert that most banks aren’t serving the small-business market? We’re a $70 million bank; [for us] a halfmillion-dollar loan is a big loan. We’re going to work harder for those things. And they’re also the types of loans where for a big bank when the loan officers and banks get their goals set, several of those aren’t going to help them meet their goals. Because of our size we end up being a good fit for a small business. We’re incented to do it. Was that always the vision for Start Bank? No. I think we were much more focused on the under- and unbanked. I think the incorporating directors misread what the market wanted and were caught up in the zeal of the moment. What does that mean? The zeal of the moment — as could only happen in New Haven — was about pizza and hamburgers. When we talk about pizza and hamburgers in this town, we talk about Sally’s, Pepe’s, Modern, Louis Lunch. We talk about authenticity — what makes New Haven New Haven. One of the things that made New Haven New Haven was this 148-year-old mutual savings bank [New Haven Savings Bank] that gave lots of people their first mortgages, their first business start, their home equity loan to send their kids to school. [Longtime NHSB President] AUGUST 2014
It’s a highly regulated business, so you’ve got a disproportionate overhead here. We really rely on net interest income to make our money. Bank of America, Wells Fargo: account fees [are a principal source of revenue]. What do we charge for a checking account? A savings account? Zero. Minimum balance is $5. We don’t make money on fees; we make money on the difference between what we lend money at versus what we pay for the money. We’re easy to understand; we don’t do derivatives. We do commercial loans. But that said, we’re living in this new world that got created after 2008, and as they said in The Godfather: “This is the business I’ve chosen and I make no apologies for it.” It is what it is. How big an adjustment has this career change been for you personally?
Charlie Terrell had been there for 30 years, and Bob Geyer had been there 30 years before him, and the tellers you went to high school with and the loan officers had been there 30 years and you knew the people. Just like you know Ruthie and Ricky and Bobby behind the counter at Sally’s. You knew them. So it was pizza, hamburgers and banks, and authenticity and the connectedness it provides in a community [that] made for a more powerful fabric for social and economic development. And there was the sense that we were going to lose that [when NHSB was taken public in 2003], and time proved that to be true. When New Haven Savings Bank chose to become a commercial rather than a mutual bank, it set the stage for its acquisition and the sale of NewAlliance to First Niagara.
Well, there could have been a decision to fund more into the charitable non-profit NewAlliance Foundation? The money that went to the NewAlliance Foundation is being spent down and not being replenished, and therefore is finite and has an end. What we’ve done is created this place like banks always used to, where you take money in and you spend it back out in the community. The difference here is we don’t have a class of shareholders we have to satisfy. A good example of the consequence of having shareholders is Quinnipiac Bank. They’re good local people that have been lending in this community forever, but they’re going to be Bankwell [presently in the process of acquiring Quinnipiac Bank], and eventually Bankwell will be
It’s not a change in that I deal with a lot of the same people I’ve always dealt with [as mayor], and that’s my utility to the bank. And it’s not different in the sense [that] I’ve been involved with the bank since before there was a bank, when there was an intention. What’s different is that it’s very bottom-line oriented and in some ways much narrower in scope, which you would expect going from government. But it’s the same in that fundamentally you’re dealing with economic and social wealth-creation. How do you see New Haven as a breeding ground for entrepreneurs? I think we have a huge future. There are people who make ideas and technologies and require more venture and equity capital. The city is small, but it’s also a place for people who create ideas and things and practices, they are not necessarily university related and but are lifestyle-driven. But can New Haven maintain manufacturing, which has always been a economic ladder up for people?
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Editorial HED BODY
Op-Ed
Enter Your Events on www.ctcalendar.com
Is Big Government the Key to State Prosperity? It’s a development that pleases apologists for “public investments,” because states devote most of their revenue to goodies that the unlimited-government lobby claims make life worth living. In 2012, five categories — schools (preK to Ph.D.), welfare, health/ hospitals, utilities (including “mass transit”), and roads/highways — accounted for 68 percent of costs. They totaled $1.3 trillion, or 8.3 percent of America’s gross domestic product.
to make, and worthy of a lengthy policy paper. But few would argue with the reasonableness of two broad metrics: social conditions such as crime, poverty, and educational attainment; and economic indicators such as unemployment, job creation and median household income (MHI).
WHO’S WHAT, WHERE B By D. Dowd Muska
etween 1992 and 2012, leftists waged a ruthlessly relentless and astoundingly successful campaign to increase state budgets.
Crunching the U.S. Census Bureau’s data reveals that per capita, and adjusted for inflation, states augmented expenditures by an average of 45.6 percent. Each of the “laboratories of democracy” spent more — i.e., not one boosted efficiency.
D. Dowd Muska of Broad Brook (dowdmuska.com) writes about government, economics and technology. Follow him on Twitter @dowdmuska.
However counterintuitive it seems, the wildest spenders weren’t consistently blue. With stagnant populations and sagging entrepreneurship, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island lacked the ability to bring in the loot, and thus clustered toward the bottom of the roster. At the budget-busting apex were an eclectic five: Mississippi (86.8 percent), Vermont (80.6 percent), Arkansas (79.2 percent), North Dakota (75.6 percent), and Kansas (63.8 percent). How did big spending alter the big spenders? It’s a challenging assessment
Vermont was affluent, highly educated, and all but violence-free in 1992. It remained so in 2012. (Its expenditures ballooned due to an asinine scheme to restructure the funding of school districts.) North Dakota’s spending was largely driven by the fracking revolution, a phenomenon that is radically altering the state. (Crime is rising, as young, unattached males flock to the Bakken. Time will tell if NAEP and SAT scores stay high.) Mississippi and Arkansas stand out for their placement in the top five, though, because supernovas of spending did not produce turnarounds. Achievement by primaryand secondary-school students at government institutions in both states was well below the national
mark in 1992, and nothing had changed two decades later. The same was true for college completion — subpar in 1992, equally inferior in 2012. As job-creators, the two underperformed in the period. Private-sector employment increased by 24.7 percent nationally. In Mississippi, growth was 20.2 percent; in Arkansas, 14.3 percent. The Magnolia State expanded its MHI by 8.1 percent — significantly exceeding the figure for the country as a whole — while its Razorback counterpart saw MHI fall. Both saw poverty rates persist at abysmally high rates. What about the states that spent the least? The stingiest five were Washington (20.2 percent), Rhode Island (17.5 percent), Hawaii (11.1 percent), Alaska (ten percent), and Nevada (5.6 percent). It’s dodgy to lump the non-contiguous states in with the “Lower” 48, since the pair’s economies and cultures are so unique. Let’s look at Washington, which committed two of liberalism’s mortal sins: not
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Vol XX, No. 11 August 2014
Publisher Mitchell Young
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Gina Gazvoda Robin Ungaro Gordon Weingarth
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Contributors
Editor
Terry Wells
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Senior Publisher’s Representative Roberta Harris
Mimi Friedman Jessica Giannone Felicia Hunter John Mordecai Melissa Nicefaro Priscilla Searles Karen Singer Tom Violante Photography Steve Blazo Priscilla Searles
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RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE
SMALL BUSINESS
State’s Home Sales Rise In June
A Brewery Grows in Branford
But YTD sales figures decline by two percent BOSTON — Connecticut single-family home sales posted a 5.8-percent increase for the month of June, marking the fourth time in 2014 that sales have increased year-over-year, according to the latest report by the Warren Group.
BRANFORD — The craft-brewing craze continues unabated. Ground was broken July 17 on a new, 30,000-square-foot Stony Creek Brewery hard by the Branford River. Company co-principal Edward Crowley Sr. said he expects the new facility to be up and running by January 2015.
In all, 2,799 single-family homes sold in June, up from 2,646 a year earlier. This marked the best month for sales since August 2013, when 2,897 homes changed hands. However, second-quarter sales decreased by 4.9 percent, with a total of 6,679 sales recorded compared with 7,020 during the second quarter of last year. “The housing market in Connecticut is showing signs of improvement as we see the biggest percentage gain in monthly home sales so far this year,” said Warren Group CEO Timothy M. Warren Jr. “Real estate closings in June, July and August are typically the highest of the year as the deals made during the spring selling season get officially recorded. While not robust, the Connecticut real estate market continues to show a solid recovery.” Year-to-date home sales statewide were down almost two percent. From January to June, a total of 10,887 single-family homes were sold, compared with 11,101 during the same period a year ago.
Year-over-year home prices fell 3.2 percent in June. The median sales price of a single-family home statewide decreased to $276,000 in June, down from $285,000 in June 2013. The year-to-date median sales price fell 2.0 percent to $250,000, compared with $255,000 during the same period a year ago. Quarterly prices were also down 2.6 percent, to $263,000 compared with $270,000 during the second quarter 2013. Condominium sales in Connecticut posted a big gain in June, rising almost 14.1 percent from a year earlier. A total of 760 condos sold in June, compared with 666 a year earlier. Year-to-date condo sales were
up 3.8 percent to 3,067 from 2,955 a year earlier. In the second quarter, 1,883 condos were sold, up 3.1 percent from 1,827 during the same period a year ago. The median selling price for condos in June was $180,000, up 2.9 percent from $175,000 a year earlier. The second quarter median condo price fell less than 1 percent to $174,000 from $175,000 in the second quarter 2013. The year-to-date median price of condos in the Connecticut was $166,000, down 1.2 percent from $168,000 a year ago.
Stony Creek Brewery will be erected on a brownfield of a former section of the Malleable Iron Factory on Indian Neck Road in Branford. Once completed, the building will feature solar power, high-efficiency lighting and other “green” attributes, including returning spent grains to area farms for reuse. The craft brewery will include production and bottling space, a 2,400-square-foot “celebration” room with a 1,400-square-foot deck and a pub-style tasting room. The site will all have more than 200 parking spaces, including one main lot with 156 slots. On the river, Stony Creek Brewery will lease 150 feet of dock frontage to allow for boat tie-ups. The business will also offer two electric car-charging stations and a bike rack with free air and tool rack repair.
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5
UTILITIES
UI Parent Acquires Milford LNG Facility $20 million deal advances diversification of Elm City energy firm
NEW HAVEN — UIL Holdings Corp., parent of the United Illuminating Co., has purchased a 14.6-million gallon liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage facility and related assets in Milford from subsidiaries of Iberdrola USA, Inc. for approximately $20 million. UIL consummated the purchase through its subsidiary on July 31. The Milford facility is operated by the Southern Connecticut Gas Co., which UIL acquired from Iberdrola in 2010 as part of a larger deal that also included Connecticut Natural Gas Corp. and the Berkshire Gas Co. “Our natural-gas supply system is designed to provide gas to firm customers under all weather conditions, and it works,” said James P. Torgerson, UIL Holdings’ president and CEO. “This transaction is another prudent investment we are making to ensure we meet customers’ demands now but is inclusive of our growing customer base.” The UIL Holdings’ gas-supply portfolio now includes three liquefied natural gas plants. Besides the plant in Milford, the other two facilities are in Rocky Hill and Whately, Mass. Combined, these two other facilities have a storage capacity of more than 14.6 million gallons for liquefied natural gas. This LNG diversification presents another supply option that can be utilized in times of high demand. Liquefied natural gas traditionally is used to supplement natural gas supplies, particularly during the peak periods of winter. Liquefied natural gas is stored in specially designed facilities. When it is needed, the liquefied gas is heated, converted to vapor and injected into distribution pipelines.
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SMALL BUSINESS
Elm City Makes the Grade The bad news: It’s a D+ for small-business friendliness The website Thumbtack.com, in partnership with the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, has released New Haven’s results from its third annual “Small Business Friendliness Survey.” The study, drawing upon data from over 12,000 small-business owners, the report measures state and local business environments across the nation. “After a two-month survey of thousands of small business owners nationwide, the data show that New Haven small businesses believe the city could do more for them,” says Jon Lieber, Chief Economist of Thumbtack. “Creating a business climate that is welcoming to small, dynamic businesses is more important than ever, and New Haven has a ways to go towards this goal.” Some of the key findings for New Haven include: • New Haven earned a grade of D-plus for its overall friendliness to small business.
• New Haven’s best grade was a B for the availability of its training and networking programs. • The city earned an F for the friendliness of its zoning laws and a D+ for its overall regulatory friendliness. • New Haven businesses were among the most pessimistic in the nation with regards to their expectations for expansion and the outlook for the local economy. • New Haven-area small-business owners were also among the least likely in the nation to encourage others to start a small business here. Said one small-business proprietor, a commercial photographer based in Wallingford: “Taxes and expenses are high. A pricing model for where I live does not translate well when
BANKING & FINANCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS & EDUCATION
Peyton’s Place: Unemployed
SCSU Hosts Science Symposium
NEW CANA AN — Banker Peyton R. Patterson, who engineered the public offering that transformed the former New Haven Savings Bank into a private company that became NewAlliance Bank, has resigned as president and CEO of Bankwell Financial Group. The announcement came following revelations of a series of civil lawsuits pertaining to approximately $400,000 Patternson allegedly owes creditors including two private country clubs and a credit-card company. “After careful consideration and discussions with the board, I have decided it is in the best interests of the company to resign from my positions,” Patterson said in a press release. Bankwell Chairman Blake Drexler was appointed executive chairman by the board of directors and will assume Patterson’s responsibilities at the New Canaan-based financial group, according to the release. The board has formed a search committee to find a new CEO and will consider internal and outside candidates for the job, the release says. Patterson joined Bankwell as a strategic officer in spring 2012. She had just engineered the $1.5 billion sale of New Havenbased NewAlliance Bank and months later became Bankwell’s CEO and president. As CEO of NewAlliance Bank, Patterson was named the second “Most Powerful Woman in Banking” by U.S. Banker magazine in 2008.
Students interact with manufacturers at July session
working out of state in a more competitive marketplace. Reducing taxes, including sales tax, would spur growth and free up revenue by the consumer (including other businesses) to engage a commercial photographer like myself.” The top rated cities overall in the Thumbtack survey were Colorado Springs, Boise, Id. Houston, Austin, Tex. and Louisville. The lowest rated were Sacramento, Providence, Buffalo, Bridgeport and San Diego.
better job preparing her students to be workers, leaders and innovators. “I learned that math skills are of utmost importance, as well as the ‘soft skills,’ which include personal responsibility, clear communication with people, taking initiative to solve problems, and being continually willing to learn,” Rao said. Christine C. Broadbridge, co-director of the Summer Teachers’ Institute, said the second annual Institute marked solid progress toward translating the excitement of the teachers into improvements in their curricula.
NEW HAVEN — Science teachers from area middle and high schools received hands-on lessons in modern manufacturing techniques at a workshop held at Southern Connecticut State University and a number of local manufacturing companies July 29-31.Thirty STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) educators attended the second annual Materials & Manufacturing Summer Teachers’ Institute.
“The teachers spent more time networking this year,” said Broadbridge, who chairs the SCSU physics department at SCSU and is education director at CRISP. “There were more conversations about ways to bring what they learned back to the classroom through new lesson plans.”
The event included tours of Platt Technical High School in Milford, Leed Himmel Industries in Hamden, New Haven’s Assa Abloy and Chabaso Bakery as well as the Lighting Quotient in West Haven. Co-sponsors included SCSU, Platt the New Haven Manufacturers Association (NHMA), the southern Connecticut chapter of the American Society for Materials, and the Center for Research on Interface Structures and Phenomena (CRISP) at Yale University and SCSU.
Robert Klancko, a representative of NHMA and co-director of the Summer Teachers’ Institute, was honored with a plaque for his role in the annual program. He noted the addition of a new luncheon format this year that included a ten-minute “Meet the CEO” feature. “Attendees were able to get up close with industry leader,” he explained.
Westport Public Schools teacher Kerstin Rao said the workshop will help her do a
For instance, she cited a group of teachers who developed a new lesson plan related to the making of bread at Chabaso Bakery.
