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ON THE RECORD Quinnipiac University Engineering – Another Leap Forward On the Heels of Success Starting A Med School, University Now Adds School of Engineering to The Mix

Mark Thompson has been at Quinnipiac for 18 years and was appointed Executive Vice President and Provost in 2013. Previously, Thompson served as Dean of the Business School, which saw expansion under his leadership. Now, the engineering program has split from the Business School as Quinnipiac seeks accreditation upon graduating its first class of engineers. Business New Haven publisher Mitchell Young sat down with Vice President Thompson to discuss the school’s growth in recent years. •••• How are things going, what effect has the changing demographics, etc. had? Every institution has been feeling effects from some of the demographic changes. We’ve been quite careful and thoughtful about how we respond to the changing landscape. Having started the Medical School and what will be the Engineering School are two examples of how we’re responding to changes in the market place. Taking the Medical School as an example, we’ve had a long history of success in the health professions. Where do you see the demand in Healthcare? Anyone who understands what is happening demographically understands there is a broad array of opportunities in virtually all the healthcare fields. With the aging of the population, we see our gross domestic product more and more being fulfi lled by expendi-

tures within the healthcare fields, approaching 20% of all expenditures. I don’t expect that trend to change. We’re seeing a lot of opportunity within the health sciences. Nursing is very healthy in terms of the labor market outcomes. The school of Medicine has a mission of training Primary Care doctors. We know there is a demand, there hasn’t been any weakness within any of the programs we’re currently offering within the health-related fields.

Has the demand for Physician’s Assistants continued to increase as it has historically? Physician’s Assistants continues to be a strong program and we have a very high demand for it. It is a reflection of how we’re ranked nationally as well the job prospects are very strong for individuals coming out. As Provost you’re involved in faculty recruiting, do you typically recruit within the tri-state area or nationally and how attractive is our state and region to recruits?

We’re actually recruiting on a national basis, our Medical School faculty has come from across the nation, but we cast a wide net. Quinnipiac’s a place they [faculty] want to be, our reputation continues to grow. I think it is a combination of Quinnipiac being attractive and the aspects of the region being attractive. The thing that comes up quite a bit when you think about the demographic that we’re hiring, they oftentimes have children that are going to primary and secondary school and they are happy with the quality of education opportunities in the towns that surround us. Quinnipiac has had a great deal of growth in the [nearly] two decades you’ve been there, how has that affected the mission and campus life? It is a success story that is hard to match in higher education, particularly private higher education. It’s been rapid growth but it’s been appropriately managed growth, it’s always been related to our values of high quality academic programs. The primary interest for me in hiring new faculty beyond their credentials, but everyone looks good on paper, it is the extent that they are studentoriented. Because we have a primary mission of high quality academic programs for our students and the second is how collaborative they are. You were the Dean of the School of Business, do you still teach?

Continued on page 6 MAY 2016

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Two Programs. Endless Possibilities.

EDITORIAL Where the Money Is

Willie Sutton, born in Brooklyn in 1901 B.S. [Before Starbucks], denies having said he robbed banks because “that is where the money is.” We’re not sure why Mr. Sutton, who had a forty-year career as a criminal and bank robber, denied the notoriety, but perhaps in his line of work being too popular isn’t a good thing.

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We at least enjoy the myth, and see it as a lesson that like Mr. Sutton, many of greater New Haven’s leading community and political leaders have come to believe that when it comes to who and what to tax, the only issue that really matters is “that is where the money is.” New Haven State Representative Roland Lemar, joined by the city’s Mayor Toni Harp and scores of Democratic politicians, support a bill that would “clarify” a 182-year-old law that exempts four Connecticut colleges from taxation when for-profit income from the building is under $6,000. Their target, however, is only Yale University. Advocates of the proposal, and they are throughout greater New Haven and include many who hail from within the Yale Community itself, are part of a national movement to throw away the tradition of treating non-profits as beyond taxation. Senate President Pro-tem Martin Looney, who represents New Haven and Hamden, has supported a bill to tax Yale’s endowment, but only Yale’s endowment, or more precisely, only those university endowments of $10 billion or more – which means only Yale.

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Looney and other “tax Yale” supporters say Yale should do more to support education and the economy in New Haven. Only a little more than twenty years ago, Yale’s endowment was under $2 billion and basic repairs and renovations to facilities were severely lacking. As the endowment grew, Yale has gone on a building and expansion spree, effectively creating a nearly new Yale campus and a revitalized New Haven in the process as the work continues.

Yale’s rebuild includes new and renovated buildings for Engineering, Business, Arts, Bio-Science, a renovated Architecture school and a new campus in West Haven. The recently renovated

Yale University Art Gallery and British Art Museum, both free to the general public, are two more examples. We can’t even list here all the new and renovated buildings that Yale has built and is building. Little recognized by most, but as part of that huge construction effort, Yale reshaped the city’s construction workforce by instituting requirements for much more minority hiring. Today, Yale is expanding undergraduate enrollment by 15 percent, the fi rst expansion in more than four decades. The assumption that $25 billion is actually a big enough endowment for Yale’s mission is not one we are capable of answering, but neither are Messrs. Looney or Lemar or Ms. Harp, all who are likely more popular in New Haven by supporting a “tax Yale” plan. What we do know is that when the endowment took a big hit in the fallout of the fi nancial crisis, new construction was mostly put on hold. In 2016 once again, however, hundreds of New Haven students received free tuition and or scholarships to Connecticut colleges with funds provided by Yale University’s Promise program, which guarantees tuition or offers scholarships for New Haven resident students that meet certain academic criteria enrolled in colleges in Connecticut. In this issue, we report on the $22 million purchase by a New York investor group for what is arguably just another New Haven apartment building assessed at around a third of that amount – well, it is a few hundred feet from Yale. For those that haven’t been paying close attention, New Haven is boomingwith new [taxable] construction. Then there is the Yale effort to start bioscience and other tech companies. We mean really – we get wanting more tax revenue – hey who doesn’t want more money? But this ‘Yale needs to do more,’ what more, how much is more? For years we’ve said economic development in New Haven, the state and frankly even the U.S., has focused too much on the “egg head” economy, and that is the root cause of this tax non-profits movement. The average IQ in the US is 98. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to tell you that New Haven’s “pitchfork populist” attack on Yale starts there. Will government eventually get its hands on revenue from the non-profit sector, including university patent bioscience licensing agreements, ticket sales, concert venue rentals, book publishing and travel excursions, from endowments? We think so, there’s no cultural or political push back. BNH

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 GOVERNMENT

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Senate Democrats Set The Stage For Another Minimum Wage Increase Senate Bill Didn’t Get An Audience, Is A Reprisal Likely?

n January 1st the state of Connecticut required all employers to pay a minimum wage of $9.60 per hour. The Federal minimum is $7.25. Connecticut’s minimum will increase to $10.10 in January of next year. Connecticut’s initial boost of the minimum wage to $9.60 an hour in 2014 and then $10.10 was a fi rst in the nation and seen by many as a dramatic move by Governor Dannel Malloy that helped prove his liberal credentials. Advocates for a higher minimum wage, $15 by some worker groups and then notably Democratic Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders, has pushed the issue further. The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton has called for a $12 Federal minimum and even Republican nominee Donald Trump has called for an increase for low income workers. Trump has backtracked somewhat in the face of conservative opposition, saying that “states [not the Federal government] should set the minimum wages,” albeit higher. The city of Seattle didn’t wait for the State of Washington to move however, when they established a $15 minimum wage phased in beginning April 2015. Employers in Seattle with more than 500 employees in the US will be required to pay $15 per hour in Seattle by this January, and if they provide health insurance, they get a year of additional breathing room. Companies with fewer than 500 employees will have until 2021 for the pay hike. Some Republican legislators and governors in states including Alabama, Arizona, North Carolina, Michigan and Missouri are proposing measures and bills to stop municipalities from raising

MAY 2016

By Taylor Nicole Richards

By Mitchell Young minimum wages in their local communities. New York and California are both expected to pass legislation providing a $15 minimum wage by ‘22 or ‘23. Although even candidate Clinton, a former New York Senator, questioned during the New York primary if this was viable in economically struggling upstate New York.

has campaigned across the nation trying to convince other major company CEOs to do the same. He hasn’t succeeded at Target and Walmart completely, but both companies have now raised their “minimum” wage to $10 per hour. With that political backdrop Connecticut’s Democratic Senators put forward a proposal in early May for $12 per hour state minimum wage by 2020. The bill was proposed by Senator Marilyn Moore, D-Bridgeport and was cosponsored by Senate President Pro Tem Martin M. Looney, D-New Haven and Senators, Cathy Osten of Sprague and Ed Gomes of Bridgeport.

For now, at least, the $15 minimum wage effort continues in more localities. Cleveland, Ohio’s City Council recently put forward a $15 per hour proposal that has “Fight for $15” advocates dancing in the “Rock and Roll Capital of the World” today.

