FAIRFIELD COUNTY
BUSINESS JOURNAL
19 | FAST TALK
17 | DRIVING AT 60
June 13, 2016 | VOL. 52, No. 24
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Danbury mayor launches business advocacy office BOUGHTON EYES RUN FOR GOVERNOR BY KEVIN ZIMMERMAN kzimmerman@westfairinc.com
D FRANCHISES TO GO
Stamford residents Diana Hall, left, and Darlene Anderson at their Melt Mobile gourmet food truck in Stamford. Photo by Reece Alvarez
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anbury Mayor Mark D. Boughton, like many politicos and business people in Connecticut, isn’t happy about the state’s economy. Unlike most, however, he’s taking action on both fronts: creating a new business advocacy group in the city and mulling over a third run for governor. “We’re definitely looking at the ’18 race,” Boughton said from his office at Danbury’s City Hall. The city’s eight-term Republican mayor — first elected in 2001 and running unopposed in the most recent election in 2015 — has renewed the domain name
teamboughton.com and said he expects to make a decision on running for governor in the fall. Other potential GOP candidates seeking to unseat Gov. Dannel Malloy, who presumably will run for a third term in 2018, include Thomas C. Foley, the Republican standard-bearer in 2012 and 2008; former state Sen. John P. McKinney, who ran in 2014; and even Joe Scarborough, the MSNBC talk-show host and former U.S. representative from Florida, who lives in New Canaan. Scarborough’s contract with the cable network expires in 2018. As for Boughton, the son of former Danbury Mayor Don » MAYOR, page 6
Benay Enterprises shines in back-of�ice space BY KEVIN ZIMMERMAN kzimmerman@westfairinc.com “IF YOU DON’T ASK FOR IT, YOU DON’T GET IT.” That’s something of a mantra for Dawn Reshen-Doty, president of Benay Enterprises, which provides back-office administrative management and bookkeeping
services for companies seeking to focus on their core business and reduce their administrative costs. It’s a saying that has served her and her Danbury company well over more than a quarter-century, as she said most of Benay’s business is garnered through personal meetings and word-of-mouth.
“Our clients are our best sales force,” said Reshen-Doty. She said Benay has grown 5 to 10 percent each year for the past five years, since she has taken sole charge of the company following the retirement of her father and company founder Neil Reshen. Benay currently has nine full-time workers and three part-timers, including one who recently got married and relocated to North Carolina, where he telecommutes. She expects to add another two employees over the next year. Benay and its president are riding a wave of momentum, having recently won the U.S. Small Business Administration’s
award for best minority-owned small business in Connecticut. That honor followed the company’s award from the Connecticut Law Tribune for best general and administrative outsourcing for 2015. “Anything the client needs, we handle remotely,” said ReshenDoty, noting that clients are based in Newtown, New Canaan, New York, New Jersey — even Chicago, Los Angeles and London. “It doesn’t matter where you are — if you don’t want to ramp up with a huge office and deal with taxes, different laws in each state, we handle that for you. We figure out the rules and regulations and
make sure that our clients are fully compliant.” At Rucci Law Firm in Darien, “We retained them when we first started the firm in December 2011,” Amy S. Zabetakis, a founding member of the firm, said of Benay Enterprises. “They’ve been extremely helpful in terms of setting up our bookkeeping, business management and other services that otherwise we would have had to hire multiple different people to handle.” Initially aiming to be a diplomat, Reshen-Doty spent several years in Japan, working for that country’s government and at IT » BENAY, page 6