The Institute included presentations on materials science, plant tours, hands-on projects, working groups, networking opportunities, student presentations at Platt Tech and a luncheon with keynote speaker James Gildea, plant manager for Bigelow Tea in Fairfield. Www.Conntact.com
ABEETS
Frank Pepe: Beantown-Bound New Haven famed eatery to open in Boston market
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BROOKLINE, Mass. — Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana, which a decade ago began branching out from its Wooster Street roots to open a half-dozen satellite eateries throughout Connecticut as well as Yonkers, N.Y., has now set its sights on the Bay State. On July 29 the third-generation-owned and -operated pizzeria announced that it had entered into an agreement to acquire the space that since 2001 has housed the Fireplace restaurant in Brookline, Mass. Fireplace chef/owner Jim Solomon, who hails from New Haven and is a fan of Frank Pepe’s, said he intends close the 1634 Beacon Street eatery and focus instead on his catering business. For Pepe’s the foray represents an opportunity to open a location in the Boston area and for the business to grow its family of Napoletana-style pizzerias that patriarch Frank Pepe began in 1925. The Frank Pepe team waxes enthusiastic at the prospect of joining the dynamic culinary scene that the Washington Square
big banks Continued from page 1
“The strong return of banks in smallbusiness lending indicates three things: overall improving economy, entrepreneur confidence that they will be able to borrow for expansion and repay the loans, and the increasing ease and popularity of SBA [U.S. Small Business Administration] lending,” explained Biz2Credit CEO Rohit Arora, who oversaw the research. “This is a sign that the economy continues along the right path.” “Higher EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) that small businesses are showing in their financial documents substantially increases their chances of securing conventional financing,” added Arora. “They are using this funding for upgrades such August 2014
neighborhood of Brookline has become known for. “With so many great pizza places here, the bar has been set extremely high,” says Gary Bimonte, the grandson of Frank Pepe who with other family members continues to run the business to this day. “We’re excited to have Bay State pizza lovers try our pizza. Can there ever be enough good pizza in the world?” From now until the end of the year, the Frank Pepe team will be developing and submitting plans for their coal-fired pizza restaurant to the town. If all goes according to plan, the Boston metro area can look forward to a summer 2015 opening of what the website the Daily Meal has deemed “The No. 1 Pizza in America” (October 2013) and Time magazine lauded as one of “The 13 Most Influential Pizzas of All Time” (May 2014). In Connecticut,, Frank Pepe also has locations in Fairfield, Manchester, West Hartford, Danbury and Uncasville.
OPPORTUNITY TO
THRIVE
as building and equipment purchases. The types of purchases that small business owners are making are an excellent sign for the U.S. economy. The Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index also reported that approval rates by credit unions and alternative lenders were relatively unchanged, while institutional lenders continued slow but steady growth in approval percentage. In June, loan-approval rates at credit unions improved slightly to 43.7 percent from 43.6 percent in May, while approval rates by alternative lenders slipped for the fifth consecutive month to 63.2 percent in June, from 63.3 percent in May. “Entrepreneurs are getting funding from banks at attractive interest rates. They no longer need to borrow at any cost,” explained Arora. “Alternative lending,
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EA Swallows FruitFlowers WALLINGFORD — Edible Arrangements has announced the acquisition of the FruitFlowers brand, including company stores in Broomall, Pa. and Wilmington. Del., e-commerce operations and a portfolio of trademarks that includes Incredibly Edible Delites, FruitFlowers and HYPERLINK “http://fruitflowers. com/”fruitflowers.com. Terms were not disclosed. “We are thrilled to welcome the FruitFlowers team to the Edible Arrangements family,” said Edible Arrangements’ President Rob Price. “The expertise they bring perfectly complements the Edible Arrangements brand and we expect their integration into our system to be seamless, with no disruption in services.” Founded by Susan Ellman and Ellen Davis as a cottage industry in their own kitchens in the mid-1980s, FruitFlowers will continue to operate under the FruitFlowers brand during the integration phase and customers should notice no changes, the company says.
Brass City Firms Earns Honor WATERBURY — Wesson Energy Inc. has been named a recipient of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Century Club Awards. These awards cite homeimprovement contractors that have used a “whole-house approach” for improving the energy performance in 100 or more homes over the past year including the Energize Connecticut program, Home Energy Solutions, of which Wesson Energy is an authorized contractor. The Department of Energy’s Building Technologies Office selects Home Performance with Energy Star Century Club Award winners across the nation in conjunction with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
OSHA Cites Valley Contractor NAUGATUCK — Workers for a Valley contractor performing abrasive blasting during the renovation of a Massachusetts mill were overexposed to lead and silica and faced other health hazards due to their employer’s failure to supply legally required safeguards. As a result, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited Maher Industries, doing business as A Fast Blast, for 17 serious violations of workplace health standards. OSHA found that employees were exposed to airborne concentrations of silica generated by the abrasive blasting, which was in excess of permissible exposure limits. Feasible engineering or administrative con8
trols to reduce the exposure levels were not in place or in use. The lead exposure hazard was compounded by the lack of a shower facility and protective clothing and eye protection for exposed workers. The company failed to monitor lead exposure levels and allowed employees to consume beverages adjacent to abrasive blasting. A Fast Blast had 15 business days from receipt of its citations and proposed penalties to comply, meet with OSHA’s area director, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.
UConn Trustees OK $300M in Projects STORRS — The University of Connecticut Board of Trustees on August 5 endorsed plans for a new multi-story research building, a large housing complex for science, engineering and math students and a 3,400foot road extension to link the Storrs campus’ technology park with Route 44. Science, engineering and medicine are the most expensive fields to invest in because of the highly specialized research equipment they need, said UConn President Susan Herbst in a statement. “But the big picture is that UConn has to boost its research performance,” she said. “There’s no other way to get ahead.” These projects either are part of Next Generation Connecticut,” a ten-year, $1.5 billion expansion plan to develop UConn into a leading research university and innovation hub. A central component of Next Gen involves $162.3 million fo an “innovation partnership building.” It involves 112,000 square feet in a new, multi-story research building to house cooperative research efforts between UConn students and faculty and private businesses.
CRI Earns Energy Award WALLINGFORD — Energy efficiency contractor Competitive Resources Inc. (CRI) of Wallingford has been cited by the U.S. Department of Energy with its 2013 Home Performance with Energy Star Century Club Award. This is the third consecutive Century Club Award that CRI has earned. The distinction is conferred on companies nationwide that have improved the energy performance of more than 100 homes in the past year, while successfully fulfilling the requirements of its local Home Performance with Energy Star program. Contractors participating in the Home Performance program are trained to diagnose homes and determine where energy improvements are necessary.
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CONNECTICUT’S ECONOMY
Stuck in Neutral State’s economy continues to lag region, nation HARTFORD — More than threequarters (84 percent) of Connecticut business executives say they expected business conditions for their organization to improve or remain stable over the next three months, (down from 86 percent in the previous survey), according to the Connecticut Business & Industry Association’s Quarterly Economic Survey: Second Quarter 2014.
REPUTATIONS
Elm City: A Swell City? New Haven has turned up on a list of “America’s Best Small Cities,” at least according to the website SmarterTravel.com. Characterizing the City of Elms as “an arts hotbed,” the authors laud our rich cultural and culinary offerings. “There are so many impressive new collections and performances that you’ll need more than a weekend getaway to experience even a fraction of them,” they write. The listing also praises New Haven’s music scene. “Music venues range from the Yale School of Music to the local [New
Haven] symphony to Toad’s Place, where U2 and the Rolling Stones have played.” And then of course there are the Elm City’s culinary treasures. “Eat at one of the oldest and most revered establishments in New Haven: HYPERLINK “http://www.louislunch.com/”Louis’ Lunch, which stakes a claim as the birthplace of the hamburger,” exhort the authors. Also, “Local legend”Pepe’s is known for its unusual white clam pizza.” Unusual? Not to us.
Under the heading “Why We Love It,” the authors observe, “So influential are the arts in New Haven that each summer the 15-day International Festival of Arts & Ideas draws great minds and performers from around the world along with crowds of 100,000.” Other destinations making the top-ten list of best small cities include Portland, Me., Asheville, N.C., Missoula, Mont. and Greenville, S.C.
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Of the 84 percent, nearly half said they expected conditions to remain the same, while 35 percent expected business conditions to improve. Sixteen percent foresaw conditions worsening, compared to 13 percent in the previous survey. Thirty percent of respondents see the U.S. economy improving — up from 26 percent in the last survey — but only 14 percent said they believed Connecticut’s economy was getting better, compared to 18 percent a year ago.
Improving facilities. And the quality of the lives inside them.
“The numbers should be improving, but confidence among business leaders seems to be stalled,” says economist Peter Gioia, CBIA vice president. “More needs to be done to encourage growth and investment in Connecticut.” Sales, production, and workforce trends have held steady since the last survey: • 39 percent of respondents said they expected increases in production and sales, while 19 percent predicted decreases. • 24 percent said they planned to expand their workforce, while 15 percent forecast workforce reductions. • 47 percent forecast an increase in compensation/benefits costs, while seven expected costs to fall.
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• 37 percent of respondents generate sales from exports, a figure that remains steady compared to a year ago. “The numbers show that Connecticut’s economy continues to lag the nation and much of the Northeast,” says Gioia. CBIA is Connecticut’s largest business organization, with 10,000 member companies.
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AUGUST 2014
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Clothes with a Conscience Area entrepreneurs find success designing and selling eco-friendly fashions
By Felicia Hunter
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hen last we encountered Kate Harrison, she recounted how difficult it had been to find environmentally conscious vendors to service her wedding back in 2007. That led Harrison to publish her own manual to help like-minded brides-to-be seeking to plan a “green” wedding.
Harrison’s saga (BNH, June 2013) is not unlike those of others who have a personal commitment to a sustainable lifestyle, but at times find the marketplace affords too few choices. Their solution is to establish their own green enterprises. When it comes to fashion and accessories, that commitment can evolve into a business for some. Take the husband-and-wife owners of Funkoos organic baby clothes, for instance. The pair started the business when they sought organic clothes for their children, but found no stores selling them. “We started Funkoos in 2009, after we had our twin boys,” says co-owner Chandra Sittiraju. “We were looking for good-quality organic clothing with cute designs that was difficult to find. Many of the big-store brands were organic but not of high quality. This inspired us to create our own brand.” Once the decision was made to start their own business, the couple sought out high-quality materials and suppliers, says Sittiraju. “All our products are created from 100-percent certified organic cotton, and all the manufacturing processes adhere to Global Organic Textile Standards,” says Sittiraju, adding, “We only work with suppliers who carry GOTS certification. All suppliers are not equipped to deliver the high quality we mandate. Over a period of time we have identified strong suppliers we work with, who understand our quality needs and are able to deliver what we need.” For Cara Stimmel, proprietor of Fern Street Designs by Cara Stimmel, committing to quality also entails committing to local artisans who (re)create the eco-friendly jewelry she sells. 10
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“I work with people in my Hartford area — at colleges or mothers who have children, for instance,” Stimmel says. Stimmel specializes in “recycled, repurposed and reused” fashion pieces. When she looks at old watch pieces, for example, she can see a brand new object. “A gear from a watch, or something that has beautiful angles, I repurpose it into more of a contemporary feel,” Stimmel explains. Stimmel’s pieces are of the “Steampunk” genre, a category of vintage jewelry that evokes the look of jewelry popular during the industrial revolution of the 19th century. Stimmel turned to creating her own repurposed jewelry after working in the traditional jewelry manufacturing industry. She became dismayed by some of the industry practices, such as the use of toxic materials and off-shore manufacturing. In addition to dealing with local artisans, Stimmel goes to area flea markets and tag sales to fi nd items that she then repurposes. “It’s fun just trying to repurpose [an item] into something else,” she says. For example, she notes, an old watch can be turned into a charm bracelet. “It has to strike the person looking at the object to say, ‘I appreciate the beauty for what it is as opposed to what it was.’” Similarly, items that MaryLynne Boisvert carries through her business, Bethany
Homecrafts, are repurposed — or, as she prefers to describe them, “upcycled.” “My concentration is on repurposing,” says Boisvert of her Bristol-based company. “I try to use natural, breathable fibers. “I repurpose wool sweaters and cotton knits and some silks” as well as other materials. “So, that’s what is already in existence, but they can have a whole new life. What I do is, I rescue things from thrift stores.” Boisvert’s commitment also extends to the care, as wells as the “afterlife” of her products. “Everything goes through the wash,” she says. “I use all-natural laundry detergent. I don’t use the dryer. Everything is hung on a clothesline. “All [material] scraps,” Boisvert adds, “get saved. They get donated [to animal shelters and dog-training facilities] for dog beds.”
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ercedes Zarate takes a global approach to her five-year-old ecofriendly business, Ink Arts. Products include children’s apparel, purses and handbags, and sweaters made of alpaca.
Cara Stimmel, proprietor of Fern Street Designs by Cara Stimmel
“At the beginning we started introducing Peruvian products, eco-friendly jewelry,
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The Sustainability Imperative “We do a lot of things with customers that helps them, with home energy audits and all the various business programs that we have,” Marone says. “Right now, just on the electric side alone, we’re spending about $30 million a year in conservation. Between our two gas companies, it’s about another $20 million. Some of that is the kind of things you’d imagine like providing home energy audits and making sure that compact fluorescent bulbs (CFL) are cheaper. It’s also targeted at things that help customers make good investments in sustainability and have programs in place like we have here.” Marone notes that his company has an initiative that helps customers identify ways that they can be more sustainable. “We do it in a way that it’s not just from an environmental perspective, but it’s also good for business,” he says. “What we’ve migrated toward is that we work with the manufacturer of these low-cost CFLs or LED bulbs upstream and we buy down the cost of those. You used to have a rebate coupon that you’d have to mail in and get back a rebate on a bulb you purchased. What we try to do is make all that transparent to the customer so you see a lower price in the store due to our work behind the scenes so we can get the sales data on how many of those bulbs they sell from the incentives that we paid upstream. That’s been very successful.”Marone adds that the company offers residential customers a program called home energy solutions, which utilizes a network of contractors that work for the program.
Area companies make protecting the environment a core part of their missions. But at what cost to the bottom line?
“They provide turnkey services where they perform a whole-home evaluation and look at not only light bulbs and shower heads but also the house’s weatherization,” explains Marone. “They usually spend somewhere between $600 and $800 worth of free services that they install in the home. There’s a small co-pay by the customer but the services they receive in exchange are really quite something.”
By Thomas R. Violante
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hat are Connecticut companies doing to make sustainability part of their core mission? And what happens when sustainability clashes with the imperative to maximize profits? Those are the questions we asked some companies that continue to lead the way in sustainability and “green” practices. Their answers all have a common thread: doing the greatest good at the lowest cost to benefit both customers and employees.
“Sustainability has different meanings to many people,” says Tony Marone, senior vice president for customer and business services at UIL Holdings Corp., parent company of the United Illuminating Co., Southern Connecticut Gas Co., Connecticut Natural Gas and Berkshire Gas Co. “If you start with how we’ve looked at sustainability, it has to do with things that make sense 12
both from an environmental and a societal impact as well as a business impact. From a long time ago we’ve been involved in energy-efficiency programs and we’ve promoted them very heavily to our customers. “There was a time back in the late 1980s where it didn’t make any sense, necessarily, for us to do conservation programs,” he adds. “But we knew it was a good thing for customers, and so it was something that we promoted.” Marone says his company continues with its original conservation programs but employs different mechanisms that don’t have a negative impact on the bottom line. “It doesn’t hurt us financially as a business to be in the business of conservation,” he explains. “But, aside from that, we still do it and we always have because we feel that there’s no sense in customers using more of our product than they need to.
Marone says that, although the UI isn’t directly involved in solar and wind co-generation by its customers, they are offered statewide through the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund sponsored by the Clean Energy Finance & Investment Authority.“They offer programs for people who want to install panels on their roofs,” says Marone. Marone says that both of the company’s new buildings in Orange are Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) certified Gold. “We made a conscious decision when we were building both of these buildings to meet the LEED certification,” says Marone. “Our original design was to at least be Silver-certified and, if possible, try for the Gold level. Like anything in life, there’s always a trade-off. As you look at new technologies that may be more sustainable and more efficient, here’s a balance between the cost and the benefit of those technologies. In the end, we struck the right balance so that we were able to get the LEED Www.Conntact.com
gasoline-electric and some that run on natural gas.
Thule’s Weidemann: “We’ve done everything from solar panels to recycling.”
Gold certification but, at the same time, we had to be sensitive about the fact that the cost of the building is something that the company and our customers are going to pay for over the next 30-plus years.”Marone says UIL created a Business Enterprise Sustainability Team (BEST) some five years ago to focus on sustainability issues. There are about a
“We would be willing to sacrifice some profitability to make it work and do the right things,” says Marone. “In the case of our new buildings, we did what we thought were the types of measures that struck a balance between having a business payback and doing the right thing environmentally. There’s a common sense approach to it, but if your objective is to do the right thing, oftentimes doing the right thing also is going to produce good business results and good results for customers.”
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ears ago we tackled the lowhanging fruit and the ‘green team’ initiatives — recycled paper, single-stream recycling,” says Nora Rizzo, sustainability coordinator for the New Haven-based Fusco Corp. “We purchased plant-based cups and plates, eliminated single-use water bottles, performed LED lighting retrofits, implemented electronic waste recycling, hosted carpooling and public transportation campaigns, and purchased video-conferencing equipment.