Employers in Seattle with more than 500 employees in the US will be required to pay $15 per hour in Seattle by this January While Hartford based Aetna has been severely critical of the state of Connecticut taxing policies, even joining GE and Travelers in a letter to the Governor last June, the company CEO, however, is the country’s corporate leader for a higher minimum wage. Mark Bertolini raised the wages of Aetna’s lowest paid workers to $16 per hour and

I’m From Wethersfield But I’m Staying In New Haven

State Senate Republicans were not willing to have any part of the plan, however, and threatened extended debate. Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano, R-North Haven, said the whole plan was a political theater to help Moore, who was facing a Democratic Primary opponent. Governor Malloy didn’t appear willing to take a part, either. Brian Durand, his chief of staff, basically said he had only “recently learned of the proposal” and that the emphasis for the administration was the budget. Democratic House Speaker J. Brendan Sharkey, D-Hamden, who typically is happy to enter from Stage “Left” admitted even he was blindsided saying, “it’s not that I’m necessarily against it; I just didn’t realize it was happening.” A dismissive Fasano said, “this is a waste of time, it is not going to get called in the House.” Looney eventually brought the curtain down on the effort for this season.

This May I graduated from Southern Connecticut State University with a Bachelor’s degree. Instead of moving back home with my family 35 minutes North in Wethersfield, I decided to stay in New Haven because it’s the best city in Connecticut. I moved here to start my undergraduate degree four years ago. Not surprisingly, I’m one of two friends who is graduating in four years. Almost everyone I know is running a “victory lap” into super-seniority. Although many people I know are staying in the city to finish their degrees, I also know a few who chose to stay here, like I have, because of New Haven’s attractive force on my generation. Wethersfield is a suburb below Hartford, but hardly ever growing up did my family take us to see the culture it had to offer. Hartford has its fair share of attractions, like the Science Museum or the Wadsworth Atheneum, but there is a clear disconnect with the surrounding towns. My friend Chloe, who grew up in Hamden, always said that she was constantly going to New Haven with her friends on the weekends in

high school. My friend Joe, who graduated from UConn last year, moved to New Haven to make music and live in a city. He didn’t choose Bridgeport or Hartford-- he chose a city rich with collegeage activity and culture. Downtown New Haven, though quaint compared to nearby Boston and New York, is constantly bustling. New Haveners, Yalies, college students from nearby schools, and families from all around Connecticut are constantly filling the streets, restaurants, galleries, venues, and bars day and night. Hartford is full of buildings touching the sky but no feet roaming the ground. It’s practically a city that closes at 4:30 p.m. New Haven has a vibrancy that stands alone in our small state. It’s full of college students like Boston, but unlike Boston, it doesn’t lose a chunk of its population when school’s out for the summer. Places like the Yale Art Gallery, BAR New Haven, College Street Music Hall, Toad’s Place,the endless pizza joints, and the shops on Broadway and Chapel, pull younger 20-somethings as well as families in surrounding towns back on New Haven’s streets. However, the bigname spots aren’t all the city has. Just this week my friend went to two bars in one night that I’ve never heard of. The endless independent businesses downtown creates a unique feeling to every walkable street. New Haven is not a city of

chain businesses, by any means. When I was profiling small businesses for one of my journalism classes, I met two women in their 60s at WAVE on Chapel Street. One woman lives in Branford and the other in Trumbull. They told me they meet twice a year for a girl’s shopping trip to every shop on Chapel street, just to treat themselves to all the goodies the area offers. Their sustained excitement for this city is a sentiment that I feel is present in the younger generations moving here as well. For me, it would surely be financially responsible to move back to my parents’ house. But I really don’t want to. I love my family, but if I went back, I’d be putting that money back into my gas tank to New Haven. My friend Danielle moved back to Newington after graduating from UNH just to drive to New Haven almost every weekend. I also know two people out of grad school that have no plans of leaving Beaver Hills. One drives to Greenwich daily for work, the other to Durham. Their job is their job. Their house is five minutes from downtown, and to them, they live in the perfect spot. That’s why I’m not going back to Wethersfield. Taylor Nicole Richards was a Journalism intern with Business New Haven this past Spring. When she told us she was staying in New Haven – we thought she might help answer the question we hear all the time – “can all these apartments get filled?”

 THOMPSON

Continued from page 3

I still teach, that is my favorite thing to do, but unfortunately my schedule allows me to teach one class in the fall semester: The Principles of Micro Economics, generally to freshmen. Many likely saw the start of a new medical school as risky. How, did you see it inside of Quinnipiac? I think it’s reflective of our generally entrepreneurial approach to the University. The School of Medicine represented to us something that was part of the long-term plan for sustainability. It had its risks but it was a good strategic investment for the long run. You also set up a second campus in North Haven at the former Anthem Connecticut headquarters for many of the professional services and graduate programs. How has having two campuses affected campus life, for example? Actually, there are three campuses, [including] York Hill where the Sports Center is. We have grown rapidly and spread onto three campuses, but we’ve gone out of our way to make sure we maintain a sense of community. Some of it is what I can do personally, spending time on each of the campuses. How can we use technology to tie the campuses together? We have various meetings where we live stream them, so it doesn’t require that everyone is in the same room. How and where we hold various events. . . How many students come into a class at the Medical School in a given year? Ninety, we need them. May of 2017 is the fi rst graduating class, time fl ies. We don’t know for sure, but if the majority do pursue primary care, we will have fulfi lled what we had intended. Have there been many new medical schools established in the last several years in the U.S.? How much demand was there from students and healthcare partners? Maybe five to ten. For the ninety spots, we had more than seven thousand plus applications. The demand is very strong, there still are people that want to pursue the medical profession. We [also] have a lengthy list of clinical affi liations, St. Vincent’s is our primary partner. We have more than a dozen that we partner with for the [health care programs generally]. There is a dual benefit, there is a certain level of prestige that comes along with being a teaching facility in the medical profession. And they are looking for good 6

talent, and they have a chance to be exposed to the talent we’re producing. Over to Engineering: Quinnipiac has been offering programs for a while, through the business school I guess, so you’ve been moving in this direction, why did you jump now? We have had a buildup and interest over time. When we fi rst started, we made promises to people with regard to labs being in place. We made the appropriate investment in labs. And when people got to see some of the facilities and equipment and the quality of faculty we have, then when you can show some progress, it makes a difference. We’ll have the program fully accredited as of next year, from [ABET, Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, Inc.]. Accreditation can’t be achieved until you’ve graduated your fi rst class, which will happen this month. There is typically a close relationship between Engineering Schools and business, especially manufacturers, what is Quinnipiac doing to create these? I think that is beneficial and we have those relationship regardless of the [Engineering] School. It is more consulting [with them] to understand what the skills are that are desired among the employers. We have four areas: software, industrial, mechanical and civil. Where does Quinnipiac see the Engineering School by style and purpose?

ence, and their role as practitioners and the ability to bring that experience into the classroom. They play an important role. Now there is a Law School, Medical School and Engineering School, is there anything in a different glide path in the “big idea” category to add? I don’t anticipate any major additions on the order of Engineering or Medicine. The number of universities that have the combination of Law, Medicine and Engineering is very small. The [faculty] is highly active in their research, they are doing both applied research as well as pedagogical research, those they are contributing to in a variety of ways. I think it is appropriate in how they connect that in terms of a high quality education. Are you finding some majors that are still hard for your students to get placed in the current economic environment? How is law doing, for example? Quinnipiac’s president John Lahey was a Philosophy major

and I guess we could say that did work out for him? We have a very strong placement rate across the board, even in those areas that have a little bit of labor market weakness. We’re starting to see some healing of the [law] marketplace, but I don’t expect it is gong to be a rapid turn around. There are defi nite signs that things are improving in the law market. The Quinnipiac Poll continues to get a lot of coverage, does it still drive awareness and student recruitment? I don’t think there is any question, it has been beneficial and continues to be. Last question, what message would you like to impart to the business community? We continue to seek partnerships with the business community as a way to understand what they seek in graduates, and the ways we can be supportive as a University. I would invite conversation with anyone that has interest. BNH

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It is consistent with all of our programs. We are training people to be high quality practitioners, training people to actually do things related to their career goals. Very much applied. We’re seeing connections between business and engineering taking place in the development of new inventions and seeing some connections with the Medical School as well. There really is an applied approach that trains people. Quinnipiac has a lot of adjunct professors that are already in both worlds. Are you seeing synergies develop? We’re just starting to see that now. It is in its infancy, but I am starting to see the connections. We’re very careful of who we hire as adjunct faculty, but we do it with an eye toward what they bring in up to date practical experi-

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Yale Overtakes UCONN in College Value Study Website Pegs Results to Costs for Value Index

he website Smartassets. com released their annual College Value Index and Yale University overtook last year’s value leader, UCONN. Smartassets explains the approach and purpose of the index in its report, “earning a college degree can increase your skill set, job prospects and net worth. But with rising college costs, where you choose to get that degree from can make a big difference.”

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supplies, even personal expenses. Yale provides just under 50% of students with singnificant fi nancial aid, [see the average of grants and scholarships offered by the schools]. Financial aid was computed into the “value index.”

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Country Squire Gives Up The Good Life To Become Ordinary People

Back to US Map The report evaluated what it says is the “return” to students. Retention rates, reMost GE Workers Won’t Be Moving To enrollments and the The Back Bay with the CEO average starting salary that graduates earned were computed. General Electric CEO Jeffrey Costs and starting salaImmelt is “movries had the greatest ing” the corporate weighting [25% to startgiant from its ing salary, and to tuupscale middleition, and living costs], class suburban headquarters in scholarships & grants Fairfield to an ever and student retention hip, urbane and [12.5%]. youthful home on Midwesterner Immelt heading Map data ©2016 Report a mapGoogle error the “seaport” in to Boston as Red [s] and Boston. already a Patriots fan.

Five factors were used to evaluate the “value” and were weighted in importance. Tuition, student living costs, scholarship and grant offerings, retention rate and starting salary of graduates were all determining factors.

Immelt’s New Canaan mansion on the market for $5.5 million, replaced by “Back Bay” condo.

Costs for State schools were in-state tuitions, and living costs included room and board, books, transportation,

National Jobs Report Universally Disappoints Payroll Provider releases national employment data of clients

According to ADP, a private payroll services provider, April saw an additional 156,000 jobs across most sectors, down from 194,000 the previous month to make April 2016 stand out as the lowest month for job growth in more than a year across most states. All sectors saw a small jobs increase, with the exception of manufacturing, which saw a loss of jobs to the tune of around 13,000 nationally. New England saw a mere 5,300 of these jobs as a region, about 600 of them in Connecticut, making it the weakest region nationally. According to the state’s Department of Labor, unemployment in the state remains steady at 5.7% and April saw an overall growth in non-farm jobs of 3,500. Cumulatively, this means the state has recovered 80.3% of jobs lost during the employment recession from March 2008 to February 2010. The national unemployment rate is 5%. 8

Apparently the culture change is aimed at more than his company. The Dartmouth graduate has put his New Canaan country style mansion on the market for $5.5 million.

NIH Funding CT 16th Highest

Perhaps as evidence that the move is not about reduccosts, Immelt has bought for $8 million a mere condo on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood.

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Private and School Labs Receive Grant Funding

2016 research and development grants from the National Institutes of Health cover a wide range of issues from the medical and pharmaceutical to the community health-based socio-economic. In 2016, Connecticut researchers will receive $180,620,779 in grant awards to institutions like Hartford’s Trinity College ($7,500), UConn at Storrs and Farmington ($33,525,657), and Yale University ($138,784,763). Yale ranks as the 11th highest academic recipient of funding, behind schools such as Johns Hopkins at #1, Stanford at #7 and Duke at #10, among others (but not Harvard, which was 21st). In addition to funding for research outfits in Academia, many private firms in the state will also receive grant funding, including New Haven laboratories Arvinas at $648,400, Haskins Laboratories at $1,649,765, John B. Pierce Laboratory at $1,896,304 and L2 Diagnostics at $298,959. Last but not least, the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station in New Haven received $108,000 to study mosquitos and dengue fever.

Some GE workers are already setting out to make the trip up Route 1, but others will relocate in 2018 and not all from the former Fairfield, Connecticut headquarters. The company recently announced that 600 jobs from the Fairfield location will actually be moved to Norwalk and that jobs being moved to the new Mass. location will come from GE operations all over. Immelt’s New Canaan mansion is nearly 10,500 square feet, spreads across four acres of fauna and flora with hills, trees, a pond, a stone terrace, six bedrooms and eleven bathrooms. In the move, Immelt will likely save on housekeeping and “TP” while the sixty-year-old executive will be getting plenty of cardio exercise. According to the Boston Business Journal, the Back Bay condo is a 3,565 square foot triplex with four bedrooms. While the state of Massachusetts apparently spent millions to facilitate GE’s move, it is unlikely that Immelt himself will be warmly welcomed. He’s no Sox fan – true to his mid-western upbringing, he roots for the Cincinnati Reds. With the loyalty one would expect from a corporate titan, in spite of living within a taxi ride to the Meadowlands for twenty years, he is a Patriots fan. BNH

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Welcome to tomorrow. You’ll love it here. When you’re healthy, everything is possible. Yale New Haven Health is at the forefront of all that today’s health care offers. And it’s easily accessible to you. So when you visit any Yale New Haven Health provider, it’s a gateway to all the skills and technology of three leading hospitals, along with thousands of community physicians and skilled specialists. That not only makes health care easier, it makes it more promising. YaleNewHavenHealth.org

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Vol XX,II No.7 May 2016

Challenge From the Left and Right Mount For Esty

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Imagining A New Downtown For Waterbury

Historic New Haven Apartments Fetch $22 Million Page 10

“Gay” Republican and “True” Conservative Independent Take On Incumbent

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Editor & Publisher Mitchell Young Editorial Manager Rachel Bergman Editorial Assistant Vincent Amendola Design Consultant Terry Wells Graphics Manager Matt Ford Publisher’s Representative Robin Kroopnick Contributors Vincent Amedola Rachel Bergman Claudia Ward-DeLeon Emili Lanno Taylor Richards Derek Torrellas Photography Steve Blazo Steve Cooper Derek Torrellas Lesley Roy Business New Haven is a publication of Second Wind Media, Ltd., with offices at 315 Front Street, New Haven, CT 06513. Telephone (203) 781-3480. Fax (203) 781-3482. Subscriptions: $32 annually. Send name, address and ZIP code with payment. Second Wind Media, Ltd., d/b/a Business New Haven, shall not be liable for failure to publish an ad or for typographical errors or errors in publication. Order your subscription at: Conntact.com email: news@conntact.com

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he war and its rhetoric within the Republican Party and its conservatives has opened a battlefield in Connecticut’s Fifth District. For the third consecutive election, John Pistone will be running as an independent after Esty: Facing a liberal Cope: Reps. choose over Pistone: Less then 1% last being denied Republican Businessman time support from the Republican Pistone received less than 1% of the vote in 2014. Esty earned Party. The party 53.2% percent [113,564], her opponent Mark Greenberg at chose Sherman First Selectman Clay Cope to run against 45.8% [97,767]. former Connecticut state rep and two-term Democratic Congresswoman Elizabeth Esty. The Fifth District is as diverse a district as Connecticut has. It sprawls across Western Connecticut, bringing together Pistone, who says he’s a conservative, wasn’t really in the race the cities of Danbury, New Britain, Meriden, Torrington and among the Republicans. Cope, the Republican nominee, beat Waterbury. In addition, the district includes wealthy suburban out Newtown businessman Bill Stevens who earned only 21 of towns like Newtown in Fairfield County, Avon in Hartford 247 votes cast. County and Esty’s hometown of Cheshire in New Haven Pistone has run as an independent in the past two elections. County along with a bushel full of small towns both ‘tony’ and In announcing his independent bid, Pistone claimed the rural like Sherman, population 3,500, where Cope is the chief Republicans “were moving to the left” by choosing an openly executive. gay candidate.

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Controversial IRAs for Small Business Bill Moves Forward Bill passes through House of Representatives and Senate, but hits a speed bump at Gov’s desk By: Emili Lanno

The bill for Individual Retirement Accounts for small businesses is a state-sponsored program that will offer retirement plans to employees with companies they are affiliated with that do not already offer a plan under an automatic enrollment system. The Bill took another step forward on April 30 as it went to the Senate and then was handed over to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. Gov. Malloy stated that if certain revisions were not made, he would veto the bill. The House of Representatives voted to pass the bill 76-63. A Senate vote ended in a tie of 18-18. Members of the Senate who opposed this bill included: Wethersfield, Paul Doyle, Joan Hartley from Waterbury and Milford’s Gayle Slossberg, who are all Democrats, and came together with the 15 Republicans who also opposed the bill. It was ultimately left down to Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman, who voted yes, breaking the tie and moving in favor of the retirement savings plan. This bill will ultimately make a quasi-public system, the Connecticut Retirement Security Program. Unless eligible employees deny that they want any affiliation with the retirement plan, anyone in the private-sector will be included in the retirement savings plan with employers that do not already offer a retirement plan required to enroll employees in this program. The employees will see three to six percent of their taxable wages deducted for retirement savings. Company payroll will then pass the deductions to a Roth IRA overseen by the Connecticut Retirement Security Authority, which may charge people a fee for program costs.

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At this point, the bill only has the authority to hire one vendor handling the funds, but one of the revisions that Gov. Malloy called for was to open the opportunity to multiple vendors. Also, several other revisions requested by Gov. Malloy included: meeting rules and conducting them, appointing of authority board members and cap fees, and rules and makeup going along with additional quasi-public authorities. The Governor has until June to either sign or veto the bill, but if he chooses neither option, it will automatically become law. The bill states that employers would need to begin enrolling employees by June of 2017. This program is targeted towards employers that have at least five employees who have earned at least $5,000 in the past year, are 19 or older, and have worked with that employer for 120 days or more. Some controversy has ensued for what it means for small businesses. Supporters in the Senate believe it will help the 600,000 residents in the state who don’t already have a retirement plan where they are employed. Supporters believe those that are not enrolled in a retirement program will then be relying on public programs upon retirement, a cost to the state. Members like Senator of Bridgeport, Ed Gomes, believe that if people are given this option of a payroll deduction where they are employed, they are more likely to save up for their retirement later in life. Those who are critical of the bill believe this is unnecessary and that any employee is able to privately seek an IRA from the marketplace. This bill is seen as a burden order for small business employers.

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Some Senate Republicans offered an alternative to the bill, which would create a state-sponsored marketplace connecting small businesses and employers to retirement plans in the private sector, which they offered earlier this year. In negotiations, this proposal was brought up as an amendment, however it was turned down. “The private sector would do a lot better here,” Sen. L. Scott Frantz of Greenwich said. “We’re already doing this in the private sector. I don’t know why we’re suggesting this as a government agency at all.”