Rizzo notes that Fusco’s sustainability program has achieved its goals but there is more work to do. “The connotation of the word ‘sustainability’ has changed drastically over the last decade,” says Rizzo. “It is no longer an option for companies to want to be sustainable; they have to be sustainable. In order to compete, all companies have to adopt the notion that they will need to do more with less. “Sustainability is now an all-inclusive package,” she adds. “We have to incorporate energy efficiency, dematerialization, health and wellness, resource manageContinued on page 18
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Fusco’s Rizzo: What sustainability means has changed over the past decade.
dozen employees from different areas of the company who have volunteered their time. “We formed the team to make sure that we as a company practice what we preach to customers,” says Marone. “Things like single-stream recycling is at all of our facilities. Simple things, like doublesided printing, is standard on all our printers. In our restrooms, we put in the hand dryers as opposed to using paper towels. “There are a variety of initiatives that we’ve put in place,” adds Marone. “In 2009, we started a greenhouse gas carbon inventory report that does a full inventory of all our carbon-based emissions for us to track and monitor these items. The reports helped us put in some practices with regard to the fleet and fleet management that saved us some fuel. None of these things by themselves are knocking it out of the park but each of them starts to contribute a lot toward having a better overall sustainability and environmental footprint.” The company has some vehicles that are hybrid
August 2014
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Who Needs College? Recoiling from the prospect of groaning student debt and a stillsoft job market, more high-schoolers consider a career in the skilled trades
By John Mordecai
There’s never been a better time to be working with your hands. Really. Chances are if you’ve needed to hire a handyman over the last few years — be it a plumber, electrician or HVAC person — you may have been having a harder time than ever before pinning one down. The good news is: It’s not just you. The bad news is: It’s not just you. The United States faces a growing shortage of skilled trades workers — the product of an aging labor force nearing or reaching retirement age and not enough new workers coming in to take their places (a problem manufacturers are already struggling to deal with for the same reasons). According to 2013 data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Quarterly Workforce Indicators, 73.5 percent of skilled tradespeople nationwide are over the age of 45, with 20.6 percent over age 55. The Northeast is facing the biggest shortages, and unfortunately Connecticut is the worst off: 91 percent of our tradesmen and -women are age 45 and up, with 27.3 percent over age 55. This all coincidentally aligns with the greater emphasis over the latter half of the last decade on sending teens to college to ensure they’ll get ahead. Pair that with the less-than-glamorous perception of working in a dark factory or unclogging toilets, and a trade job is likely not even an option to the average 18-year-old plotting a career. “It’s not necessarily known as an occupation that parents are encouraging their children to get into; everyone wants their children to go to college,” says Judy Resnick, executive director of the Connecticut Business & Industry Association’s (CBIA) Education Foundation. “Many outside resources overlook the potential value in skilled training programs and steer students toward four-year schools in a one-size-fits-all approach that doesn’t really fit everyone. Not everyone can succeed in a traditional school environment,” says Nicole Givens, 14
director of admissions at Lincoln Technical Institute/ Lincoln Culinary Institute in Shelton. “[Some students] want to work with their hands and work on cars — install high-voltage systems, build computer networks. They won’t find their path at a traditional college.” The Connecticut Technical High School system currently has some 11,000 full-time and 5,500 part-time students at 20 schools statewide. Ray Mencio, education consultant for Platt Technical High School in Milford, says finding qualified students is always a challenge, with about one out of every four applicants getting into the school. “If we had five more schools we’d be even better off,” Mencio says. “In everything from construction to manufacturing, there’s such a great need for people that if we graduated everyone we probably still wouldn’t have enough” to meet demand. The recession that began in 2008 played an unwelcome role in this state of affairs. When residential and commercial construction slowed to a halt, it not only meant
current workers were out of the job, but it also put the brakes on training new apprentices. “People didn’t have work and weren’t [taking] on new apprentices, and when you have four to five years without training new people, you’re behind the ball,” explains Mencio. “And with the baby boomers turning 65 years old, that’s a double-whammy. We’ll feel this for ten to 12 more years.” Resnick concurs that time is of the essence, but turning out a new general of workers in the trades won’t happen quickly, which is especially bad news as construction recovers, albeit slowly. “You can’t just turn it on and someone comes out a plumber in six months,” Resnick notes. “There is going to be a huge gap between the demand and how fast the pipeline can turn out workers. As things improve, we’re all of a sudden going to say, ‘Oh my God, we don’t have anybody.’” Mencio says Platt is considering adding more programs after 2:30 p.m. on class days to accommodate more Www.Conntact.com
students. But finding more experienced instructors poses its own challenge, as many are in great demand and too busy working as contractors. It makes sense then that the companies who contact him looking for apprentices aren’t looking for just one; they want six at a time. Himself an experience electrician, Mencio envisions the baby boomers being incentivized to keep working. “They’ll throw any kind of money at these people who would otherwise be looking to retire, and then passing that on to the consumer,” he says. “I’m going to be 64, and I know already [potential clients are] going to do anything they can to keep me going to 70.” The key is outreach and encouraging potential students that the trades can be a pathway to a rewarding and lucrative career. That means setting the record straight with parents and schools. “We have to get to parents; how they view careers is translated to their children,” Resnick says. “What’s more difficult is talking to guidance counselors. In schools where guidance counselors can guide career decisions, it’s important for them to know how these careers have changed, how modern they are, and how high-tech and well-paid they are. “A plumber with a high school education can make up to $50,000 in their first year,” she says. “If you want a job after graduating a technical high school, you have a job. Think about your car: It’s not a grease-monkey job any more; it’s a computer job now.”
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ven as Connecticut struggles to attract new workers to the trades, it trade workers’ average wages — at $21.47 per hour — are above the national average of $20.25.
CBIA currently offers a Connecticut Clean Trades program, which completed a pilot program during the 2013-14 academic year at five technical high schools. The program offers students in HVAC, plumbing, carpentry and electrical programs hands-on energy and sustainability projects to understand how the trades fit in to the emerging green energy market. It also offers other educational programs and training grants for small businesses. The United Association Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 777 union offers apprenticeship programs that run six weeks per year for five years giving apprentices on-the-job training allowing them to earn wages while learning the trade. Business manager Michael Rosario and head of apprentice training programs Frank DeCato say enrollment in their programs is strong. To date this year they’ve accepted 36 apprentices out of 336 applicants (411 applied in 2013). They
August 2014
give special consideration to returning war veterans and minorities. But they admit that a perception issue certainly hangs over the plumbing trade. “The first that that people think about plumbers is fixing toilets. It’s not a glamorous trade, but that’s not really the whole trade,” DeCato says. “People don’t think of the hospital operating rooms with medical gas lines, [or] wastewater treatment and sewage centers. Electricians have less a problem than we do.”
Shelton are placed in jobs in their field (between 76 and 66 percent of graduates in the day and night programs actually graduate; 40 students in spring 2013).
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Rosario adds that the pool of applicants has been of high caliber as well.
any of the same issues faced by the skilled trades almost perfectly echo those faced by manufacturers in recent years. Though, as Resnick notes, “Manufacturing has had a head start,” with government incentives and programs having been started in recent years to boost worker training and hiring at manufacturing firms statewide.
“We’ve had kids apply from Notre Dame High School with very high grades,” he says. “The thought with their parents is that it’s going to cost $100,000 for a fouryear college, and they’ll be thousands of
A prime example is the establishment of Advanced Manufacturing Centers (AMCs) at Housatonic Community College in Bridgeport, Naugatuck Valley Community College in Waterbury and
“So many trades get a bad rap because of the idea that you’re not smart enough or you couldn’t succeed in college. Wrong, wrong, wrong.” dollars in debt. But they can come with us and do a five-year apprenticeship that won’t cost them anything, and they’ll earn while they learn.” The old idea of union workers doesn’t apply to them, either; they want and need the cream of the crop. “The unions have the image of one guy working and five guys just standing around. That’s not what we’re about. If a person’s not producing, you’re not going to hold on to them, and the union won’t, either. It’s our reputation that’s out there,” DeCato adds. “And we’re big on math and science; if you can’t do math you can’t do the trade.” Rosario likewise agrees that early awareness is key not only to changing perception but putting a trade like plumbing onto students’ radars as an attractive career option. Local 777 does career days at high schools in the state to spread the word. “Maybe all the trades should take a step further and introduce more programs even to the middle-schoolers,” he says. “Obviously college isn’t for everyone, and not everyone can afford it.” “What would be helpful is a consistent, educational and informative campaign broadcast not only to students, but also to parents, guidance counselors, teachers – everyone who has an influence on today’s students detailing the specific benefits of career training,” Givens adds. Skilled Lincoln Tech trade graduates are typically well-placed. Roughly 70 percent of graduates of the electrical program in
Quinebaug Community College in Danielson in 2012 (the first was opened at Asnuntuck Community College in Enfield in 1998), offering certificate programs in machine technology. Manufacturing has long been plagued by the perception of “three Ds” — dark, dirty and dangerous — that fill young people’s and their parents’ minds with visions of working in a dank and dangerous factory. The AMCs themselves demonstrate a modern shop floor: clean, open, safe and high-tech. “It’s not a dirty, grungy sweatshop anymore — it’s essentially lab coat, because you’re programming machines,” says Mike Gugger, program director at Housatonic’s AMC, which operates as a real-life factory floor. The program has a capacity for 50 students at a time (though the first class had 56), and those who are admitted must successfully be evaluated for their math and measurement skills beforehand. “It’s a challenging program,” says Guggers. “So many trades get a bad rap because of the idea that you’re not smart enough or you couldn’t succeed in college. Wrong, wrong, wrong. This requires genius on both sides. You need the ability to analyze and conceptualize — to be able to size within the width of a single hair.” There’s a similar demand for manufacturing workers, especially those skilled in new technologies, to replace the existing, and aging, workforce. Gugger says it’s probable that every graduate from the AMC will be placed in a job before the
summer is over — even those who aren’t will likely go on to further education in pursuit of associate’s or engineering degrees. “The demand is there, the jobs are there,” Guggers says. “We need this industry because it’s the backbone of our economy, and if we don’t support it, it will leave again.” James Troup, provost of Naugatuck Valley Community College, says his school’s AMC had similar attendance and will in fact be adding nighttime cohorts to accommodate more students. The center gets feedback from area manufacturers to tailor its lessons to the needs of the companies. “There continue to be lots of job openings for the right people — good, well-paying jobs and that will not change as more people are retiring,” Troup explains. “There is tremendous optimism in Connecticut about industries like aerospace, which could really go through the roof.” Both AMCs expect to offer part-time courses for incumbent worker training in the near future, but in the meantime market themselves to high-schoolers and the community to remind them that manufacturing is a viable option. The demand for skilled workers will especially increase, many project, not only as construction recovers over the next few years, but as standards start to lean more toward energy-efficient technologies and practices — not only in new construction but in the retrofitting of existing buildings. “There’s an increased focus on sustainability and energy-efficiency,” Resnick says. “Connecticut has some of the highest energy costs in the country, so there’s a particular push here that exacerbates the need. If you want solar you need a plumber; you need an electrician. And the software is sophisticated and needs to be built with tradespeople.” “The building codes are changing to where you’ll need ten percent renewableenergy sources. When that explodes in the next five years it’s going to be massive in terms of educating people and putting them out in the workforce,” Mencio adds. In the meantime, those now lucky enough to pursue a career in the skilled trades will likely prosper as those saddled with groaning debt from a traditional college education face a stilllagging job market. “If there was anything that really needs to be done, it’s getting the public’s perception of what the trades are about and have them understand that their children don’t need to go to college in order to make a decent living,” DeCato says. “We’re not going to become billionaires, but you’ll make a living, provide for a family and retire comfortably.”
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Should Business Schools Teach ‘How’ Or ‘Why’? Area educators discuss the educationvs.-training dichotomy By Thomas R. Violante
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ecently, former labor secretary Robert Reich told a conference for college and university officials that they needed to resist the temptation to focus on jobs as a measure of the value of their institutions. Reich’s first concern is that colleges and universities become trade schools or vocational schools that are measured by their return on investment. His second concern is that they forget that higher education is not just a private investment, but also a public good.
Reich also said that there was too much focus on employment data, first-year salaries and graduation rates. His position is that college business schools focus on the business of education, or knowing the “why,” and not training, or knowing “how,” thus the need for a solid liberal-arts core blended with an eventual focus on the student’s career field of choice. On a local level, Reich’s fears seem to be dispelled and there is agreement from our area higher education institutions that both the “why” and the “how” are taught in tandem, resulting in graduates that are well-rounded in the liberal arts and business school skills and ready to enter the workforce. “I’m a strong believer in the value of liberal arts and I think we’ve done students and our broader community — which includes the business community — a disservice 16
arts education as well as the skills learned in business education courses. by creating what I call a false opposition between what is needed in the workforce or to build healthy communities and the liberal arts,” says Mary Papazian, president of Southern Connecticut State University. “This is due in part because of the quality of education. It’s the skills and knowledge you develop — your communication skills and your creative-thinking skills — and it embraces all of that and what you learn in the liberal arts. You have a broad basis of knowledge across many disciplines and you never know when you’re going to need that. It’s that quality of being able to learn that ultimately is what business is really looking for.” Papazian adds that students need to have basic skills, including the ability to read, be literate, speak in complete sentences and do quantitative work as well as understand basic statistics in order to be employed in business. “The question becomes, ‘How do you put that to use in a business environment?,’” says Papazian, who earned a doctorate in English literature from UCLA. “If a new employee doesn’t know how to learn and have some flexibility of mind, they aren’t going to be successful. They’ll have a very narrow skill set and, as business, the economy and needs change, they will not have the flexibility to change with it. That’s really the key. “You need the basic skills of literacy, of envisioning things, of being able to take a variety of elements and bring them together, synthesize them into something coherent and be able to assess what is reasonable and clear and what is manipulative and false,” she adds. Papazian says that employers are demanding that job applicants have the background gleaned from a liberal-
“These are all qualities that ultimately business needs for success,” she explains. “The beauty now is that employers are now saying it. They are saying, ‘Give us somebody who has a basic solid education and knows how to learn and we can teach them what they need to know for our particular business.’ ” Papazian says that students need the experience of connecting what they’ve learned to the real world. That’s where SCSU’s internships, service learning and connections with the business community come into play. “We need to create the bridge for them, but if we educate them vocationally, and very narrowly in a particular skill for a particular business that exists today, it may not exist by the time they graduate,” says Papazian. “It may not exist in five or ten years, and they won’t be able to move over time into positions of leadership within their organizations. We educate both for economic impact and also for democratic impact — and the two, frankly, have to come together.” SCSU offers BS degrees in business administration with concentrations in accounting, business economics, finance, international business, management, management information systems and marketing; an MBA in business administration; and an accelerated MBA for fall 2014.
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n some ways, I think it’s somewhat of a false dichotomy in my view,” says Matthew L. O’Connor, dean of the School of Business and Engineering at Quinnipiac University. “At the college level, I’m not sure that there’s a clear breakdown on teaching them only the ‘how’ to do something and not the ‘why’ of what they’re doing. Www.Conntact.com
ness analytics, finance or accounting without a solid background in mathematics,” says O’Connor, who earned a doctorate in finance from Syracuse University. “You still need the basics of a traditional liberal arts and sciences background to be able to be successful in any kind of business curriculum. Too much time and energy is wasted on the differences between what we call the ‘why’ and the ‘how’ in higher education. Many of the professional fields require strong elements of traditional arts and sciences as either preparation or co-educational activities, depending on how the curriculum is designed.” O’Conner says that critical thinking, writing and creativity are not exclusive to the traditional arts and sciences canon. SCSU’s Papazian: “Employers are saying give us somebody that knows how to learn.”