MAY 2016

Historic New Haven Apartments Attract Big Time Buyer and Price NHV Real Estate A Plum Deal

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The New Haven apartment market continues to attract attention from sophisticated and wellheeled investors. East River Partners, a New York private equity real estate development company, has made a big bet on the historic Cambridge Oxford Apartments at 32 High and 36-38 High Street downtown. The purchase price of $22.5 million for a three building historic apartment complex fi rst constructed in 1860 and then fi nished in 1926, may send ripples through the real estate community and give New Haven’s tax authorities pause.

The buildings’ appraised value was approximately $8 million, nearly one-third its true value. Marcus & Millichap arranged both the purchase and sale from Beacon Communities of Boston for the 84 units. East River intends to renovate 54 units and is seeking zoning approval to add several apartments as well.

The property is located within a few hundred feet of the British Art Museum, Yale Art Gallery and the Yale University Arch on Chapel Street. Garry Witten of M&M said, “this unique property attracted institutional and private client interest on the national level, demonstrating the strength of the New Haven and Connecticut markets.”

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The ability to follow another person’s gaze is an important step in learning

Connecticut Food Bank Monkeys and Humans Receives Hefty Donation Share Behavior On behalf of Connecticut Food Bank’s hunger fighting mission, The Grainger Foundation, based in Lake Forest, Illinois recently donated $10,000 to the cause. Karen Archambault, Branch Manager out of W.W. Grainger, Inc’s North Haven location, recommended they donate to the food bank. It is an independent, private foundation founded in 1949 by William W. Grainger. According to Connecticut Food Bank Director of Fund Development Operations, Beverly Catchpole, the donation from the foundation will go towards the Connecticut Food Bank Kids’ BackPack program, which supports helping the “bridge the weekend meal gap” for children at school who collect reduced-price or free lunches. This program is currently serving 22 school districts with a total of 3,300 children.

The Apple of Our Eye Recently, the Connecticut Governor’s Tourism Awards, part of the annual Connecticut Governor’s Conference, were presented by Governor Dannel P. Malloy and the Connecticut Ofﬁce of Tourism. These tourism awards recognize various organizations and individuals who have made a difference in the $14 billion tourism industry and have expanded tourism statewide.

Based on a recent study by Yale, Harvard and University of Pennsylvania researchers, it appears that similar to humans, monkeys have the pattern of following the gaze of others throughout life. The study consisted of 481 rhesus monkeys based in a preserve. Researchers tested to see how these monkeys would respond to a researcher’s upward glance. The ability to follow another person’s gaze is an important step in learning, human interaction and socialization. If someone lacks the ability to follow a gaze, this can be signs of autism or other social problems. The infant monkeys started a gazefollowing pattern, similar to that of human babies, very early on. Even after three or four glances to see what the researcher was looking at, appearing to be nothing of interest, it seemed that the monkeys took more gaze opportunities than human babies. In their juvenile years, their gazes started to vary and become more flexible, and in adulthood even more varied with human-like sex differences— females gazing on more than men. Again, like older humans, the older monkeys turned less sensitive to most gaze cues.

Q’s new School of Engineering To Debut

as degrees in a computer science program.

The new School of Engineering at Quinnipiac University will start offering classes this fall with Dr. Justin W. Kile as its founding dean. Since 2013, Kile served as engineering associate dean, leading the engineering program. This will become the university’s ninth school, which offers civil, industrial, mechanical, and software engineering programs, leading up to bachelor of science degrees, as well

Quinnipiac invested in the $9 million construction of the engineering laboratories while engineering courses were being offered to students by the School of Business and Engineering. These labs will be the cornerstone of the School of Engineering. It is located in the Center for Communications and Engineering on the university’s Mount Carmel Campus, consists of 17 faculty members and about 190 students.

Lauralton Makes New Sports Field Reveal Lauralton Hall, an all-female Catholic college-preparatory school located in Milford, has revealed its newest sports field for their athletic program. A field dedication ceremony recently took place at the school, along with an Athletic Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and Luncheon to celebrate the $2 million construction project. As part of planning stages, the school’s Athletic Director had the athletes play on many different surfaces to see which one fit best. Ultimately settling on artificial turf, school president Dr. Toni Iadarola said the choice added to the school’s commitment to the environment. It was chosen over regular grass due to possible issues with uneven areas or of different textures that would interfere with ball speed or performance. This field will be used for track, soccer, field hockey and lacrosse.

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John Lyman III, executive vice president of Lyman Orchards, received the Tourism Legacy Leader Award at the ceremony. John Lyman III received this award for his role as pioneer in “agritourism.” He supervised Lyman Orchards, a 275-year-old, 1,100-acre farm and transformed it into a “multifaceted” spot for tourists. He has managed to attract over 600,000 visitors per year, continuing his father’s vision of the destination, which was fi rst opened in the 1960s, and then majorly transformed in the 1970s to expand their crops, store, championship golf courses, and bakery.

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Revitalizing Downtown Waterbury Part III In This Last of A Three Part Series – An Historic and Once Dynamic Downtown Seeks A New Purpose in the 21st Century By Derek Torrellas

de Reynolds opened her used bookstore and café in downtown Waterbury at a time when most other businesses were moving out. Twenty-four years later, with some of that time spent living several floors above the shop, The John Bale Book Company is still in business.

“It ebbs and flows,” Reynolds says, about the commercial opportunities downtown. “I mean, we’re a used book store, we came in because it was cheap rent. Then there was a little bit of a resurgence.” Reynolds has lived in Waterbury for more than 40 years and raised her kids there, which she jokingly states should almost qualify her as a full “Waterburian.” The area “had a sense of neighborhood,” she enjoyed at times. Now, in general, people are only downtown working in a few concentrated spots. Reynolds would like to see some things as both a resident and store-owner. “A stable economy down here, and that comes with jobs and people living here, so that you have a balance. Refurbishing and rehabbing some of these great buildings, you will find people who will move in.” The City of Waterbury, with Mayor Neil O’Leary at the helm, is involved in a gradually unfolding plan to revitalize the downtown zone. The two biggest pieces of the puzzle that O’Leary and his office laid out are the need to increase the residential population and expand the job opportunities downtown. Both plans rely on existing buildings, turning once-fallow ground productive again. In July of 2014, O’Leary stood side-by-side with Governor Dannel Malloy as a $19.2 million state investment package was announced. Waterbury Next, as municipal officials have called the funding, is aimed at downtown improvements. As the mayor understands it, Waterbury residents want “the traditional downtown they grew up with.” Not high-rises, he says, like the tall buildings that one would find in the city centers of Hartford and New Haven. Several high schools within downtown Waterbury, in decades past, would simultaneously release their students. “They remember young people everywhere, they remember the traditional five and dime stores. The Howland-Hughes building was the landmark of downtown. You could buy everything

A block of East Main Street centered on the restored Palace Theater, and opposite the UCONN Waterbury campus, is evidence of past downtown improvement projects to maintain a distinct look to the area.

from a television set to a refrigerator to a pack of gum in there. That’s what they want.” “But that generation, quite frankly, is getting older,” O’Leary says. “I mean, I’m probably the young side of that generation. I think what most people recognize now is that they just want downtown Waterbury to look better, and to feel better, and to be occupied, and not empty. The younger generation [is] saying that we need more restaurants and bars, and I agree.” Though first, he adds, the city needs people living downtown who can patronize those establishments. Several buildings are essential to the near-term plan to bring more jobs and residences downtown. Terry Corcoran and Joe McGrath, the Mayor’s assistant and chief of economic development, respectively, led the way to the first location. The three-story Lombard Building sits at the corner of East Main and South Main streets. The outer façade of the upper two floors are vaguely reminiscent of a time gone by, calling to mind the Prohibition or Depression era. But the Walgreens, Santander Bank, liquor store, and Family Dollar occupying the first floor, with every other storefront being empty, largely overshadow the architectural details. The ground floor entrance, largely unused, reveals a reflective chrome and gold foyer that blatantly proclaims the Art Deco design that continues through the rest of the interior.

Corcoran and McGrath, strolling through the dimly lit corridors, couldn’t help but marvel aloud at the interior features. Their appraisal may have seemed a strange contradiction to the missing ceiling tiles, corroded electrical boxes, and disheveled offices abandoned more than 20 years earlier. But the two were looking at the details of the space – “They don’t make hallways this wide, anymore,” Corcoran remarked – and its future potential. This highlights the project for downtown as a whole; it has promise but it will require a lot of investment and effort to complete. Just a short walk down Bank Street from the Lombard building is the 110,000 square foot Howland-Hughes. Built in 1903 (the original burned down the previous year), windows dominate the brick exterior; of particular note are the ornate arched openings on the fourth floor. As the Mayor mentioned, the store used to be a major landmark as the Howland-Hughes Company department store. The four-story structure was once a central hub of activity and shopping, but since closing in 1995 has sat largely dormant. The city has set aside some funds for future development of the property, according to O’Leary. Five million dollars of the Waterbury Next’s $19 million is earmarked for the project. O’Leary says his office is working with a couple developers now, trying to stimulate their interest in the Howland-Hughes building.

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Economic development chief McGrath calls it “the anchor” of the downtown revitalization plan. “There’s no doubt about it,” he says. “The key to success is the Howland-Hughes. Ideally we would like to see between 3-and-500 employees in that space. The key would be for us to match that up with some type of inspiring business or call center. Where we could have employees on the second, third, maybe fourth floor.” The Lombard building, on the other hand, has been tagged as the potential location of student housing for UCONN Waterbury. Currently, the university is commuter only, with nearly 1,000 students, but creating dormitories fits with O’Leary’s vision of more residents living downtown. The mayor says he brought some developers up to UCONN to speak with University President Susan Herbst. “Basically, her message to them was: ‘If you guys invest in downtown Waterbury, and you build suitable dormitory space, we will fill them with our students.’” O’Leary affirms that the demand is there. “We did a survey of our students here at the UCONN Waterbury campus, and about 45% of them said that if there was an opportunity to live in a dormitory-type setting in downtown Waterbury, then they would. Most of the kids that commute in and out of the campus here are from the suburbs. About 70% of the student population lives outside of Waterbury and commutes in daily.” College students from the wealthier and middle-class suburbs will be able to afford it, O’Leary says. And, they will bring a disposable income with them, which may not be a whole lot, he admits, but spending money nonetheless. “We want some vibrancy, so we want some young people.” The City’s brownfields, seemingly part of the state of manufacturing in Waterbury, are nonetheless tied to the downtown issue. As former industrial sites affected by environmental contamination, brownfields

Joe McGrath, Waterbury’s director of economic development, surveys the prospects and difficulties of executing the downtown revitalization plan from the rooftop of the Scovill Street Garage, March 1, 2016.

can’t generate any income for the city until they are remediated. O’Leary and McGrath are eyeing a 75acre brownfield on the north side of Freight Street. It is also on flat land, which the almost bowl-shaped city doesn’t exactly have an abundance of. “We’ve been talking about this stuff for a couple years,” the mayor says, looking toward his economic development chief. “All the urban planners we’ve spoken to and anybody with a shred of common sense will tell you that whatever we do there we’ve got to be careful, because that is the greatest opportunity for Grand List growth, right now, that we have. And it’s in downtown Waterbury. We’re going to be really, really careful,

and have a vision. What could that be? That could be retail, it could be commercial, it could be some residential, it could be a little bit of open space as well.” Freight Street is on the fringe of Downtown, but not quite part of it, owing mostly to its current industrial/ commercial use. The City’s plan hopes to grow the downtown area and incorporate whatever is built at Freight Street. The site has been patiently awaiting remediation for almost 50 years. Environmental contamination – “the elephant in the room” – isn’t as big of a hindrance as it once was, according to O’Leary.

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Private companies understandably have reservations about purchasing a brownfield and becoming saddled with the cost of remediating it before anything can be built. However, federal and state laws were enacted that reduce liability if a municipality buys the property. A city like Waterbury can use federal and state funding and resources to clean up a brownfield and sell it, which returns the property to the tax roll.

in your state to go along with what the federal government has done, and you gotta remove the liability on the municipalities.’”

“By the way, the guy who taught me all that is Michael Nutter,” O’Leary says. “He’s the [ex] mayor of Philadelphia, I met him four years ago.” Because of the Waterbury PAL park [see Business New Haven October 2015], O’Leary was invited to speak at a conference of mayors regarding brownfields. The two were seated at the same table, and Nutter asked the Waterbury man what brought him to the conference. O’Leary answered and countered with the same question. “I said ‘What brings you here?’ He said, ‘Well, I’m the mayor here’ So we started talking and he said to me, ‘You got to get your legislature

The 120 buildings encompassing the brass-era Scovill Manufacturing Company property were leveled in 1995-96. The new face of commercial retail – the Brass Mill Center – sprung up in its place in 1997.

Following the conference, O’Leary contacted an attorney well-versed in the subject who began working with the Connecticut General Assembly. Public Act 13-308 was passed in 2013, reducing the risk on municipalities purchasing brownfields. “It’s a big deal,” says the Mayor.

The mall “hurt us,” O’Leary says. “And it wasn’t intended to happen that way, but it did happen that way. The problem is, all of our people in our downtown business district moved into the mall, which caused a lot of these vacancies that we still have today.” While the Brass Mills Center is at odds with creating new commercial oppor-

tunities downtown, Waterbury needs the mall. The Mayor admits to feeling nervous whenever he hears that one of the large stores might close, such is the importance it has on the City’s economy. And with the mall long established, the bygone era of primarily shopping downtown couldn’t work, anyway. It has been attempted before in other places and it never works, the mayor says. Instead, a delicate balancing act is required to have commerce coexist both downtown and nearby at the mall and other retail centers. Small restaurants and professional office spaces downtown have filled some of the vacancies. Others have remained shuttered. “The mall is going to be retail, and will always be retail,” O’Leary says. “What we want to do with the empty spaces that the mall created is really create opportunities for employment. We’re finally realizing that what we need to do to make downtown Waterbury successful again is to appeal to a professional business climate and have those people come in and out of here to work.”

Downtown living options are fairly limited right now. The City estimates the need for between 500 and 700 residences there by calculating the number of commuters who live in Waterbury but work outside it, and young professionals who commute to Waterbury that live in one- or two-bedroom apartments. McGrath assumes that a large number of these young, working residents would use public transportation, but some will still of course be vehicle owners. On-street parking is particularly difficult, limited by the City’s design and layout inherited from the “horse and buggy days,” as McGrath calls it. But the existing off-street parking infrastructure is already capable of handling a surge of residents and workers. Two large ramp garages might not be co-located with the new residences, but they are situated centrally downtown. The Scovill Street Garage and a larger one nearby on Bank Street are underutilized as of late. Waterbury’s Green is due for a $1 million makeover, the Mayor says. The

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Green is unlike New Haven’s in that it doesn’t play host to large events, but both share the role of being a “pulse point,” for transportation in their respective cities. O’Leary calls it a “huge facelift,” and it will consist of replacing all the underground utilities, the sidewalks, and the benches. Wi-Fi accessibility will bring the Green into the 21st century. Residents want to keep the traditional green they have now, so O’Leary says the overall design won’t change, but everything will feel nicer and cleaner. The Green will be fenced off when work commences, due to begin this Spring. Most of these projects aren’t handled from City Hall alone. The Waterbury Development Corporation, a public/ private agency, typically manages economic development programs and any related construction. “We are the project manager of [the Waterbury Next] strategy,” says Todd Montello, WDC’s chief executive officer. “We have worked on the majority of the brownfield projects that have taken place in the city of Waterbury, using state and federal funds. Right now, associated with Waterbury Next, is a 17-acre parcel on South Main Street called the Anamet property. We’re in the early ‘environmental due diligence’ phases of that project, trying to determine what exactly are the environmental conditions, currently, so we can better asses whether the city can step in and redevelop that property.”

no success, according to Montello, because the private money never followed the initial public investment. “Recently,” he says, “since the influx of these grants, the landlords have really come to the plate. I’ve been working in Waterbury a long time, and I’ve noticed quite a difference now that we’re starting to see a bigger influx of money and much more interest from the outside [investors], which is then making the landlords get that much more excited about doing something.” “They have to be involved, and the level of involvement is basically up to them,” Montello continues, highlighting the landlords. “Whether they want to actively take part in, or sell, or whatever. But until you have participation from them, and you need an influx of private

Talking with Montello, it becomes apparent that the two keys to success for the downtown revitalization plan are investment and involvement. City and state money essentially opens the door to interest in the area, but the city can’t foster growth downtown without commitment from the current property owners. A similar downtown project was attempted 10 years ago but found MAY 2016

Reynolds, the bookstore/café owner, has weathered the shifts in downtown foot traffic and demographics. She says during one “open mic” night in the past, a group of kids who had grown up in Waterbury came, and it was their first time in the downtown part of the city. Faced with such obstacles, her business’s key is adaptability. She talks

about the impracticality of a flower shop as an example. “Well, people don’t buy flowers downtown anymore. And as beautiful as those are, they have a hard time sustaining themselves. The Internet has taken that and made it an obsolete neighborhood business. We have a bookstore. I mean, they don’t do that well in downtowns any longer, but we sustain this with a café.” Waterbury’s downtown can’t return to the glory days fondly remembered by Baby Boomers. But the new downtown plan, already set in motion, has the opportunity to breathe life back into the area, and not to be overlooked by the next generation of kids. And, as Reynolds says, “Downtown is everybody’s neighborhood.” BNH

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Montello, a Waterbury native, started as an Inland Wetlands coordinator before becoming a project manager for the Palace Theater restoration. Like Mayor O’Leary, Montello also remembers going to downtown Waterbury as a kid and sitting on Santa’s lap in the Howland-Hughes department store. His office is currently assisting in the search for a tenant for that very same building. The WDC is also involved in a streetscape improvement project. “We’re looking at making the roadways that radiate off the green more walkable, more user friendly, if you will,” Montello says. “We’re supposed to standardize streetlights, bus shelters.” Appearance-wise, parts of downtown Waterbury evolved in dissimilar ways, even between city blocks facing one another. “If you look at East Main Street, for example, UCONN versus the Palace [Theater], even the streetlights aren’t the same.”

capital, I mean, there’s only so far you can go with government funding; with grants, and loans, and environmental clean up money. At some point, you need an investor to stand up. Whether it’s a landlord that’s sitting on a building that says, ‘All right, I’m ready.’ Or he talks to some outside investor and they do something together, or the outside investor buys him out.”