There are people on the liberal arts side of the equation who might say, for example, that engineering is in the training camp. But clearly, you don’t get to be an engineer without going through a liberal arts curriculum as well. All of these are the preparation work for your area of specialization, be it engineering or business. You’ll be utilizing all these skills too. The two go hand in hand.” “It’s true of business in that you can’t understand the emerging fields of busi-
“Students learn a lot about critical thinking,” O’Connor explains. “They improve their creativity in their arts and sciences classes that they take as part of general education. But they also learn it through intensive writing and analytical thinking classes that occur in the business curriculum as well. I don’t see the breakdown of one camp does one thing [teaches why] and the other camp does the other [teaches how]. I think there is much more interplay than it’s given credit for, and that neither side has exclusivity.” O’Connor says Quinnipiac has a strong internship program that gives students the chance to apply what they’ve learned
in the classroom while sampling a career they might be exploring as the one they’ll eventually choose as their own. He adds that employers increasingly use an internship as their first screening for the ultimate hiring process. “For students, it’s no longer just a good idea to do an internship because you’ll get a feel for the career or you’ll get to decide if this is something that’s right for you and you get to apply some things you learned in the classroom,” O’Connor says. “It’s really more about where your first level of job evaluation is occurring. Depending upon which field they choose, [students] get a chance to see how work life is in that field. If they’re an accounting student, they’re going to see what it’s like to be in an accounting firm. They may go on an audit for accounting or, if they’re in marketing, they may see what it’s like to work in marketing research. “They’re not only going to experience what the technical job details might be like for them but also what the environment is like for them,” O’Connor adds. “Employers are increasingly using their internship pool to make their entry-level hiring decisions so the candidates that have the best jobs for an entry-level fulltime position upon graduation are the candidates that did a good job in their internship with that company.”
UNH’s May: ”We do a better job than liberal-arts colleges per se in preparing students for the world of work.”
“A
t Albertus, we try to achieve a balance,” explains Nancy Fallon, who chairs the Department of Business Administration & Management at Albertus Magnus College. “I don’t really see it as a dichotomy. I see it as something that is what you need to do to prepare students. We are a strong liberalarts college and we haven’t watered down Continued on page 18
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August 2014
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nature are invaluable benefits of a truly sustainable company or building.”
sustainabiity Continued from page 13
ment, habitat protection and water conservation into every decision. This is the only way to ensure profitability. Companies that rely solely on coal, oil, natural gas, conventional vehicle transportation and municipal water supply will no longer be competitive in the very near future.”
“F
Rizzo points out that builders such as Fusco are at a significant turning point in the construction industry regarding sustainability. “Rating systems like LEED, Passive House and EPA EnergyStar helped propel green building to the mainstream,” Rizzo explains. “Remarkable organizations, like the International Living Future Institute, are pushing sustainability to the next level. I, along with other Living Future Ambassadors, believe that every building can be net-positive energy and water, and has the potential to restore the natural world. There are so many components that can’t be neatly inputted into a spreadsheet. Environmental restoration, employee satisfaction and productivity, occupant health, and a reconnection with
educate VS Train Continued from page 17
our business programs at all. Students take a very integrated gen-ed [generaleducation] program that we’ve built over the past few years. We’re testing the critical thinking between cases and problemsolving and we’re making strides. It’s not always easy in this world, but I think that we do a very good job at it.” AMC offers BS degree programs in accounting, business administration, finance, computer information systems, general business and business management, with subsets in international business management, marketing management, human-resources management and health-care management. It also offers an MBA in accounting, leadership, human resources, marketing and project management; an MS in accounting, management and organizational leadership, and human services; and an MA in
or our Seymour location, we’ve pretty much done everything from solar power to recycling,” says Karl Weidemann, manager of communication and sponsorships for the Thule Group’s Vehicle Solutions North America/Outdoor, Truck Accessory and Child Transport Systems. “We started a food-scrap recycling program as well as a low-voltage lighting program in all areas that doesn’t draw as much electricity. We have a solar array on our roof that uses 1,800 solar panels providing 30 percent of our electrical needs for the factory here in Seymour. We have our warehouse and factory here and our North American headquarters offices are located here as well, all benefiting from solar co-generation.” Weidemann says the solar panels were installed about five years ago and immediately began contributing to the company’s electrical savings. He says that there are 50 employees in the Seymour office and about 250 more in warehouse and factory operations locally. The company’s employees take part in other recycling on premises including all excess raw materials, office paper, bottles and cans.
leadership. Fallon notes that students enrolled in a business degree program also participate in internship programs. “It’s not the only thing they take part in, but in our internship programs we really try to go out and get the experience so they see what it’s like in the profession in which they’re interested,” says Fallon, who earned a doctorate in organization and management from Capella University. “Right now, we have a big push college-wide on what we call ‘experiential learning.’ For the business department, we’ve always had internships, but now we’re focusing on research that’s based on the practical and on field work, hopefully with mentors taking part. We’re talking about doing a mentorship program for this because we have great relationships with many alumni who want to work with our students, whether on an internship or a project.” Fallon adds that the business department is developing a speaker series that will feature business professionals who will come and speak to students on various topics including careers. “We’ve set up business advisory boards for our business students,” Fallon says. “In the past year, we’ve been looking at our curriculum and asking what we should do looking forward to engage students and prepare them for future careers.”
”U Quinnipiac’s O’Connor: “You can’t understand the emerging fields of business analytics, finance or accounting without a solid background in mathematics.”
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NH would be fully aligned with Reich’s comments that we try to blend a traditional liberal-arts education with specific business academic preparation as well as a mixture of professional experience,” says Daniel J. May, provost and senior vice president of academic affairs at the University of New Haven.
“We use knock-down pallets as a way to reduce plastic pallet wrap,” adds Weidemann. “In addition, we have a full locker room facility so that if employees wish to ride their bicycles to work, they can come in and use the separate showers facilities before work. The program pretty much manages itself. We have an online program that we look at to see what we’re producing on any given day. It’s been great for us.” Weidemann says Thule’s retailers, many of whom themselves employ sustainable practices, are impressed with the company’s sustainability efforts and the feeling is passed down to consumers as well. The effect on Thule’s profitability isn’t a major factor. “Most [consumers] want companies that are actively practicing sustainability, so it’s always been part of our mission but it’s also helping our customers to get outside more by protecting our environment,” says Weidemann. “We get that feedback from our website and also when we work with retailers and their customers when we visit stores that carry Thule products. We have a college intern here for the summer, who is taking sustainability studies at school, and he works for us solely on sustainability. He’s got different programs that he’s going to put into place before he leaves at the end of summer. We’re always looking for ways to maximize our efforts.”
“That is historically part of our school, so I think we’d be firmly in that camp.”
mendous opportunities for jobs in this part of the world.”
UNH offers a BS in business management including studies in accounting, finance, marketing, economics, quantitative analysis, business law and data management; a BS in accounting, finance or marketing; a BA in economics; and a BS in management of sports industries, a unique area of specialization. Graduate degrees include an MBA in business administration; an Executive MBA (EMBA); an MS in health-care administration, labor relations, taxation or management of sports industries; and an MPA in public administration.
Concludes SCSU’s Papazian: “I recently had a conversation with Michael Dell [of Dell Computers] during a conference I attended and I asked him ‘What are you looking for, generally, in a potential employee?’ He said that aside from technical skills, he looks for three things: multi-disciplinary skills, multi-cultural appreciation and communication skills. Is that not the liberal arts?
“We have a third of our undergraduate degrees geared toward general education — the ‘why’ part of any degree,” says May, who earned a doctorate in geology from the University of California/Santa Barbara. “About half is geared toward business preparation. And within business preparation, there is also a focus that reemphasizes some of the core skills included in general education like communication and teamwork. A lot of the things that are advocated within a traditional general education program are reinforced within the business program itself.”
“You’ll find this with CEOs of major companies because they can teach employees the specifics, but you need to bring the ability to learn beyond that,” Papazian adds. “That’s why we have to get away from talking about pure workforce training as if it doesn’t involve development of the mind and the ability to develop the skills and knowledge that an educated person needs to have in order to succeed.”
May adds that one UNH business program, called Professional Edge, is a fouryear course that teaches one how to build general skills and competencies as well as experiencing the working world. “Professional Edge is designed to reinforce those skills in a specific curriculum,” May explains. “There are elective courses that students can pursue, or internship and externship opportunities. I think that at comprehensive universities, we do a better job than liberal-arts colleges per se in preparing students for the world of work. In accounting and finance, we’re finding that there are tre-
Albertus’ Fallon: “We have a big push on experiential learning”?
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BUSINESS & THE ENVIRONMENT
Engine of Revitalization?
By Michael C. Bingham
In Stratford, a long-dormant industrial property may finally have found a savior
T
sitting atop seven decades’ worth of industrial contamination including waste oil, fuels, solvents and paints.
hink of it as the ultimate white elephant.
Stratford occupies an odd enough socioeconomic niche among southern Connecticut communities that even town residents don’t always agree on what exactly it is. In Fairfield County but not of it, the town of 50,000 is walled off from tony Gold Coast communities such as Westport by the state’s largest city — Bridgeport — one of the poorest American cities in one of the nation’s wealthiest counties.
The Stratford Army Engine Plant (SAEP) occupies 77 acres of eminently developable property near the mouth of the Housatonic River, across Main Street from Sikorsky Airport. The reason the property is developable, but not developed, is what renders it a white elephant — the product of decades of contamination from industrial waste that all parties agree will take many millions of dollars to remediate. And therein lies the rub. Previous redevelopment schemes over the past two decades — and there have been many — have foundered on the issue of the cost of environmental remediation. The U.S. Army is happy to be rid of the property for little or no remuneration, but has made it clear it will not fund a cleanup. And the town of Stratford, which would eagerly like to see the site returned to productive use, faces its own fiscal challenges that preclude even partial funding of a cleanup. Now, however, a new potential developer has emerged. Last October Point Stratford Renewal (PSR) forged an agreement with the Army to acquire the vacant property and pursue a mixed-use development for residential. commercial, retail and recreational applications. PSR is in fact a partnership of three Connecticut companies: Loureiro Properties, LLC, Development Resources, LLC and Sedgwick Partners, LLC. The principals had hoped to close the property transfer from the Army by the end of 2014, but now acknowledge that the deal may not be consummated before 2015. What lends this latest proposal hope for success where previous efforts have faltered is state legislation, passed in May and taking effect July 1, to create a new, special tax district — or “infrastructure improvement district,” in Hartford bureaucratese — that would help to pay for the environmental cleanup of the site, as well as the roads, utilities, sewers and other improvements essential to breathing new life into the long-dormant property.
AUGUST 2014
Redeveloping the 77-acre former Stratford Army Engine Plant could dramatically alter the fortunes of the Fairfield County community.
Under the law, the newly created district would be empowered to levy taxes and issue bonds to pay for infrastructure improvements and cleanup, certain to run into the millions of dollars. “With a clear plan to financing infrastructure improvements we can move forward with remediation, redevelopment and progress,” said Stratford State Sen. Kevin C. Kelly (R-21) “This will grow a new neighborhood, complete with residential areas and space for recreation and commerce. It is time to bring jobs to Stratford and transform unused space into a center for business, entertainment and growth for years to come.” “Stratford has waited 20 years to see this property return to productive use and this is another positive step in that direction,” added Stratford State Rep. Terry Backer (D-121). “This bill helps in the redevelopment of these 80 acres and hopefully employment, housing and grand list expansion.” Perhaps. One remaining obstacle is posed by the state’s Department of Energy & Environmental Protection (DEEP), which must reach agreement with the Army regarding the extent to which the Housatonic riverbed adjacent to the property must be cleaned up before redevelopment can commence. A DEEP analysis is in process and results
are expected to be announce by the end of this month.
S
ited on what before 1927 was farmland, the SAEP was originally built in 1929 as Sikorsky Aero Engineering Corp.’s manufacturing facility. Later Sikorsky would consolidate its manufacturing operations to the present-day plant a few miles up the Housatonic River near the Shelton town line.
The property later was operated by the Lycoming division of Avco Corp., which manufactured engine components there. At its height in 1968 the facility employed 10,000 workers. In 1976, the plant was acquired by the U.S. Army and renamed the Stratford Army Engine Plant. In 1987 Avco was purchased by Textron to become Textron Lycoming and in 1995, Allied Signal acquired the Lycoming Turbine Engine Division in Stratford. By this time, employment in the plant had declined to 2,900 workers. In July 1995 the Base Realignment and Closure initiative of the Department of Defense recommended shuttering the plant. Later that year Allied Signal announced that production would be shifted to its facility in Phoenix, Az. Three years later Allied Signal concluded operations in the plant and returned it to the U.S. Army. It has been idle ever since — a silent sentinel along the Housatonic
Residents of working-class neighborhoods such as the South End argue — not without a measure of pride — that Stratford is a “blue-collar town” (the town’s largest employer is Sikorsky Aircraft). On the other hand, the gracious 18th-century Colonials of the town’s historic district house college professors, lawyers and other professionals who lend the neighborhood a decided white-collar feel. Fish or fowl? Residents don’t always, or even often, agree. But today, hope springs eternal — even in Stratford, where a plucky band of starry-eyed neighborhood activists have been working tirelessly to resurrect the hulking Shakespeare Festival Theater, which went dark a quarter-century ago. This, despite tepid enthusiasm and even outright opposition from those in Town Hall who would prefer to see the 60-year-old wooden structure razed and the 15-acre riverfront property sold to a private developer and returned to the tax rolls. Some Stratford residents ponder their town’s “post-Sikorsky future” — whether as a Shelton-like condominium nest, or as a cultural attraction anchored by the Shakespeare theater and buttressed by a beautiful historic district and gracious boutiques and restaurants. In Stratford Town Hall, at least, officials are optimistic an SAEP deal will get done. “The developers for the Stratford Army Engine Plant site continue to be encouraged by the interest of both potential users and tenants, as well as local, state and federal officials in getting the site cleaned up and redeveloped,” says Marc Dillon, chief of staff to Stratford Mayor John Harkins. “The focus on cleanup and reuse of contaminated properties by Mayor John Harkins and his administration has led to significant grants from the state and federal governments for assessment and cleanup of brownfield sites,” adds Dillon. “This has increased interest in economic development throughout Stratford.” 19
REALESTATE Luxury Apts. Planned for Chapel St.
▼ SALES BRANFORD — Premier Realty, LLC has purchased two properties at 155 North Main Street — a 5,368-square-foot auto sales building on 2.9 acres and a onefamily house in a commercial zone — for $1,125,000. Kevin Geenty and Juan Marquez of the Geenty Group were sole brokers in the transaction. The seller was 155 North Main Street, LLC.
MARKETING&MEDIA
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HEALTHCARE
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BRANFORD — SECT, LLC has purchased a 17,000-square-foot manufacturing building on a 1.77 acre lot at 69 North Branford Road for $990,000. The seller was BRCT Inc. Tim McMahon of OR&L Commercial represented the buyer. Kevin Geenty and Juan Marquez of the Geenty Group represented the seller.
TECHNOLOGY NEW HAVEN — Construction is underway for a six-story luxury apartment building with street-level retail on a vacant lot at the northwest corner of Chapel and Howe streets.
The privately funded project broke ground in mid-May at 1145 Chapel Street. It will have 136 upscale apartments, 92 parking spaces and approximately 5,000 square feet of retail space, according to developer Randy Salvatore, president of RMS Cos., a Stamford-based real estate firm that constructs and manages residential and commercial properties. The “urban chic boutique” Hotel Zero Degrees hotels in Stamford and Norwalk are RMS’ handiwork.
REALESTATE Salvatore’s RMS Chapel Street, LLC recently purchased the 53,000 square foot Elm City property for the apartment building —approximately 1.2 acres — for $3,675,000. The deal includes two houses at 169 and 175 Dwight Street, which will be renovated, and a two-family house at 1249 Chapel Street that is part of the Dwight Street historic district and has been relocated to a vacant lot at 1255 Chapel Street.
NEW HAVEN — Netz USA has purchased a 54-unit apartment building at 154 Fountain Street for $2.8 million. Edward Jordan, managing director of investment sales broker Northeast Private Client Group, represented the seller, Lighthouse Group of New Haven. Bradley Balletto, Northeast Private Client Croup’s regional manager for Connecticut, represented the buyer.
154 Fountain Street in New Haven with fifty-four units sold for $2.8 million to NetzUSA.
purchased a three-story, 46,364-square-foot Class B office building at 375 Bridgeport Avenue for $6.3 million. Gene Pride and Jeff Dunne of CBRE brokered the deal. The seller was Rugby Realty, which over the previous five years had extensively renovated the property.
CHESHIRE — Trinity Solar Systems is relocating its Connecticut headquarters from Plainville, Connecticut to a 20,780-square-foot building the company has leased at 611 West Johnson Avenue. Rich Guralnick of Pearce Commercial represented Trinity. Matt O’Hare of CBRE represented the landlord, the Hampshire Cos.
LEASES
MIDDLETOWN — Middletown Business Park has two new tenants. All Star Software has leased 6,236 square feet at 440 Smith Street and Security Plus has leased 3,200 square feet at 436 Smith Street. Trevor Davis of Trevor Davis Commercial Real Estate represented the landlord, BostonMiddletown LLC. Jennifer Gosselin of CBRE New England represented both tenants.