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TECHNOLOGY State Seeks to Boost Start-Ups With Venture Fund Contest

A New Crop of Solar Panels Planted On Farmland SolarCity of San Mateo, CA and Brightfields Development of Wellesly, MA have partnered with the Connecticut Municipal Electric Energy Cooperative to create a 13 Megawatt [MW] solar power system with 6 Megawatt hours of energy storage. The panels will be located in 7 different sites in Groton, Bozrah and Norwich. The sites are displacing agricultural land that, according to the developers, is not being farmed or land that is not being “fully used.” One of the sites is the Mountain Ash Farm in Norwich. The land is owned by the Stotts Family. The New London Day reported that seven generations of Stotts have farmed the now 27-acre property since 1878.New Haven and Stamford.

VentureClash is a $5 million global investment challenge for early-stage digital health and financial technology (fintech) companies. A Connecticut Innovations [Connecticut’s quasi-public Venture Capital Fund] release says, “VentureClash looks to attract the best early-stage companies here in Connecticut, around the country and throughout the world.” Matt McCooe, CEO of CI explained, “we will support companies with corporate, university, nonprofit and state resources to help highgrowth enterprises succeed in Connecticut.” The top award for the challenge will be a $1.5 million investment. The second-place winner will receive a $1 million investment, and four runners-up will each receive a $500,000 investment. Mentoring, grants and other assistance will also be provided to winners.

The sites are displacing agricultural land that is not being “fully used.” program run by The Refinery, a leading Connecticut-based accelerator.

LLCs New Online Glide

Companies will have until June 30, 2016, to submit the first-round application. After

Connecticut’s new business registration system is joining the modern era. Secretary of the State Denise Merrill has announced that in-state business people will be able to file for new LLCs online. Merrill said, “in the time it takes to order a cup of coffee, you’ll now be able to submit your application to form a business in Connecticut.”

two rounds of judging, approximately 10 companies will be invited to Yale University on October 20, 2016, to compete in person for investment awards. Judges will include subject matter and investor experts from Athena Health, Canaan Partners, Greycroft Partners, Oak HC/ FT, Kepha Partners, Magellan Health and Webster Bank. For more information on qualifications, requirements, guidelines and application, visit www.ventureclash.com.

During the semifinalist round, applicants will also receive the benefit of going through VentureCamp, a four-week development and orientation

Merrill added, it will save businesses time and “taxpayers money.” Hundreds of LLCs have already been formed using the new system, there are approximately 30,000 LLCs opened each year. Before the new system, a businessperson could only file in person, by mail or fax, and an error in filling out the form could mean that the filing was rejected. The state may still take up to five days to reject an application, but according to Seth Klaskin, director of the business services division, it “is a little less likely,” as some measures, such as attempting to register an already existing name, missing a date, will be immediately rejected by the system.

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The ring must be in very close contact with the gun, which will “unlock” it. The company says, “it has been tested more than 3,000 times without failure.” The White House has been promoting finger-sensing technology of the type used on mobile phones, but it has met great resistance from Second Amendment advocates who see the measure as a government intrusion. Mossberg has created iGun Technology Corp, a subsidiary which is marketing the new brand as “The World’s First Personalized Firearm.” Their mission statement reads in part “to create ultra-reliable access control systems for firearms and other markets.”

A Very Big Brother

Klaskin said the average wait time now for approval is “around one day because they come in almost perfect.”

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North Haven Firearms Maker: “Put A Ring On It” Founded in New Haven in 1919, Mossberg & Son is the oldest family owned gun maker in the US. Known best for its hunting firearms, the company makes pump rifles, shotguns and pistols. Mossberg is using new sensing technology to assure that the rightful owner is the only person that can fire its firearms. Mossberg’s approach is to provide a ring that must be worn for the user to fire. A sensor is built into a circuit board in the firearm that controls it and communicates with what the company

Clear Channel Outdoor has more than 675,000 billboards in 40 countries and according to U.S. Senator Charles Schumer, it is using some of them to ‘spy’ on users and capture data using their mobile phones. Clear Channel’s goal is to target ads by recording where users are and how they react to the billboards’ messaging. Clear Channel says the data is held and used anonymously and that it works with partner companies to match aggregated mobile-phone location data to maps of its billboards, so the company can gather information about the people who pass its displays and to tell whether those people eventually end up visiting the advertiser’s stores. Schumer says the billboards are “spying on consumers and is asking the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether the practice is legal. He adds, “most people don’t realize their location data is being mined,” and explains his concern that, “a person’s cell phone should not become a James Bond-like personal tracking device without consent.” WWW.CONNTACT.COM

Exxon Deal May Energize CT Fuel Cell Company

Lembo and others to increase access to ultra high speed [Gigabyte] internet service.

A new development partnership between Exxon and Danbury’s FuelCell Energy is aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions from the production of electricity.

Frontier says it is committed to providing the fastest Internet speeds available in Connecticut “one neighborhood at a time.”

FuelCell Energy has a new technology to capture CO2 from natural gas and coalfired power plants and store it instead of allowing it to escape into the air.

Frontier’s Gigabyte Passive Optical Network (GPON) technology is alreadyin West Hartford, North Haven and Stamford.

“Carbon Capture” has been seen as a way for the coal and natural gas industry to extend their lifespan among concerns about their CO2 emissions contributing to climate change. Coal and natural gas power plants are the largest industrial cause of carbon emission. Traditional carbon capture technologies have been energy intensive and costly, because the relatively low levels of CO2 in emissions from 5%[gas] to 15%[coal] make it difficult to capture cost effectively. The U.S. Department of Energy has helped fund research on carbon capture, including for a pilot plant at FuelCell Energy, which uses a technology known as a “Carbonate” fuel cell.

Legislature To Put Cops’ Cell Phone Tracking On Hold

to track the person using their mobilephone. The target of the investigation will have to be notified by mail as well.

Connecticut legislators unanimously passed a bill requiring police to get a court order to track a user’s cell phone and obtain data from it. The state Senate passed its bill H.B. 5640 An Act Concerning Compelled Disclosure of Cellular and Telephone Records, the House already passed on the measure and it is expected to be signed by the Governor. Police will have to demonstrate that a crime has been committed or be likely to get court approval

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According to FuelCell Energy, its system produces electricity as it concentrates and captures the carbon into a form that can be transported and stored. FuelCell Energy has more than 50 fuel cell power stations around the world, including the largest fuel cell power plant in the world, a 59MW Fuel Cell park in Hwasung City, South Korea, with an even larger one [68MW] being built in Oxford, Connecticut. FuelCell Energy says it’s technology that would dramatically improve the economics of carbon capture, claiming that a 500-megawatt coal plant with 90 percent carbon capture would require a 400-megawatt fuel cell system and increase the cost of the electricity from 6 cents per kilowatt-hour to 8 cents. Capturing 90 percent of the carbon dioxide from a natural gas plant of the same size would require only a 120-megawatt fuel cell system [within the scope of existing systems] and would also add about two cents per kilowatt in cost.

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More Speed Frontier Communications has announced it will increase speeds and deploy additional fiber technology to businesses and homes in the north end of Hartford. Frontier’s expansion is on the heels of criticism about unequal internet services among lower income neighborhoods as well as calls by State Comptroller Kevin MAY 2016

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4/28/2016 9:49:09 AM

MANUFACTURING CT STEM Summit for Young Women Best

This April, the Washington, D.C.-based Manufacturing Institute named the Making It Real: Girls & Manufacturing STEM summit as the national best practice for encouraging young women to pursue careers in manufacturing. The summit was organized by Connecticut. Dream It. Do It., an initiative led by the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology Inc. (CCAT). Connecticut. Dream It. Do It. seeks to bolster Connecticut’s manufacturing workforce by attracting young minds to STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields. The coalition aims to cultivate a positive view of manufacturing jobs and incentivize educational institutions to “close the existing skills gap” and ensure a bright future for Connecticut’s manufacturing industry. The summit, which was held in Groton this past October, was a joint effort between two Dream It. Do It. sites: Connecticut and Rhode Island. The event drew over 150 young women from middle schools and high schools in both states.

A ﬂow battery that could store up to eight hours of energy and can be recharged 10,000 times PCX Aerostructures Intern Program Lifts Off Central Connecticut State University (CCSU), in collaboration with Newingtonbased PCX Aerostructures LLC, has launched an internship program geared towards mechanical engineering students seeking careers in aerospace manufacturing. The paid internship is designed to place students in an atmosphere where they can work with trained aviation professionals, tackling advanced machining concepts that the students will likely encounter in their careers after graduation. PCX also claims that this type of learning environment will be mutually beneficial, as the input from students will generate

EPA Honors UTC

“Despite the resurgence of manufacturing in the U.S., women continue to be significantly underrepresented in the industry,” said Susan Palisano, Director of Education and Workforce Development at CCAT. “Women make up only 27% of the manufacturing labor force, and are earning only 20% of the STEM field bachelor’s degrees.” Connecticut. Dream It. Do It. points to several reasons which account for the low percentage of women engaging in STEM programs and careers, including the need for more professional female role models, and the lack of experiential, hands-on programs that would give students a clear insight into potential careers. Seeking to remedy these issues, the organization designed the event to give girls the opportunity to meet and learn from female professionals who have created fulfilling careers for themselves. The students were also encouraged to become active participants in workshops and demonstrations, and many of the activities stressed the importance of problem solving in teams. Based on a survey taken after the event, 80 percent of the student attendees said that their interest in manufacturing careers increased, and 81 percent expressed a desire to further their education in manufacturing. Due to the positive feedback from both students and educators, Connecticut. Dream It. Do It. compiled a “toolkit” for other sites nationwide, hoping to equip them with a “how to” guide to hosting effective STEM summits for young women.