BRANFORD — Core Informatics has leased 9,000 square feet at 36 East Industrial Drive. Rich Guralnick of Pearce Commercial represented the tenant. Rich Lee of OR&L Commercial represented the landlord, Albany Road Branford, LLC.
MARKETING&MEDIA SHELTON — Woodgreen Management Inc. has
The seller was Chapel & Dwight, LLC, a group of property owners represented by Steve Witten and Victor Nolletti of Marcus & Millichap. Salvatore first pitched his mixed-used proposal in 2012. “When I saw it I thought it would make a great apartment site,” he says. “I know New Haven a little bit. At the time my brother was a grad student at Yale School of Architecture.”
HEALTHCARE The project evolved along with discussions with community members, a lawsuit by the owner of a neighboring building and the city approval process. New Haven’s City Plan Commission unanimously green-lighted the development last December. The apartments will be a mix of “very modern” studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units, with hardwood floors, stainlesssteel appliances and stone countertops, Salvatore says. Some will have balconies. Amenities include gathering areas, exercise rooms, a screening room and a rooftop deck.
LMM Diversifies into Property Management WOODBRIDGE — Beazley Property Management Co. (BPM) is now part of Levey Miller Maretz (LMM). The commercial real estate firm recently purchased Beazley’s assets and stock, according to LMM Principal and broker Steve Miller, who would not disclose the sale price. The sale is LMM’s latest move into property management.
“Things go in cycles,” he adds. “Right now there’s a big push in all demographics for people to move into the urban areas.”
“About 12 years ago we started managing things for others,” Miller says. “The real estate business in Connecticut has been up and down, and property management [affords] a steady regular monthly cash flow, as opposed to waiting for commissions during the down times.
New Haven has become “kind of a 24/7 live-work community,” he says, noting the proliferation of restaurants and cultural activities in the city as well as a “demographic shift to Gen-Xers and a mature successful population” attracted to urban living.
“About five years ago, we started looking outside of our client base,” Miller adds. LMM bought its first property-management firm, Rolar Management, in 2011.
Salvatore expects a diverse range of tenants, from graduate students and “young people getting their first jobs” to professionals and empty-nesters.
The entire project, including the price of the land and the houses, will cost around $17 million. Construction should be completed by spring 2015. A restaurant could fill the retail space. “I don’t have anything solidified yet,” Salvatore says. “Just something to create ground-floor activity.” — Karen Singer
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Since then, Miller explains, “We’ve been trying to increase and broaden our base of property management.” Beazley Property Management was attractive because “They had properties in areas that fit our geography, which covers Milford to Rocky Hill and Guilford to Rt. 8. “We now manage retail plazas, residential apartments, industrial buildings, a small industrial
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park, office buildings, mixed-used properties and a couple of things like fraternity houses and parking lots,” Miller adds.
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According to Susan Bradford, former president and managing director of Beazley Management Properties, the sale includes 100 percent of BMP stock and eight condo and investment properties. BPM was part of Beazley Co. Realtors from the 1990s, Bradford said, “until they sold off their real estate and commercial assets in the early 2000s.” Over the last couple of years, Bradford adds, “My business partners and I were looking Miller: Managing more to slow down, and we have merged with Levey Miller Maretz so it (BPM) will continue to exist. “We did talk with quite a few people but we were looking for someone with a [compatible] business model. Levey Miller Maretz came as close as possible.”
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Two properties at 155 North Main Street in Branford were sold for $1.250,000 to Premier Realty.
PEOPLE
CORRECTION
Vincent Torrens has joined Wareck D’Ostilio Real Estate, after serving in the U.S. Air Force and working as a manager for National Supplement Warehouse. He also has been a job supervisor and project manager building residential and commercial properties.
In the sale of a 175,000 square foot property on 16 acres at 265-269 Old Gate Lane in Milford for $1,695,500, Pearce Commercial represented only the seller, United States Bankruptcy Court, New Haven office. Paradigm Milford LLC, the buyer and mortgage holder, did not assume an outstanding tax lien of more than $1 million to the city of Milford, but in fact acquired the property subject to the tax lien. (As of early August the property was on the market, and Angel Commercial represented its owner, Paradigm.)
MIDDLETOWN — At 98 Washington Street, Charles Computer Services has leased 2,500 square feet and Change Inc. has leased 3,618 square feet. The landlord is RAMO, LLC. Trevor Davis of Trevor Davis Commercial Real Estate was the deal’s sole broker. MILFORD — Engineered Inserts & Systems Inc. has signed a long-term lease for 3,287 square feet of light manufacturing space at 26 Quirk Road. John Bergin of Pearce Commercial represented the tenant and landlord, Maiorano Holdings, LLC of Milford. NAUGATUCK — The YoFarm Yogurt Co. has signed a five-year lease for a 70,460-square-foot warehouse/ distribution building at 80 Rado Drive. Gerry Matthews of Matthews Commercial Properties Co. represented YoFarm, which is replacing a Coca-Cola bottling and distribution center. Richard Gretsch of Gretsch Commercial Real Estate was the listing broker. The landlord is Naugatuck Industrial 1, LLC. NEW HAVEN — Next Step Living has leased 804 square feet at the former Powerhouse Building, 458 Grand Avenue. Nick Pinto of Sentry Commercial in Hartford represented the tenant. The Proto Group represented the Landlord, CAPP Associates, LLC of New Haven. NORTH HAVEN — Life Changing Ministries has leased 9,400 square feet at 30 Montowese Avenue. Phil Barber of Pearce Commercial represented the tenant and landlord, Luigi Ferraro. NORTH HAVEN — Vivint Solar Holdings Inc. has leased a 15,000-square-foot office/warehouse structureat 50 Divine Street. Jeff Dow of Dow Realty represented the tenant. Dave Melilo and Chris Nolan of Pearce Commercial represented the landlord, 424 Chapel Street, LLC. WALLINGFORD — Jumping Jacks has leased 1,500 square feet at 950 Yale Avenue for an early childhood activity, learning and play center. Jeff Dow of Dow Realty represented the tenant. Joel Nesson of Press/Cuozzo is the exclusive leasing representative for the landlord, The Hurley Group. WATERBURY — Nail Pro has signed a five-year lease for 1,423 square feet for a salon at the Aldi/CVS-anchored plaza at 464 Reidville Drive. The Proto Group was sole broker in the transaction. The landlord is 500 Monroe Turnpike Associates, LLC. WESTVILLE — Style 2000 Salon has signed a five-year lease for 900 square feet at 883 Whalley Avenue. Steve Miller of Levey Miller Maretz was the sole broker. The landlord is 883 Whalley Associates, LLC.
Build on
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WESTVILLE — Westville Family Dental Centers has inked a five-year lease for 2,500 square foot at 881 Whalley Avenue. Steve Miller of Levey Miller Maretz was the sole broker. The landlord is 883 Whalley Associates, LLC. WOODBRIDGE — Grimaldi’s Coal Brick-Oven Pizzeria has executed a ten-year lease — its first in Connecticut — at D’Andrea’s Plaza, 1646 Litchfield Turnpike. Steve Miller of Levey Miller Maretz was the sole broker. The landlord is Litchfield Realty Trust. Over the last decade Grimaldi’s has expanded beyond its original Brooklyn site to stores in more than half a dozen states. Miller said the chain is interested in opening as many as a dozen locations in the Nutmeg State. 55 AUGUST 2014
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TECHNOLOGY
W
Moving Beyond Windows XP For Cyber Security
W
REALESTATE For better or worse, it’s a Windows world out there. So what when those windows start to close?
With more than 90 percent of computer users running Windows machines, a small crisis emerged this April when Microsoft announced it was ending all support and upgrades to its Windows XP operating system, an OS on which many consumers and businesses still rely.
firm Gartner says we can expect 60 million in PC replacements this year.
Windows 8 stands at about 13 percent usage, with XP still running on a quarter of machines. The end is already in sight for Windows 7 though, with mainstream support ending in January of next year and extended support ending in 2020.
MARKETING&MEDIA The lack of updates leaves XP open for hackers to exploit security holes; a recent example of what’s at stake being the theft of more than 100 million customers’ credit card information from retailer Target’s computer systems.
Rodriguez stresses that with phones and voicemail, call accounting and call center reporting software and even video surveillance systems commonly run on PCs, hackers have a variety of options and in-points to cause trouble, whether it’s siphoning cash through 900 number call-routing schemes, or gaining control of security cameras.
HEALTHCARE “Target, knowing they were a big target, have tremendous firewall security, but the hackers got in through the HVAC system, which is undoubtedly run by a PC,” says JR Rodriguez of Allied Communications, a West Haven-based IT/communications and security firm that provides voice and data capabilities for clients in sectors as varied as hospitality, manufacturing, financial services, government and retail.
Jibey Asthappan, director of the National Security Program at the Henry C. Lee College of Criminal Justice and Forensic Sciences at the University of New Haven says he’s most worried about those who simply don’t know any better (including his own students, 25 percent of whom he says don’t know how to install programs or generally use a computer).
EMPLOYMENT TECHNOLOGY Windows XP was introduced in late 2001, and mainstream consumer support ended in 2009, but extended support (available at a price) ran up until this year. Microsoft is phasing out the 12-year-old XP to focus on the newest operating system, Windows 8. But adoption is slow, since due to software compatibility issues, many are simply moving to Windows 7, which is currently in use by more than half of computer users, based on data from NetMarketShare.com.
“The majority of those hanging onto XP machines are those who aren’t in the know and aren’t aware of the vulnerabilities they’re risking for themselves and others,” he says. “Target spends a lot of money on security; I’m more worried about the mom and pop gas station or small business that outsources its pointof-sale system.”
REALESTATE
Debby Starkweather, controller of Westport’s Inn at Longshore (a client of Allied Communications), was running an XP computer that she promptly had upgraded (to Windows 7) after being told of the issue; she admits she has relatively
NEW HAVEN — Clean energy company Precision Combustion is one of five from new England to win government funding for development of new air quality products.
HEALTHCARE The company got $99,897 from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program to develop new air filters to improve indoor air quality in industrial and commercial buildings and in homes. Precision is developing a filter that will remove gaseous pollutants from the air with technology originally designed for use in space to last longer and at lower cost.
Asthappan: 25% of students don’t know how to install programs”
limited knowledge on computer matters but didn’t want to take the risk. “We’re a small operation, and I’m responsible for six or seven machines, so I have to keep everyone healthy,” she says. “We have a large database of clients and their information, and we have an obligation to keep it safe.” Windows 8 is a major change, both functionally and aesthetically, from Windows XP and 7 (though it does have a feature to run Windows 7 programs), which may be a further deterrent for potential users, aside from the fact that an upgrade to Windows 8 may require buying newer computers as well, something that should at least make the dwindling PC sales market happy at least: technology research
The SBIR program gives funding in a two-phase process; phase I companies can receive up to $100,000 for their technology, and can then apply for phase II funding of up to $300,000 to develop and commercialize products. In New England, three Massachusetts companies and one from New Hampshire were among the 21 total small businesses in14 states that were given a total of $2 million from the EPA’s program. 22
System that was given the distinction of “Most Wired Advanced” for its IT network system. The magazine survey examines hospital initiatives that share health information needed by doctors and patients, support delivery of care and reduce the likelihood of medical errors. Other Connecticut hospitals included Middlesex Hospital in Middletown, MidState Medical Center in Meriden, Hartford Hospital and Norwalk Hospital.
E-Books For All Connecticut’s Most Wired Hospitals NEW HAVEN — Forget health care, Connecticut hospitals are “wired.” Hospital & Health Networks magazine’s annual “Most Wired” list of the nation’s hospitals that have used information technology to improve patient care quality and safety have given the “most wired” honors to eleven hospitals in the state, including Waterbury Hospital. But it was the Yale-New Haven Health
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“An XP machine may be hard pressed to run Windows 8,” Rodriguez adds. “A business may have to get rid of every machine – in some cases it means upgrading their entire phone system – but whatever the cost of upgrading, they have to think of the cost a hacking will do to their reputation, productivity and revenue.
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MARKETING&MEDIA Clean Energy to Clean Air
“It’s a bit selfish on Microsoft’s part; they should continue pay support for XP. That means Microsoft benefits from revenue, and for businesses who are reticent to change because they rely on it, they’ll be willing to spend for it,” Asthappan says.
New state legislation is aiming to make it easier for library patrons to get access to popular books in electronic form. “An Act Concerning a State-wide Platform for Distribution of Electronic Books” (P.A. 14-82) authorizes the Connecticut State Library to set up a system-wide platform of distributing e-books to libraries. A Department of Consumer Protection study last year found that while most state libraries offered some e-books to patrons, many of the most popular titles were either not available or only at prices above consumer price. Act 14-82 stipulates
“Nothing will guarantee you won’t get hacked … but if there’s a business out there still running Windows XP today, they’re taking a massive risk that’s not worth it.”
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Both Asthappan and Rodriguez agree that for those wishing to back away from Microsoft altogether, Unix-based operating systems like Linux or even Mac OS X are secure, and with less than 5 percent of users operating each, don’t fall victim to hacks or viruses as commonly as Windows users.
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Whichever option one chooses, an upto-date system is the best bet for a safe system.
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“There is no such thing as 100 percent security, but having your OS secure is a big step,” Asthappan says. “Without having a front door on your home, you’re in trouble; that’s every XP user. The key is putting in that front door.”
– John Mordecai
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CII Named Top Venture Capital W Firm Connecticut Innovations (CII) ongoing support of and investment in the state’s technology and startup sectors has earned it a spot on Entrepreneur.com’s list of the Top 100 Venture Capital Firms in the country. CII came in at number 66 on the list with 70 investment deals totaling $63.3 million. The top spot went to Silicon Valley firm Andreessen Horowitz, which had 82 deals in 2013 valued at $667.4 million. The VC100 ranks the top venture capital firms based on total capital invested in seed or early-stage deals in the U.S. in 2013. The figures were sourced from global private equity and venture capital data firm PitchBook.
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Can Start also be a bank for non-commercial consumers?
start bank Continued from page 3
I don’t think manufacturing jobs will exist in the volume that will provide the economic ladder that it was for prior generations. They say the turn of the [20 th] century the number of jobs involved in agriculture was 60 or 80 percent of the economy; now it’s three percent. Same has happened with manufacturing: It’s not just about [U.S. manufacturers relocating] overseas; it’s about the number of people it takes to produce a ton of steel. It’s a lot less [than it was in 1950. The U.S. is transitioning] increasingly toward a service economy, or toward a knowledge-based economy or a financial-services economy. In our case, that service is largely medical-related. But is that a tough niche for Start Bank to enter with those competitors? I think our niche has got to be, local-decision makers right here who know who you are. We’re incented to help you because when you grow, we grow. We exist in these spaces where smaller businesses mean more to us [than to larger institutions]. The bank has embarked on a new ad campaign: ‘Stop Dreaming & Start Doing.’ How did the bank come up with the ‘Start’ name initially? We worked with an agency to come up with the name. It was very much ‘start’ and ‘get started.’ We were getting started [as a company] and we wanted to get people started. We wanted to use a verb rather than an adjective or noun. With ‘Stop Dreaming & Start Doing,’ it fits for New Haven and where greater New Haven is right now: We’re not about dreaming anymore; we’re about doing. There’s a lot happening, there’s a sense of movement here.
We work with four at-risk under-banked groups: immigrants, re-entry [from incarceration] folks, homeless folks, and young people. So Columbus House works with a bank to set up custodial accounts for its clients — what bank is that? That’s us. If you’re undocumented and you have a bank account, it’s with us. If we’re going to work with immigrants, it’ll be with IRIS [and with us]. Our fees are nonexistent; nobody else does that in this marketplace, nobody has the minimum balances we have. And that’s part of our mission. So far, are customers satisfied with Start Bank? We have one branch, so we have to do certain things, like remote deposit. That’s increasingly the norm. I think all of us want to be faster. We do a pretty good job by our customers and do a good job being as quick and responsive as we can be. That’s a big deal. Nationally, with small-business financing there’s very expensive money out there for companies, Do you see customers able to convert from that to your bank financing? We’re not here to have less-risky credit standards; we’re a commercial bank. We’re regulated as such, chartered as such, and although we will have a non-performer [loan], we haven’t had a non-performer in three and a half years. We’re cautious, but we’re a small bank. It’s not like we have 100,000 loans out there. How about the non-profit community: Is that a beachhead for the bank? Hopefully, next month we will close something with a large health clinic in town we’ve been working with for some time. We’ve worked real hard to feel comfortable
with them and we believe in their mission. We believe they’re going to be there, that they’re well managed, and that they serve an important purpose. Now that you’re no longer in City Hall, what do business people and others say about the city and the job you did? I’m the wrong person to ask. If they think I did a job that sucked, they don’t say anything to me, as opposed to what they used to [when I was in office]. I don’t know that I’m a reliable barometer because people are nice to me and say nice things. I feel a difference from 20 years ago to today. Twenty years ago the suburbs were more optimistic about their future and New Haven was more pessimistic. But I think relatively speaking, New Haven is less pessimistic, and the suburbs are more pessimistic and less optimistic. It’s harder to be a suburb these days than it used to be. Do your customers in the under-banked community feel positive about New Haven? A lot of them are struggling here in New Haven, so I’d guess that in a lot of ways they’re feeling New Haven isn’t getting it done for them. Ultimately places like New Haven are going to be gateway communities not only for immigrants, but for opportunity and social and economic mobility. That’s what cities do — it’s what they’ve always done. Immigrants are disproportionately represented as business startup owners. They’re disproportionately entrepreneurial, and driven and they made a choice to come here. We want to be a place of opportunity and possibility. If you ask me about New Haven, I think it’s come quantum steps in terms of being an open, welcoming and thriving community — but with lots of warts and lots of people for whom it’s not happening. There’s no utopia; we’re all [measured] on a scale.
Local Entrepreneurs Win at CTNext Awards NEW HAVEN — Entrepreneurs local and statewide took home $10,000 prizes to help further their startups at the latest round of CTNext’s Entrepreneur Innovation Awards (EIA). New Haven-based medical device developer 109 Design received its $10,000 prize as well as an additional $2,000 as “Judges’ Favorite” for development of a device and smart phone application that gathers and relays data to parents, physicians and patients to incentivize wearing a back brace for those with scoliosis. Fresh Farm Aquaponics, an aquaponic farm in South Glastonbury, received an extra $2,000 in addition to its prize as the “Crowd Favorite.” Aquaponics is a farming method that raises fish and plants together Keilhorn, Why Science founder in a sustainable ecosystem. was Business New Haven’s Other $10,000 prize winners were: Why Science 2013 Minority Business Person (New Haven), which is developing a cloudof the Year. The company has based educational program to improve learning; won a $10,000 prize from CT Enviroworks (East Hartford), developers of a hyInnovations’, CTNext Awards.’ drogen on-demand system to power trucks without using more diesel fuel; Vesselon (Darien), Mark Jagel, VicedevelopPresident and COO ing aCustomized device to treat stroke victimsLive beforeAnswering they reach the & hospital; Candy (New 24 Hour VoiceLabMail Services Haven), a student-run startup aiming to get girls interested in science through fashImmediate Delivery ionable lab gear; Genius Box (Shelton), anMessage interactive tool to bolster young students’ STEM education; Avitus Orthopaeidcs (Farmington), designers of a minimally invaSMS Text Messaging • Encrypted Text Messaging sive tool for harvesting bone grafts; Reconstructive Solutions (Southport) is developing a less visible skin stapler for use•inVoice plastic surgery e-mail • Mailoperations; • Fax and Engel Power (East Hampton) is developing a solid fuel gasification system using locally sourced raw material like feedstock.
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CTNext is the name of Connecticut’s Innovation Ecosystem, established in 2011 to support and foster entrepreneurial growth in the state. The first EIA awards were held in February 2014; the next will be in October (date and location to be announced), and eligible Connecticut-based startups can apply at ctnext.com/eia.
August 2014
Mark Jagel, Vice President and COO
Customized 24 Hour Live Answering & Voice Mail Services Immediate Message Delivery SMS Text Messaging • Encrypted Text Messaging e-mail • Voice • Mail • Fax
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MANUFACTURING
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HCC Unveils Mftg. Hall of Fame TECHNOLOGY BRIDGEPORT — Now the makers have a place to be recognized.
Housatonic Community College (HCC) last month opened the American Manufacturing Hall of Fame — the first of its kind to be created by a two-year college — to shine a spotlight on the nation’s resurgent manufacturing sector.
REALESTATE The hall of fame will help raise money to support functions of the college’s Advanced Manufacturing Center (AMC), one of three statewide to launch in 2012 as part of a jobs bill signed into law in 2011. The other manufacturing centers are located at Naugatuck Valley Community College in Waterbury and Quinebaug Community College in Danielson. The first AMC was established in 1998 at Asnuntuck Community College in Enfield.
This year’s Bridgeport-centric inductees, past and present, are Sikorsky Aircraft (Stratford), Bridgeport Machines, Bullard Machine Tool Co. (Bridgeport), Harvey Hubbell (founder of Shelton-based Hubbell Inc.), and the Warner Brothers Corset Co. (Bridgeport). These were selected to represent three eras: pre-World War II, postwar to the dawn of the personal computer, and the contemporary period.
MARKETING&MEDIA HEALTHCARE The inaugural chair of the Hall of Fame is actor and manufacturing advocate John Ratzenberger (best known as Cliff in the sitcom Cheers, and as a voice actor in numerous Pixar animated films), a Bridgeport native who also spent years spotlighting manufacturers nationwide as host of the Travel Channel’s Made in America series. Ratzenberger will also host and produce a future series called American Made.
Ratzenberger
nomics of advanced manufacturing, as well as raise funds for manufacturing students and create jobs.
EMPLOYMENT
Companies from across the state (and eventually across the nation) that have had an impact on the manufacturing sector will be inducted into the Hall of Fame each October, which is National Manufacturing Month.
TECHNOLOGY The Hall of Fame seeks to raise awareness of the positive aspects and eco-
Women, Gather ‘Round
Organizers of the discussion, hosted by the New Haven Manufacturers Association, invite those in the field to share their challenges and concerns, as well as their efforts on behalf of women in the workforce.
The Hall of Fame’s opening coincides with recent accolades for the state’s efforts: the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities Advanced Manufacturing Centers Initiative was chosen as the Northeastern Economic Development Association’s (NEDA) Program of the Year, and will be formally recognized at NEDA’s annual conference in Worcester, Mass., in September. — John Mordecai
CCAT Enters Aerospace Project
.Alcoa Gives Flight to PW Engines
EAST HARTFORD — The Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology (CCAT) finds itself on the winning end of new grants for work in developing aerospace alloys and an alternative fuels facility.
BRANFORD — In a continuing move away from mining and aluminum smelting to making aviation and automotive parts, Pittsburgh’s Alcoa (which has operations in Branford and Winsted) has signed a $1.1 billion deal with East Hartford aerospace manufacturer Pratt & Whitney (PW) to make jet engine parts.
REALESTATE NEW HAVEN — Women working in the manufacturing industry face unique challenges, and they will have an opportunity to sound off on them at a roundtable discussion organized by the Women’s Bureau of the U.S. Department of Labor.
The inaugural induction ceremony will take place October 7 at HCC. The American Manufacturing Hall of Fame is located in Lafayette Hall at the college, though the AMC has plans one day to establish a manufacturing museum that will also house the Hall of Fame elsewhere in Bridgeport.
CCAT was awarded a $163,000 three-year contract from Youngstown, O.-based AmericaMakes (a/k/a the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute) to investigate the use of alloys in additive manufacturing (otherwise known as 3D printing) for the repair of aerospace metal components used by the U.S. Air Force.
MARKETING&MEDIA The discussion will focus on the challenges female workers face when entering the workforce compared to men, employers retaining female workers, training and employment services, gaining and maintaining employment and advancement in the workplace, public policies and addressing cultural attitudes toward women in manufacturing.
CCAT will work as one of many subcontractors (including GE Aviation, United Technologies and the University of Connecticut) for Albuquerque-based manufacturer Optomec. The entire project is valued at $4 million.
HEALTHCARE The event will take place from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, August 17 at the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce, 900 Chapel St. (10th fl.) in New Haven. Those interested in attending may contact Rizzolo.Angela@dol.gov
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CCAT is also using a $53,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to continue a feasibility study for the building of an alternative fuels facility in northern Connecticut, following on $100,000 in funding awarded last year. The facility would produce jet fuel, diesel fuel and heating oil from non-petroleum materials such as plasma gasification, enzymatic hydrolysis, anaerobic digestion and conversion of solid municipal waste.
The ten-year agreement will have Alcoa providing PW with aluminum fan blades for the fuel-efficient PW1000G turbine engine. The aluminum Alcoa blades are designed in weight and shape to provide greater efficiency than the traditionally titanium composite designs.
With increased interest in outfitting aircraft with more efficient engines, Alcoa is poised to provide parts also for engines used in Boeing and Airbus aircraft, as well as in Lockheed Martin fighter planes.
Platt Gets the Gold MILFORD — Platt Technical High School’s Manufacturing Technology Program has earned a Gold Innovation Prize from the Connecticut Quality Improvement Award for its use of Lean Manufacturing concepts on the shop floor, allowing the program to accommodate a greater number of students.
The lean practices — some of which were designed and implemented by students themselves — included measures such as condensing and centralizing tools, moving instructor stations to the shop floor itself, reorganized machines to create more floor space, and implementing a digital classroom for access to the technologies used by the department.
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The Connecticut Quality Award Innovation Prize is a non-profit recognizing innovations that enhance an organization’s competitive position. Applicants submit for the award, which confers Gold, Silver and Platinum prizes each year.
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State To Fund Job Training A $3.3 million federal grant was awarded to the state’s Department of Labor (DOL) to train unemployed workers for jobs in high-demand industries including advanced manufacturing, engineering and information technology.
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The grant’s main purpose will be to fund the development of on-the-job training and apprenticeship programs, particularly in manufacturing fields like quality control, CNC and tool-and-die machining.
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The programs will be developed by three of the state’s Workforce Investment Boards: the Eastern Workforce Investment Board, the Northwest Workforce Investment Board and the Workforce Alliance, along with the DOL.
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The grants were provided through the Job-Driven National Emergency Grant program, with nearly $155 million channeled to 32 states, Puerto Rico and the Cherokee tribal nation.
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Sikorsky Lands $1B Deal STRATFORD — The U.S. Air Force has awarded Sikorsky Aircraft a $1.28 billion contract to develop a new search-andrescue combat helicopter.
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The five helicopters will be derivative of Sikorsky’s flagship Black Hawk helicopter, and are expected by 2020 to replace the Air Force’s aging Pave Hawk variable-wing craft. The Engineering & Manufacturing Development contract is the first step in what could lead to Sikorsky producing 112 aircraft in total (worth $7.9 billion), to be determined year to year.
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In other Sikorsky news, the manufacturer’s annual Sikorsky Helicopter 2050 program — which challenges students ages nine to 16 to design the helicopter of the future for a potential $1,000 scholarship and the Sikorsky Youth Innovator Award — is running from this summer to late September. Last year’s award went to 15-year-old Vance Hudson of Tennessee.
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HEALTHCARE Neuroethicist to Speak at QU
programs and illustrating how sustainability is embedded in their culture.
EMPLOYMENT
YNHH is also among the first-ever winners of Top 25 Environmental Excellence Awards, the most prestigious environmental achievement award offered by the organization. It recognizes health-care facilities that exemplify the best of the best in environmental excellence and are setting the highest standards for environmental practices in health care.
TECHNOLOGY
Some of the sustainability initiatives for which YNHH was recognized include operating room recycling, LEED ratings for “green” buildings, a sustainable pharmaceutical waste program, various operating room reprocessing initiatives, the reduction of BPA/DEHP (chemicals found in some plastics) and safer chemicals hospital-wide.
REALESTATE HAMDEN — James Giordano, a neuroscientist and neuroethicist from Georgetown University Medical Center, will discuss “Brave New Brain: Neuroscience and Neuroethics for the 21st Century” when he delivers the 30th annual Stiernotte Lecture in Philosophy on September 16 at Quinnipiac University. The lecture, which is free and open to the public, will begin at 5 p.m. in the Grand Courtroom in the Center for Communications & Engineering on QU’s Mount Carmel Campus at 275 Mount Carmel Avenue.
W The Cost of Alcohol Abuse NEW HAVEN — So-called “superusers” of Emergency Medical Services (EMS)— most of whom had alcohol-related reasons for their EMS transport — generated millions of dollars in medical costs in one year alone in the city of San Francisco, according to a new study by the Yale School of Medicine and the University of California-San Francisco (UCSF). The study, which focuses on the financial impact of alcohol abuse on one urban community, appears in the journal Prehospital Emergency Care.
MARKETING&MEDIA HEALTHCARE Giordano will discuss cutting-edge developments in neuroscience and neurotechnology, and explore what these developments mean for the long-held ideas, traditions and practices of humanity on an individual, social and global scale. Giordano also will talk about the value of neuroethics and how it might provide insights into moral thought, emotions and actions, and develop ways to address and direct brain research and its uses in medicine, public life and human relations on an international scale. Giordano is editor-in-chief of the journal Philosophy, Ethics and Humanities in Medicine, associate editor of the international journal Neuroethics and executive-editor-in-chief of the book series, “Advances in Neurotechnology: Ethical, Legal and Social Issues.” His ongoing research addresses the neuroscience of pain, aggression and moral decision-making, and the neuroethical issues that arise in and from the use of advanced neuroscientific techniques and technologies in research and applications in medicine, and national security, intelligence and defense.
YNHH Cited for Green Practices NEW HAVEN — Practice Greenhealth has honored Yale-New Haven Hospital with two awards for environmental excellence at the annual CleanMed Conference & Exhibition. The Circle of Excellence Award, Practice Greenhealth’s highest honor for hospitals, recognizes those facilities leading the industry with innovation in sustainability, demonstrating superior August 2014
State Awards $1M to Fair Haven Health Center NEW HAVEN — The State Bond Commission has awarded a grant of $917,141 in funding for the Fair Haven Community Health Center for the construction and purchase of equipment for a new 6,000-square-foot mental health, dental and primary care facility on Grand Avenue in New Haven. “This grant will help the Fair Haven Community Health Center continue in its mission of providing critical access to excellent, affordable medical care to those in need,” said State Senate Majority Leader Martin M. Looney (D ) of New Haven.
Researchers from the Emergency Department at Yale and UCSF identified 100 EMS superusers — individuals who used EMS services in San Francisco more than 15 times in the year 2009. Yale first author M. Kennedy Hall and colleagues found that superusers were significantly younger and more likely to be male than other EMS users. The majority of superusers had Medicaid coverage. Also, superusers were more than eight times more likely to have an alcohol-associated reason for an EMS encounter than people who used EMS only once that year. Although the EMS superuser group comprised only 0.3 percent of the total number of individuals who used EMS, they generated 6.1 percent of the transports, as well as a disproportionate share of estimated charges — $3.8 million for that year — reimbursed primarily through public insurance programs.
QU Nursing School Earns Grant HAMDEN — The Quinnipiac University School of Nursing has been awarded a $652,000 grant that will be used to support underrepresented students in its doctor of nursing practice program.
“This funding is incredibly important to the Fair Haven Health Center,” said Suzanne Lagarde MD, FACP. “We serve over 15,000 residents and are in need of more space in order to keep up with the demand for our services.
The Health Resources and Services Administration awarded Quinnipiac an Advanced Education Nursing Traineeship Program grant, which was created to increase the number of advanced-education nurses trained to practice as primarycare providers and/or nursing faculty to address the nurse faculty shortage. The grant runs from July of this year through June 30, 2016.
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“This is a tremendous opportunity for our students,” according to Laima Karosas, clinical associate professor and director of the nurse practitioner and post-MSN programs at QU. “This grant will be used for nurse practitioner education, especially nurse practitioners who want to work in primary care.”
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Karosas, the principal investigator on the grant, said the funding will be used to support underrepresented populations — Hispanics, veterans and males who demonstrate a need — in completing their DNP degrees. “Many of our students are adults with families,” Karosas notes. “They just can’t quit their jobs to pursue their education.”
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More than 120 students are enrolled in Quinnipiac’s doctor of nurse practice program.
YSM Researchers W Find Clue to Curbing Obesity NEW HAVEN — Preventing weight gain obesity, and ultimately diabetes could be as simple as keeping a nuclear receptor from being activated in a small part of the brain, according to a new study by Yale School of Medicine researchers. Published in the August 1 issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation (JCI), the study showed that when the researchers blocked the effects of the nuclear receptor PPARgamma in a small number of brain cells in mice, the animals ate less and became resistant to a high-fat diet. “These animals ate fat and sugar, and did not gain weight, while their control littermates gained weight on the same diet,” reports lead author Sabrina Diano, a professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences at the med school. “We showed that the PPARgamma receptor in neurons that produce POMC could control responses to a high-fat diet without resulting in obesity.” Diano and her team studied transgenic mice that were genetically engineered to delete the PPARgamma receptor from POMC neurons. They wanted to see if they could prevent the obesity associated with a high-fat, high-sugar diet.