Manufacturer Goes From Hanging By A Cord to Celebrating Seventy Years of Entanglements Branford-based Autac, Inc., manufacturer of retractile cords, celebrates its 70th anniversary this June 16th by hosting a party at headquarters on 25 Thompson Road. The company began in a garage and moved to a separate facility within two years of beginning operations. The second generation of leadership, CEO Marie-Louise Burkle, admits “It was a rough run from 2010-2015. My illness, the collapse of our company headquarters in the Blizzard of 2011 and of course the economic issues specific to manufacturing in Connecticut; it’s a miracle we survived. 2015 was a real turning point for me and for Autac.” The company distributes products, ranging from power cords to custom order materials to suit large and small machinery, both within the United States and internationally. Technically, the company was founded in 1945, but incorporated in 1947, and the “celebration” splits the difference. The party will consist of tours of the plant, food trucks and games.

This Month, the New England Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) presented the Environmental Merit Award to United Technologies Corporation (UTC) Aerospace Systems in “honor of their outstanding efforts to reduce the environmental impact of their operations.” UTC is comprised of 16 facilities, 6 of which are based in New England. UTC’s environmental stewardship program requires companies in UTC’s “network to adhere to certain environmental standards and sets sustainability milestones that need to be reached in 5-year cycles.” The EPA has also highlighted UTC’s work in specific Connecticut locations: sites in Danbury, Cheshire and Windsor Locks have applied methods and upgraded systems to conserve water and reduce carbon emissions. The EPA reported that improvements made by UTC’s New England divisions resulted in significant reductions in both the use of natural resourc-

more innovative approaches in the area of complex precision metal machining. In a press release this month, John Nepley, Director of Continuous Improvement at PCX, commented on the first five interns that were hired into the program. “The level of competence and maturity of these students has certainly exceeded my expectations. They have a positive attitude, are eager to work, and have a well-rounded, broad experience base,” said Nepley. PCX offers comprehensive manufacturing services for both rotocraft and fixed-wing aircraft, including fabrication of components, mechanical assembly installations, quality inspections, and repairs. PCX owns operations in Connecticut, New York and Texas.

es and its carbon footprint; For example, the Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) site in Danbury conserves 2,000,000 gallons of water and offsets 28 metric tons (MT) of CO2, the Sensors and Integrated Systems (SIS) site in Cheshire saves 500,000 gallons of water, and the Engine and Environmental Control Systems branch in Windsor Locks offsets 440 MT of CO2.

UTC Flow Battery Seeks To Revolutionize The Grid United Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: UTX) is once again off-loading its energy technology to another firm for further development. The United Technologies Research Center has developed a flow battery system that could work with a power grid to store up to eight hours of energy and can be recharged as many as 10,000 times. The UTC battery uses liquid vanadium, a less corrosive material than many other flow batteries, and a unique structure to make the technology more cost effective and long-lasting.

Massachusetts-based firm, who will employ the technology in power grids on a larger scale than UTC development teams have produced thus far. In addition to UTC, VIONX will also work with technology partners Greenwich-based Starwood Energy, Siemens 3M, Vantage Point Capital Partners and Jabil to ensure financing, development to scale, and manufacturing of a battery system to store power off the grid. Between Vantage Point and Starwood, VIONX raised about $58 million for the project. Developers plan to use the technology to store solar and wind power, as well as grid power from fossilfuel sources to reduce the need for “peak” usage of expensive systems that are often dormant outside of, say, a hot July day for a busy power grid. The battery will be manufactured by a company in Florida. Fuel Cell technology also originated with UTC researchers, but was sold off to Doosan, with those headquarters remaining in Connecticut.

UTC has licensed the technology to VIONX, a WWW.CONNTACT.COM

REAL ESTATE AIA Business Architecture Winners 2016 Architects Recognized by Connecticut AIA The Connecticut Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) has announced its 2016 winners of the Business Architecture Awards, sponsored in part by Business New Haven. This statewide award honors architects for solving business problems for Connecticut clients. The award focuses on “Business to Business” projects, but may include non-profit businesses. The award acknowledges those projects that both enhance the built environment and achieve business goals, such as growth or future planning. Projects are submitted in two categories: under 50 employees and over 50 employees. 2016 AIA Connecticut Business Architecture Award Recipients and Jury Comments

Under 50 Employees

Special Projects:

Project: Burgess Company 62 Memorial Road, West Hartford

Award in this category, designated this year for two non-profit organizations, is for projects with exceptional characteristics that exceed employee number categorization.

Amenta Emma Architects 242 Trumbull Street Hartford 06103 Principal: Thomas J. Quarticelli, AIA

“We switched our insurance to HealthyCT. The service is great, and my staff love that HealthyCT really cares about women’s health. I’m also on their Board of Directors - because HealthyCT is governed by members. Does your insurance company listen to you?” ~ Heather LaTorra, President & CEO, Marrakech, Inc.

1 | The Burgess Group

Project: Prospector Theater 25 Prospect Street, Ridgefield Main Street Corridor

“The design enhanced the firm’s culture of collaboration in its effective, compact use of space, while the good flow of the space also supports collaboration; the thoughtfulness and attention to detail creates an inviting, well organized space. “ The firm felt that the architect’s critical design objectives “reflected its business strategy and the core values of its culture.”

Over 50 Employees Project: North American Power Headquarters 20 Glover Street, Norwalk Beinfield Architects 1 Marshall Street, Norwalk Principal: Bruce Beinfield, FAIA

Architect: Doyle Coffin Architects 158 Danbury Road, Ridgefield Principal: Peter Coffin, AIA “This is a sophisticated solution to a unique set of requirements. There is attention to detail in this whimsical, well done project, in which history is tied to the future, but with the project mission of providing meaningful employment for those with disabilities in the present.”

Honorable Mention Project: Wadsworth Atheneum Gallery Restoration Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art 600 Main Street, Hartford Smith Edward McCoy Architects 100 Allyn Street, Hartford Principal: Tyler Smith, FAIA

“The project fulfilled the company desire that the space evoke the company’s sincerity in preserving and protecting the environment and speak of green energy.”

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“The strong, cohesive design brought the values of the company to life and fostered both collaboration and energy in the work place. The use of materials seemed authentic and reflected the company ethos. The project’s sustainable design supports the company vision of moving toward sustainable energy resources.”

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“The museum renovation contribution to enhanced economic growth in the City of Hartford through the international recognition of the project. The project’s key benefit is increased admissions, using its new logo to brand and market the museum in an informal, delightful way”

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MAY 2016

HEALTH

“Many of the uninsured in Connecticut are ineligible undocumented immigrants”

An Exchange of Views On Connecticut’s Healthcare Exchange State Ofﬁcials Clash On Exchange’s Mission By Mitchell Young

Barnes said he would like the relationship between Access Health and the Department of Social Services that handles the Medicaid program to be better. According to ctmirror.com, reporter Arielle Levin Becker wrote in her article that the relationship between the two organizations has been “strained.”

he head of Connecticut’s health insurance exchange, Jim Wadleigh, and Ben Barnes, secretary of the state’s Ofﬁce of Policy and Management, aren’t seeing eye to eye. Wadleigh told the ctmirror.com news website that he wanted to see the Exchange take a larger role in “addressing affordability, health care delivery and health disparities.” Critics, and that includes Barnes, who is a member of the Exchange’s board, would like to see Wadleigh stick closer to the knitting of enrolling the uninsured. He said the exchange has “built something of enormous significance,” adding, “we have tens of thousands, maybe 100,000, uninsured Connecticut residents today. We are not currently on a trajectory to cover them through the exchange in the foreseeable future.” For those that are apt to read between the lines, Barnes also said, “we need to work more closely with other groups involved in health reform efforts.” Many of Connecticut’s newly insured are being covered by Medicaid, with 200,000 people added to the rolls, twice the number that purchased private insurance on the Exchange [105,437]. Unlike most

Barnes: “We have 100,000 unisured, not a trajectory to cover them.”

Wadleigh: [Exchange] “affordability, health care delivery and disparities.”

other states, except Minnesota and the District of Columbia, Connecticut provides Medicaid to not just those that qualify under federal standards, but the state provides coverage under Husky plans for anyone making 156% of the federal poverty level or less. Not all members on the Exchange were uninsured, however, many chose the exchange to obtain subsidies and for ease of purchase.

Wadleigh and others counter that many of the uninsured in Connecticut are ineligible, like undocumented immigrants that do not qualify for subsidies on the exchange or Medicaid. Undocumented immigrants are, however, provided healthcare in facilities such as the Fairhaven Health Clinic and Cornell Scott Hill Health Centers in New Haven, which have seen some new revenue from the Affordable Care Act. While United Healthcare, the nation’s largest health care insurer, has said it will be dropping the Exchange next year, Wadleigh sticks to his position that it is time to get more active in the healthcare marketplace, telling the ctmirror.com, “What can we do to disrupt the market? One-hundred thousand customers is a big number.”