The Fair Haven Community Health Center is a not-for-profit primary health care organization that has been dedicated to serving the greater Fair Haven Community since 1971. It provides comprehensive health care from prenatal to pediatric, adolescent to adult and geriatric.
The findings may have key implications in diabetes. PPARgamma is a target of thiazolidinedione (TZD), a class of drugs used to treat type 2 diabetes. They lower bloodglucose levels, but patients gain weight on these medications.
Laima Karosas
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EMPLOYMENT
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Managing Subtraction by Addition TECHNOLOGY
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By Felicia Hunter
HAMDEN — How big is too big? When Microsoft Corp. announced last month that it would slash thousands of jobs in order to become more efficient, it became clear that more is not necessarily better. Companies seeking to expand, particularly via mergers and acquisitions, should take note, says Julia Fullick, assistant professor of management at Quinnipiac University’s School of Business.
REALESTATE
ple, there’s job-sharing,” Fullick notes. “Another alternative is a reduced work week. You can reduce an employee’s hours from 40 to 36, for instance. Just cutting those four hours out of the work week can make a significant impact.” Also, says Fullick, sacrifices can be made on the management level to help a company maintain its workforce during tough times. “Senior employees or top-level management can have pay freezes, or even take a pay cut,” she says.
MARKETING&MEDIA “Most of the time, with an acquisition, you can’t maintain the same [number] of employees,” says Fullick. “The interesting thing about Microsoft is that they have a history of not laying people off. That’s why it comes as such a shock.”
A careful review of your organization’s expense side may also reveal alternatives to layoffs, says Fullick.
HEALTHCARE Microsoft announced in July that it plans to cut up to 18,000 jobs, or about 14 percent of its workforce, over the next 12 months. The announcement came after the company revealed plans last year to acquire Nokia Corp. The acquisition, which was fi nalized in April, created job overlap for a company that already was experiencing the downside of exponential growth.
Town Governments Host QU Students HAMDEN — Eight Quinnipiac University
Julia Fullick, assistant professor of management at Quinnipiac University’s School of Business.
But for companies that fi nd themselves overstaffed, for whatever reasons, massive layoffs don’t have to be a foregone conclusion, according to Fullick. “With small companies, you don’t necessarily have to lay people off. For exam-
students are gaining valuable municipalgovernment work experience this summer as Quinnipiac Presidential Public Service Fellows. Projects range from to studying how to recycle construction materials, to
Insurance Exchange Seeks Directors WALLINGFORD — HealthyCT is accepting nominations for its inaugural board of directors. Nominees must meet basic eligibility requirements. These include being at least 18 years old; passing a background check; not currently a federal, state or local government office-holder; and not have served as a board member for another insurance carrier for the past five years. “This election is at the heart of what HealthyCT is all about and what makes us different from every other health insurance company in Connecticut,” says HealthyCT CEO Ken Lalime. “As a co-op, we are member-governed. That governance is through our board of directors so the individuals who come forward and are elected will help determine the direction this company takes.” HealthyCT is the state’s nonprofit, consumer-operated and consumer-oriented health insurance co-op, mandated by ObamaCare. A minimum of six voting board members will be policyholders.
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“Look at your records. They might show where you can actually cut costs.” There also are ways to handle company transitions, such as an acquisition, that will support workers and their morale. “Any time there’s a merger or acquisition, the socialization of employees is critical,” says Fullick. “Nokia employees that are now becoming Microsoft employees are coming from a completely different corporate culture.”
notes. For example, employees should be systematically guided through new company specifics of workplace commonalities such as e-mail and ID badges. And when elements of the merged company culture are introduced, it is a “good idea” to have representatives from both companies present them. That way employees can see that the new business entity is “strategically moving forward,” according to Fullick.
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If large-scale layoffs are unavoidable, however, there are “best-practices” ways for businesses to handle them, Fullick says.
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“It’s always best if a memo is sent out, and if possible, hold a ‘town hall’ meeting,” Fullick says. This should be done “as soon as possible. You don’t want your employees to fi nd out from the media before they hear it from you.
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“You want to make sure you’re open and honest with them,” she adds. “If you’re not sure, be honest and say, ‘I’m not sure.’”
One way to help with such a transition is to establish a mentoring system, Fullick
overhauling municipal websites, to helping formulate a town’s Plan of Conservation Development, to lending technical support to a municipality’s Public Works Office. The fellows, who worked in Hamden and North Haven, are Matt Bowser, Ashley Alcott, Greg Coutros, Elisabeth Emery, Justin Felix, Lauren McMahon, Alexa Panayotakis and Stacy PierreLouis. Majors represented include political science, advertising, civil engineering and philosophy. “In our program, these students make a real contribution to the needs of Hamden and North Haven,” explains fellowship director Scott McLean, a professor of political science. “And thanks to the enthusiastic mentoring of the various department heads, they get a real education in leadership and how public policy gets made.” Leslie Creane, Hamden’s director of planning and zoning, calls QPPSF a “fabulous program. I’ve been very pleased with
every intern from Quinnipiac that we’ve had. They’re really high-caliber students. They’re self-motivated and really interested in learning how government works.” A senior advertising major from Hamden, Alcott works in his hometown mayor’s office. “I love it,” he says. “It’s defi nitely not just an internship. It’s like you are a regular town employee. I’m really learning a lot about how a municipal government works.”
June Jobless Rate Dips WETHERSFIELD — Job increases boosted by summer seasonal hiring and a June unemployment rate that dipped to 2008 levels are encouraging developments for the state’s labor experts. “Connecticut’s unemployment rate continues to decline for all the right reasons, such as broad industry job growth coupled with declining
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The Connecticut Society of Certified Public Accountants (CTCPA) has named the following area CPAs to serve on its 30-member Advisory Council for the 2014-15 activity year: Dennis W. Cole of Madison is a principal with Beers, Hamerman & Co., PC in New Haven. Michael J. Hanlon of North Haven is CFO of the Diocese of Bridgeport and a past chair of the Advisory Council. David H. Leigh of Wallingford is of counsel for Bailey, Moore, Glazer, Schaefer & Proto, LLP in Woodbridge. Southington resident Susan A. Martinelli is a director for McGladrey LLP in New Haven. Rosemary N. McGovern of Orange is a senior tax accountant for Beers, Hamerman in New Haven. Wallingford’s Corliss Montesi is vice president of finance and chief financial officer for Sikorsky Aerospace Services in Shelton. And Matthew R. Piechota is CFO of the Chase Collegiate School in Waterbury.
of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and Financial Executives International.
WHO’S WHAT, WHERE
Supernaugh Certified Public Accountants (CTCPA) for the organization’s 2014-15 activity year, representing the Financial Institutions Committee. He holds a BS in accounting from Central Connecticut State University. Fairfield-based Foundation Source, which provides support services to private foundations, has named Salvatore A. Bucci of Milford president. Previously he was president of Home Partners Credit Corp., a privately held nationwide specialty finance company. Before that Bucci was executive vice president and CFO of International Fight League Inc., where he raised $37 million in private investment
Joshua Berry has been appointed university registrar at Quinnipiac University. For the previous six years Berry was director of enrollment services at Brown University. Before joining Brown, Berry was assistant university registrar at the University of Massachusetts. Berry earned his bachelor’s degree from Eastern Connecticut State University.
Service Corp. in 1987 as senior vice president. He spearheaded the development of CBIA Health Connections in 1995 to provide health-insurance solutions for Connecticut small businesses. CBIA also announced the promotion of Ken Comeau to senior vice president. Comeau joined CBIA Service Corp. in 1990 as director of product development and was later named vice president, sales, products and services. Webster Bank has promoted Rick Deenihan and Kellie Jandreau to senior vice president, market manger, consumer deposits. Formerly a vice president responsible for 16 banking centers in greater Waterbury, Jandreau joined Webster in 1992. Deenihan joined Webster in 2000, was promoted to banking center manager in 2008 and then to vice president, market manager in 2012.
Hakala. College, American International College and Western New England College, where he served as director of the center for teaching and learning from 2009-14. He earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Castleton State College, and holds master’s and doctoral degrees in psychology from the University of New Hampshire.
NHCR, a Hamden provider of point-of-sale and network-security solutions for restaurants and retailers, has promoted David Tendler of Guilford to the newly created post of general manager. He will continue in his current role as support manager while taking on additional responsibilities in sales, marketing and operations. A 27-year NHCR employee, Tendler holds a BS in marketing from Babson College. Real Living Wareck D’Ostilio Real Estate has hired Vincent Torrens of Bethany as a Realtor. He previously was warehouse manager for National Supplement Warehouse. Webster Bank has promoted Carol Carver to senior vice president, commercial banking. She joined the bank in 1999 as a portfolio manager and most recently was vice president, relationship manager, commercial banking. Webster has also promoted James Lane to senior vice president, commercial real estate. He joined Webster in 2002 as an analyst before being promoted to vice president, relationship manager.
Your Free Business Information Resource Berry. The Connecticut Business & Industry Association has named Philip Vogel president of CBIA Service Corp., which manages the state’s leading private healthcare exchange for small businesses and provides other services to member companies. Vogel joined CBIA
Connecticut Education & Schools
Steve Supernaugh, audit supervisor with the accounting firm of Whittlesey & Hadley, PC, has been named to the Advisory Council of the Connecticut Society of
financing following a merger. Bucci holds a BS in accounting from SUNY/ Albany and is a member
unemployment, and an expanding labor force,” according to Andy Condon, director of the state Department of Labor’s Office of Research. The June unemployment rate was 6.7 percent, down 0.2 from May. More significantly, the June unemployment rate was the lowest for the state since December 2008, according to DOL. Of the ten major industry supersectors, seven added jobs in June. However, only 500 new jobs were in the private sector. The most nonfarm job gains were in the Government supersector, with a net of 1,200 new positions. All of the these job gains were in state government,
Christopher Hakala has been appointed director of teaching and learning at Quinnipiac University. Before joining Quinnipiac, Hakala taught psychology at the University of New Hampshire, Gettysburg (Pa.) College, Lycoming
Connecticut Innovations Inc. (CII), the state’s quasi-public technology-investment arm, has named Deb Santy director of strategic partnerships. She will be responsible for developing and leading new business and academic partnerships and deepening existing partnerships to attract, retain and grow businesses in Connecticut. Glendowlyn Thames replaces Santy as director of Small Business Innovation for the agency.
• Public Schools • Private Schools • MBAs as the number of positions in both the More Red Tape for federal and local government sectors declined slightly (-100 each). Other super•for Colleges Federal Contractors sectors with significant job gains included WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A new federal Professional & Business Services (plus executive order requires contractors •& Trade 700); Transportation Public Utilities & Occupational seeking to do business with the federal (600); and Educational & Health Services government to disclose any labor law viola(400). The three supersectors posting tions. The order also offers direction to • SATs job losses were Leisure & Hospitality hiring agencies regarding how to consider (minus 1,000); Other Services (-600); and any such violations in the awarding of Financial Activities (-200). • Mastery Scores, contracts. The overall net gain of 1,700 jobs in June In a July 31 release, the White House cites was “positive news,” according to Peter inadequate pay and faulty hiring practices Gioia, Connecticut• Business & Industry Profiles School as reasons for the order. “While the vast Association economist. But he added a caveat. “All this good news, though,” he stated, “is tempered by the fact that we still have concerns that we only have recovered 62 percent of the jobs lost during the recession, whereas the nation overall has added back over 100 percent of the jobs lost.”
majority of federal contractors play by the rules,” the release asserts, “every year tens of thousands of American workers are denied overtime wages, not hired or paid fairly because of their gender or age, or have their health and safety put at risk by corporations contracting with the federal government that cut corners. Taxpayer dollars should not reward corporations that break the law, so today President Obama is cracking down on federal contractors who put workers’ safety and hard-earned pay at risk.”
Connecticut Jobs & Employment Center
The new “Fair Pay & Safe Workplaces” executive order will apply to companies
• CT job Boards • 3000 Company Profiles
August 2014
Connecticut Real Estate
350,000 Connecticut R Transactions
Connecticut Rea Estate News
seeking federal procurement contracts valued in excess of $500,000. It will require them to provide information regarding the company’s record of compliance with federal labor laws.
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Enter Your Events on www.ctcalendar.com
CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE The Clinton Chamber of Commerce hosts its Annual Breakfast Meeting. Election of officers and directors, presentation of Robert DiBona Scholarship Awards, refreshments. 8-9 a.m. June 19 at Town Hall, 54 E. Main St., Clinton. 860-6693889, clintonct.com. Each third Friday the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce (GNHCC) hosts Discover the Chamber, an informational and networking session for new and prospective members. Free pizza, even! Noon August 15 at GNHCC, 900 Chapel St. (10th Fl.), New Haven. Free. 203-787-6735, gnhcc. com.
Kondracki La., Wallingford. Members free, $10 non-members. 203-269-9891, maribel@quinncham. com.
EDUCATION Human Resources For the third session of its six-session Human Resources Roundtable Breakfast Series, the labor and employment group of the law firm of Carmody & Torrance presents Employee Benefits & ERISA Basics. Roundtable discussion designed principally for HR professionals and in-house counsel. 8 a.m.-9:15 August 28 at 50 Leavenworth St., Waterbury. $65 ($250 for six sessions). Reservations. 203-578-4247, aslack@carmodylaw.com.
Powerhouse Marketing: Putting the Pieces Together. Learn the A-Zs of marketing your business from experts. From creating your marketing plan and designing a your logo to producing a video and ad campaign, panelists will guide attendees through the steps of promoting your business. Panelists include Tanya Detrik of All Write Resources; Michael Liebensohn of VideoActive Productions; Porter McKinnon of Allegra Print & Imaging; Joe Stamler of Visual Transformations Graphic Design; Michael Sussman of Digital Dog Design. Moderator is Kim Kasparian of SuccessGenie. 8-10:30 a.m. September 10 at Greater Valley Chamber of Commerce, 10 Progress Dr. (2nd Fl.) Shelton. $15 ($10 members). Registration. 203925-4981, greatervalleychamber.com.
WHO’S WHAT, WHERE
Join the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce for the Constant Contact Presents: How To Make the Most of Your Posts. Seminar will attendees a closer look at the popular social media networks — Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Google+ — as well as the benefits of using each and how other organizations are marketing with them. Also, tips on how to tell if your social media activity is working. 8-9:30 a.m. June 24 at GNHCC, 900 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. Registration. 203-787-6735, gnhcc.com. The Shoreline Chamber of Commerce (incorporating the former Branford and Guilford chambers) hosts Business After Hours. Networking, door prizes, giveaways. 5:30-7:30 p.m. June 24 at Shoreline Prime Meats & Deli, 103 N. Main St., Branford. Registration. 203-488-5500, branfordct. com. Join the Quinnipiac Chamber of Commerce for its monthly Business After Hours. Networking, refreshments, bonhomie, etc. 5-7 p.m. June 26 at Village Green of Wallingford by Revera, 55
ecofashion Continued from page 11
natural 100-percent cotton clothing and alpaca sweaters and accessories,” explains Zarate, who is based in Simsbury.
Legal
The New Haven County Bar Association’s Ask a Lawyer program offers free ten- to 15-minute consultations with an NHCBA attorney to all comers (no pre-registration necessary) each third Wednesday. 5-7 p.m. August 20 at Hagaman Memorial Library, 227 Main St., East Haven. Free. 203-468-3890, hagamanlibrary.info. Management
Fred Pryor presents Human Resources for Anyone with Newly Assigned HR Responsibilities. From legislation affecting OSHA, COBRA, FLSA, ADA, FMLA and HIPAA to the best practices in benefits, recordkeeping, hiring, firing and discrimination, this course is a comprehensive primer on all the issues attendees will face as they confront the daily new challenges of the HR professional.9 a.m.-4 p.m. August 28 at Omni New Haven Hotel, 155 Temple St., New Haven. $149. Registration. 800-780-8476, pryor.com.
Under the auspices of the Quinnipiac Chamber of Commerce, SCORE volunteers offer free and confidential Mentoring to entrepreneurs and small-business owners the third Wednesday of each month. Counselors have experience in such areas as marketing, management, business-plan preparation and more. Call for appointment. 9, 10 & 11 a.m. August 20 at Quinnipiac Chamber of Commerce, 100 S. Turnpike Rd., Wallingford. Free. Reservations. 203-269-9891, maribel@quinncham. com.