Controversial Cancer Clinic To Be Sited In Westbrook Yale New Haven Healthcare System officials aren’t happy, but Connecticut’s Office of Healthcare Access has granted, after a contentious review, Middlesex Hospital the right to open up a new beachhead for a cancer treatment clinic on the Shoreline in Westbrook.

Middlesex is an independent hospital and is not affiliated with either Yale or Hartford Hospital’s healthcare systems.

and another twenty miles away in Waterford run by Lawrence + Memorial Hospital of New London. The independent hospital appears to be trying to buck the consolidation trend in the state and expand as a member of the Mayo Clinic Care Network. The agreement with the state requires Middlesex to provide a “linear accelerator” for radiation treatment for cancer at the Westbrook facility as well as CT scanning. The state is also requiring that Middlesex Hospital have its radiation oncology programs in both Middletown and Westbrook evaluated by the American College of Radiology. Yale has said the Shoreline didn’t need the radiation service as it provided a linear accelerator in Guilford, 13 miles away,

Docs To Get More Freedom To Compete Consolidation in Connecticut’s healthcare industry has many physicians scrambling for protection in the changing ownership environment. A bi-partisan bill passed both the Connecticut Senate and House to limit non-competition clauses in physician employment contracts. Connecticut has a tradition of single physician and small group medical practices. The bill’s proponents say that pressures that affect many small businesses along with changes to the healthcare landscape itself have created a new trend of larger groups and hospital system-owned medical practices.

Win $$ Changing Healthcare Paperwork The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has issued a challenge to all of us who complain that our medical bills are too complicated. One complaint from consumers is that they get multiple bills for the same procedure from different providers – the lab and the doctor for example. Bills don’t have a standard format or even standard language, then of course there is medical terminology or what the department refers to as “jargon.” The industry may understand their bills, but consumers often don’t. Working with six health care organizations, DHHS will test and/or implement

Lawrence + Memorial is hoping to join with the Yale System. Currently, Governor Dannel Malloy has placed a moratorium on hospital mergers in the state. Middlesex has argued that if the merger does go through, Yale New Haven will have a “monopoly” on radiation cancer services on the shoreline. The Federal Trade Commission has called for more competition among providers with the hopes of reducing costs. Connecticut law has ostensibly the same goal of reducing costs, but by issuing a “certificate of need” before new expensive treatment facilities can be located.

Republican Len Fasano [R- North Haven] and Senate Minority leader, whose father was a single practitioner in New Haven’s Westville neighborhood, and Senate President Pro-tem Martin M. Looney of New Haven joined in the bipartisan effort to limit non-compete clauses so that doctors “could return to community practice” if they chose to after the sale of the practice. The bill envisions providing for single year restriction for a non-compete and a fifteen-mile noncompetition protection radius for that year. While large groups and the hospital systems claim they need to protect their purchase and the affordability of starting up a new physician in business, proponents argue that neighboring Massachusetts bans physician non-competes entirely. winning designs from their “A bill you can understand” challenge. Cambia Health Solutions in Oregon, Geisinger Health System in Pennsylvania, INTEGRIS Health in Oklahoma, The MetroHealth System in Ohio, Providence Health & Services in Washington, and University of Utah Health Care – together treat nearly 3.5 million people, have been selected as the healthcare organizations willing to participate in the design testing. Competitors have two opportunities to present a winning design and winners in each category will win $5,000 awards. Take your time and do it right, you have until August 10. 1. Easiest to understand, and not in bureaucratic speak, 2. “for the best transformational approach to improving the medical billing system.” visit www.abillyoucanunderstand.com.

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MARKETING Partnership Formed To Fight The Storm Schneider Electric, Eversource Energy, and the University of Connecticut have partnered up with the goal of joining technological forces to engage in storm outage prediction.

Schneider Electric is an energy management company that recently announced the long-term partnership in hopes of creating a more precise technology model for weather forecasting. Schneider is contributing its weather technology, weather data, and knowledge in the development of scalable solutions for utilities worldwide. The new partnership will include UCONN’s analytics model—Outage Prediction Model (OPM)—combined with the WeatherSentry Online (WSO) platform by Schneider. These technolo-

gies will provide utilities with better data to predict the severity of future storms, better determine the impact they will have on infrastructure, allow them to make well-informed decisions regarding storm preparation to reduce costs, and gauge how the storm might affect customers and restoration time. The Eversource Energy Center located on UCONN’s campus will be the headquarters for this industry-academic partnership. Eversource delivers and transmits electricity to approximately 1.2 million customers in 149 cities and towns and provides natural gas to a total of 72 Connecticut communities. This marketing partnership will also give students and researchers an opportunity to gain experience in the meteorological sciences and utilities management sector. The Eversource Energy Center joined the partnership in order to contribute to the effort of creating responsive technology and reliable power during severe weather. “This partnership will enhance the precision of our current storm damage forecasting tool, allowing us to plan more effectively and deploy additional crews and resources as needed to areas expected to be the hardest hit,” said Peter Clarke, senior vice president of Electric Engineering and Emergency Preparedness at Eversource. “This will help speed the restoration process and minimize customer inconvenience.”

Is A Rose By Any Other Name, Just As Sweet? Madison based Truth in Advertising [Tina.org] says that it is not anti- advertising but explains its mission this way “Perhaps there was a time when a very compelling ad convinced you to buy a product or service, only to find out later that you had been misled by the marketing?” It has set its sights on advertising content masquerading as something else online. Saying “when it comes to advertising, a name by any other name is the game these days as marketers try every which way to get their message before the eyes of consumers without blaring that what they are reading or seeing is actually an ad.” Examples are shown in the graphic as found by Tina.org staffers and compiled from Digiday.com in a recent piece on the issue. Tina has also set off on Connecticut’s wine retailers with a new database that it says shows that the retailers are being deceptive in their in-store marketing of wines. See the database at Tina.org.

“To ﬁnd out later that you had been misled by the marketing?” UNH and United Airlines Form Safety Alliance A special project that brought together United Airlines and interns from the University of New Haven came about with a goal of relying on a data mapping system to improve safety. The United-UNH Data Visualization Project initially gained traction when the Federal Aviation Administration required airlines to put into effect a safety management system in the midst of a merger between United and Continental Airlines. According to Michael Quiello, United Airlines Vice President of Corporate

MAY 2016

Recently, the project received national recognition and was awarded the National Safety Council’s 2016 Green Cross for Safety Innovation Award, presented at a ceremony in Chicago. According to the National Safety Council, the award recognizes “achievement

Peoples United Bank Hires New Marketing Leader People’s United Bank has a new Chief Marketing Officer, Mark Herron and he will be responsible for the strategic positioning of the company and overseeing

Herron

Decker Adds New Account and Creative Directors Glastonbury: Decker Creative Marketing has expanded its senior management team with the addition of Lynn Paré, Senior Account Director, and Bernie Hrubala Creative Director & Manager.

Paré

Judge Lets Bunny Suit Keep Going

U.S. District Judge Carol Jackson in St. Louis said he will not dismiss claims brought against Duracell, based in Bethel, which is owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N) by Energizer Holdings Inc’s (ENR.N). Energizer contends that Duracell’s pink bunny on battery packages too closely resembled the sunglass-clad, drum-beating Energizer Bunny.

Safety, the project began when United Airlines needed to interpret, analyze, and convert large amounts of data into easy-to-use, versatile information. The new information had to be accessible and mutually understood by all employees of the multinational airline.

Hrubala

Paré has agency and brand experience with Colangelo (Church & Dwight brands and Filippo Berio Olive Oil), SolutionSet (Dell and AMD) and DDB Worldwide (Clorox).

in evidence-based success either from a corporation, coalition, organization, or individual. It is given to candidates that have taken an innovative approach to solving a safety problem or improving safety protocols.” The project spanned over two years and consisted of the UNH interns visiting both national and international airports, to observe, collaborate, and take steps toward solving some of the airline’s problems. During that time, United Airlines was able to reduce aircraft damages by 23 percent and injuries by 11 percent.

marketing, customer research, product development, analytics and engagement efforts for People’s United Financial, Inc. Herron is a thirty-year marketing veteran and was Executive Vice President, Enterprise Sales Manager at BB&T Corporation [185 billion dollar financial services company], in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Herron was “chiefly responsible for oversight of the company’s enterprise sales process for more than 10,000 sales associates in over 35 separate lines of business.” He received his bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Marketing from East Carolina University.

Cigna, and has previously worked at Cronin & Company and Arnold Worldwide on accounts including Liberty Bank and Montefiore Medical Center, Continuum (Sprint) and Southern Comfort.

Kosiorek Steps Up Makiaris Media Services, the Middletown based media planning and buying service has promoted Kimberly Kosiorek from Media Planner/ Buyer to Manager, Media Services. Kosiorek is a graduate of Southern Kosiorek Connecticut State University and has worked for Makiaris Media for more than 15 years, beginning in 2001. Kosiorek will manage a variety of accounts, leading a team of media professionals.

Hrubala was, recently with