RECREATION Register now for the Quinnipiac Chamber of Commerce’s 30th annual Tom Groves Golf Classic. Shotgun start; scramble format. Dinner, awards follow. 12:30 p.m. September 8 at the Farms Country Club, 180 Cheshire Rd., Wallingford. $225. 203269-9891, maribel@quinncham.com.
and it is an eco-friendly material. It was recycled and it is environmentally safe.”
production items a way of living since the industrial revolution.”
Like many green enterprises, Zarate endeavors to give and/or give back to communities and environments through her products.
For some, says Chandra Sittiraju, it’s a matter of going with convenience.
“I have preferences and guidelines when purchasing new items,” she says. “I like to give a chance to all non-profit organizations, like [fair-trade organization] SERRV and Call to Care Uganda. Their products are handmade from renewable materials and they help groups in need of financial help for food or school supplies. I prefer to work with third-world countries because I Peruvian native Zarate was inspired to open her business after taking a trip to her know what poverty is.” native land in 2008. So, is eco-friendly fashion an easy sell?
“My admiration for the Incan culture made “Through these [past] five years I have me realize that Peru has a lot to offer, with built a small group of eco-friendly customits diverse historical culture and diverse ers,” says Zarete. “This year we are addnatural resources found with the three ing more novelties and local handcrafted regions -- the Coast with the Pacific Ocean, items. Customers like to support local artthe Highlands with its beautiful landscape ists/crafters. I learned that word of mouth and natural fruits and vegetables, and is what is keeping me alive — but it takes the jungle, with the Amazon River that is a long time for the word to spread out. considered the jewelry box [of the region] “People are getting more conscious in because of the native primitive tribes and protecting the environment and looking the amazing fauna. for products that are sustainable and “One of our popular products,” adds Zarate, environment-friendly,” Zarate adds. “But “is the Alpaca sweaters and accessories. we are still far to get everybody involved Therefore, our best-selling time of the in this lifestyle. That is why [it] is hard to year is winter. The alpaca fiber is soft and sell some eco-friendly products. [Many it is strong. It lasts longer than cashmere consumers] are accustomed to mass-
The Fairfield I chapter of Business Network International meets Tuesdays. 7-8:30 a.m. August 5, 12, 19, 26 at First Congregational Church, 148 Beach Rd., Fairfield. Free. 203-430-4494. The Waterbury chapter of Business Network International meets Tuesdays. 7-8:30 a.m. August 5, 12, 19, 26 at the Village at East Farms, 180 Scott Rd., Waterbury. 203-755-5548, waterburybni.com. The Shoreline chapter of Business Network International meets Tuesdays. 7:15-8:30 a.m. August 5, 12, 19, 26 at Parthenon Diner, 809 Boston Post Rd., Old Saybrook. 203-245-0332. The Hamden chapter of Business Network International meets Tuesdays. 7:15-8:45 a.m. August 5, 12, 19, 26 at Knights of Columbus, 2630 Whitney Ave., Hamden. Free. 203-294-1505, hamdenbni.com. The Milford Chamber of Commerce’s Tuesday Morning Leads Group meets. 8:30 a.m. August 5, 12, 19, 26 at Milford Chamber of Commerce, 5 Broad St., Milford. Free. 203-878-0681, chamber@milfordct.com. Connecticut Business Connections meets first and third Tuesdays at 5:30 p.m. August 5, 19 at Tuscany Grill, 120 College St., Middletown. 860343-1579, connecticutbusinessconnection.org. The Greater Valley Chamber of Commerce’s (GVCC) Valley Business Network meets first and third Wednesdays. 8-9:15 a.m. August 6, 20
Sales & Marketing
“I buy items that I like, that are different, unique and not easy to find — a conversation piece. So far people like what I am selling and they compliment them. Of course, I have items that only sell in craft shows, not at the store, which are the eco-friendly jewelry. They are made out of seed, fish scales, coconut and bull’s horn.”
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Small Business
LEADS/ NETWORKING GROUPS
“Our personal belief is that these products are better for us consumers, as well as our environment. I think when it comes to apparel, it’s a harder sell than organic food,” she says. “Lots of times, organic is just a ‘nice-to-have’ and not a ‘must-have’ for most customers. [Therefore] we have to make sure our eco-friendly products have appealing designs, superior quality and are in the right price range. “There is a segment of eco-friendly parents that is growing,” she adds. “These parents are happy to go the organic route for their babies, but it’s always not the case when they buy clothing for themselves.” Being an online business has essentially helped business, says Sittiraju. “We have evolved consistently [over the past five years],” she says. “We have invested smartly in technology and are perhaps one of the few apparel brands that have automated most aspects of our business.” The automation has helped the company fulfill orders, an operational function that was sluggish and a “time killer” in the beginning, she acknowledges. “In order to turn this weakness into strength, we smartly automated our dis-
tribution by partnering with Amazon,” she explains. “This distribution strategy helped us deliver unmatched customer experience by leveraging on Amazon’s core competency. This allowed us to focus on aspects of the business that we needed to focus on. Our co-founder, Sameer Joshi, is a strong believer in technology and was instrumental in getting this implemented. “This distribution model also helped the us enter the European Union market by sitting here in Southbury, Connecticut,” adds Sittiraju. “For EU markets, our products are warehoused in Amazon’s United Kingdom warehouse, from where we service 26 European Union countries. In U.S., our products are warehoused across Amazon U.S. warehouses.” With the online model, the company broke even “very quickly,” asserts Sittiraju. “This allowed us to run our business as a real start-up with very little overhead. Through the online model, we were able to sell our products across all major continents.” But there was a downside to the online model. Large numbers of customers placed small orders — as opposed to the store model, where a small number of stores place large orders, Sittiraju explains. But she says the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. And she foresees even more growth for the company and its eco-friendly products in the near future. Www.Conntact.com
at GVCC, 10 Progress Dr. (2nd Fl.), Shelton. Free. 203-925-4981, laura@greatervalleychamber.com. The Trumbull Business Network meets Wednesdays. 7:30-8:30 a.m. August 6, 13, 20, 27 at Helen Plumb Building, 571 Church Hill Rd., Trumbull. Members free (annual dues $50). Reservations. 203-452-8383, trumbullbn.com/contactus. htm. The New Haven chapter of Business Network International meets Wednesdays. 8-9:30 a.m. August 6, 13, 20, 27 at the Bourse, 839 Chapel St., New Haven. $100 registration; $365 annual fee. 203-789-2364, boursenewhaven.com. Milford Chamber of Commerce’s Wednesday Morning Leads Group meets 8:30-9:30 a.m. August 6, 13, 20, 27 at Milford Chamber of Commerce, 5 Broad St., Milford. Free. 203-8780681, chamber@milfordct.com.
The Quinnipiac Chamber of Commerce’s QNet Group meets the second and fourth Wednesdays. 8-9 a.m. August 13, 27 at 100 S. Turnpike Rd., Wallingford. Free. 203-234-0332, 203-269-9891, quinncham.com.
Middlesex County Toastmasters meets second and fourth Thursdays. 7 p.m. August 14, 28 at Middlesex Community College, 100 Training Hill Rd., Middletown. 860-301-9402, middlesex.freetoasthost.com.
The Greater New Haven chapter of Toastmasters meets second and fourth Wednesdays. 6:30
The Connecticut Business Hall of Fame hosts a statewide networking event the third Friday each month. 7:30-9 a.m. August 15 at Connecticut Laborers Council, 475 Ledyard St., Hartford. $5. 860-523-7500, ctbhof.com.
.m. August 13, 27 at New Haven City Hall, 165 Church St., New Haven. 203-871-3065. Connecticut Business Connections meets second Thursdays. 7:30 a.m. August 14 at the Greek Olive, 402 Sargent Dr., New Haven. 860-3431579, connecticutbusinessconnection.org. The West Haven Chamber of Commerce’s Leads Plus A.M. Group meets second Thursdays. 8:30 a.m. August 14 at 140 Capt. Thomas Blvd., West Haven. 203-933-1500.
The Greater New Haven Business & Professional Association, an association of predominantly African-American business people, holds networking sessions Wednesdays. 11 a.m.noon August 6, 13, 20, 27 at 192 Dixwell Ave., New Haven. Free. 203-562-2193.
The Entrepreneur Business Forum (EBF) meets Thursdays. 7 a.m. August 7, 14, 21, 28 at Hamden Healthcare Center, 1270 Sherman La., Hamden. Free. 860-877-3880. The Professional Networking Group of Waterbury (PrefNet) meets Thursdays. 7 a.m. August 7, 14, 21, 28 at Waterbury Regional Chamber, 83 Bank St., Waterbury. 203-575-101, ProfNetWaterbury.com. The Hamden Chamber of Commerce’s Chamber Business Network IV meets first and third Thursdays. 8 a.m. August 7, 21 at chamber office, 2969 Whitney Ave., Hamden. Free. 203-985-1200. The Greater Valley Chamber of Commerce’s Alliance Leads Group meets first and third Thursdays. 8-9 a.m. August 7, 21 at GVCC, 10 Progress Dr. (2nd Fl.), Shelton. 203-925-4981, nancie@ greatervalleychamber.com.
The Sound chapter of Business Network International meets Fridays. 8-9:30 a.m. August 8, 15, 22, 29 at Parthenon Diner, 374 E. Main St., Branford. Free. 203-208-1042. Milford Chamber of Commerce’s Friday Morning Leads Group meets. 11 a.m.-noon August 8, 15, 22, 29 at Milford Chamber of Commerce, 5 Broad St., Milford. Free. 203-878-0681, chamber@milfordct.com. The Hamden Chamber of Commerce’s Chamber Business Network III (formerly Leads Group III) meets second and fourth Mondays. 5 p.m. August 11, 25 at SBC Restaurant & Brewery, 950 Dixwell Ave., Hamden. Free. 203-288-6831. The Hamden Chamber of Commerce’s Chamber Business Network I (formerly Leads Group I) meets second and fourth Tuesdays. 8 a.m. August 12, 26 at 2969 Whitney Ave., Hamden. Free. 203-281-1233. The Greater Valley Chamber of Commerce’s (GVCC) Women in Networking Leads Group meets second and fourth Tuesdays. 8:4510 a.m. August 12, 26 at GVCC, 10 Progress Dr. (2nd Fl.)., Shelton. Free. 203-925-4981.
Editor’s note: Fraternal meeting listings can be found on our website (ctcalendar.com) along with additional events taking place statewide. Send CALENDAR listings to Business New Haven, 20 Grand Ave., New Haven 06513, or e-mail to news@conntact.com.
The West Haven Chamber’s Women in Business meets the fourth Monday of each month. 11:45 a.m. August 25 at American Steakhouse, 3354 Sawmill Rd., West Haven. 203-933-1500.
HITCH YOUR WAGON TO THE RISING STARS
The Connecticut Alliance for Business Opportunities (CABO), which describes itself as the state’s LGBT chamber of commerce, meets first Thursday mornings. 8-9:30 a.m. August 7 at the Pond House in Elizabeth Park, 1555 Asylum Ave., West Hartford. $15 members, $25 others. 203-903-8525, thecabo.org.
The Milford chapter of Business Network International meets Fridays. 7-8:30 a.m. August 8, 15, 22, 29 at Hilton Garden Inn, 291 Old Gate La., Milford. Free. 203-214-6336, greatermilfordbni.com.
The Jewish Business League meets third Wednesdays for networking and informationsharing. 7:30-9:15 a.m. August 20 at Temple Beth David, 3 Main St., Cheshire. $8 advance, $10 at door. tinyurl.com/8-alnnuz.
The West Haven Chamber of Commerce’s Leads Plus P.M. Group meets fourth Thursdays. Noon August 28 at 140 Captain Thomas Blvd., West Haven. 203-933-1500.
The best emerging business and community leaders this region has to offer . Don’t Miss Business New Haven’s Rising Stars! Join Us for One of Our Most Popular Issues and Events
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September 2014
The Hamden Chamber of Commerce’s Chamber Business Network II (formerly Leads Group II) meets second and fourth Tuesdays. Noon August 12, 26 at Lifetime Solutions Community VNA, 2 Broadway, North Haven. Free. 203-288-7305. The Greater Valley Chamber of Commerce’s (GVCC) Seeds-to-Leads Group meets second and fourth Wednesdays. 8 a.m. August 13, 27 at GVCC, 10 Progress Dr. (2nd Fl.), Shelton. Free. 203-925-4981, laura@greatervalleychamber.com.
August 2014
Early October
For more information call 203-781-3480 www.conntact.com
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NewCo
Young Entrepreneur Has Skin in the Game Stephanie Sarno was always interested in hair and other dimensions of beauty and personal care. So for her, establishing a day spa was a logical career development. Lotus Day Spa opened its doors at 329 Main Street in June. The spa offers facials, massages, nail services, full body waxing and other skin and body treatments. Sarno, who recently turned 24, started the business after working as an aesthetician for five years. She studied aesthetics at Academy Di Capelli in Wallingford immediately after graduating from high school. She then applied her knowledge, and enhanced her skills, working at Sonia Day Spa in Hamden. This is Sarno’s first self-owned business. “I decided I wanted to come back to Wallingford and give it a shot and start out on my own,” she explains. But Sarno quickly learned that starting a new company at a relatively tender age can pose challenges. When looking to secure capital, for example, having a clean slate isn’t necessarily a plus. “The more experience you have, it always looks better” to potential lenders, Sarno explains. “Collateral was an issue, too.” Having never owned a business before, Sarno was subjected to careful scrutiny, she says. “I don’t think it had anything to do with the type of business I wanted to start. It’s just the lending process — and it is a process,” says Sarno. “Especially if you have to take out a loan to start your business. I definitely learned that the whole process of starting a business takes a lot of patience.”
op-ed muska Continued from page 4
After clearing the initial financial hurdle for her startup, Sarno now can focus on the day-to-day aspects of business operation. She is a licensed masseuse and also performs other services the spa offers. But she also likes being stationed at the front desk. “That to me is fun. I really enjoy it,” says Sarno, who describes herself as a “people person” who relishes interacting with clients. In addition to Sarno, Lotus clients are served by three independent contractors whose services Sarno retains. “I like the environment of having a small number of employees,” says Sarno. Her contractors specialize in massages and facials, among other offerings. “There’s such a variety. There’s a wide range of facials and skin treatments,” notes Sarno. The dozens of offerings, for example, range from $15 for a skin peel to $115 for a 90-minute hot-stone body treatment. Among the more in-demand services this summer have been nail care — manicures and pedicures — and body waxing, Sarno notes. Anti-aging treatments are also popular with baby boomers, she adds. Working at another facility was a plus before going it alone, says Sarno — not just for the experience, but in terms of building a client base. “I had a clientele built up,” she explains. “If I had started with no clients, that definitely would have been a challenge. Word of mouth was very helpful.”
For first-time entrepreneur Sarno, 24, starting her own business is ‘definitely a journey.’
Sarno says she looks forward to growing her new company. “Right now I’m very comfortable,” she says. “In five years I see myself growing the business. It’s definitely a journey.” — Felicia Hunter
Leftists rightly consider state capitols rich targets for the marketing of “universal preschool,” bloated train and bus systems, enhanced subsides to universities and Medicaid
metastasization. The real-world consequences of these costly measures? Proponents aren’t interested. Taxpayers should be.
only did it spend in a miserly fashion, it refused to impose a tax on personal income. By nearly every barometer, between Bill Clinton’s election and Barack Obama’s reelection, life in the Evergreen State got better. Job growth in the accountable sector was prodigious — almost 30 percent higher than the nation. Washingtonians were an educated lot in 1992, and stayed that way. The violent-crime rate, which started scant, fell by 44.7 percent, close to the decline posted by the entire U.S. At 10.8 percent, the hike in MHI was stellar. Nevada’s results are mixed, but one conclusion is certain: Paltry spending on “services” did not repel newcomers. Quite the opposite: The Silver State’s population doubled, fed by relocating retirees and private-sector job creation of just below 80 percent. Nevada’s moonbats whine about workers’ wages, and it’s a valid gripe. MHI fell by 9.3 percent. Poverty, once beneath the national rate, rose above it. Student achievement on standardized tests continued to be lousy, but college completion improved. Robberies, rapes, murders and assaults remained far too common. In February, Gallup released its annual survey of statelevel “well-being,” which examines “life evaluation, emotional health, work environment, physical health, healthy behaviors and access to basic necessities.” Woeful highspenders included Mississippi, Arkansas, Missouri and Kentucky. Chipper skinflints included Hawaii, Idaho, Nebraska and Washington. 30
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