The Fairfield County Business Journal 7/02/2012 Issue

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FAIRFIELD COUNT Y

BUSINESS JOURNAL

YOUR ONLY SOURCE FOR LOCAL BUSINESS NEWS • westfaironline.com

Vol 48, No. 27 • July 2, 2012

Stamford Hospital provides jolt

FCBJ TODAY Which would you rather bag – an auto air-bag maker or the on-air headquarters of NBC Sports? … 2

BY ALEXANDER SOULE

casoule@westfairinc.com

Gold coastal property: Historic preservation accolades for arcade, bungalow and Old Town Hall … 2

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The single most pervasive technology ever invented? 3 Cleantech entrepreneur in Norwalk … 5 Special report: BNC’s Peyton Patterson, that’s who … 10 The List: Presidents not pictured on a banknote … 12, 14 Moderator Steven Kirn and panelists delved into the post-recession CFO.

No BS – “bank speak” that is … 13

The job of the CFO: discipline – and creativity BY PATRICK GALLAGHER

pgallagher@westfairinc.com Also … “I think there has been a deficit of our attention to Fairfield County … We have to make up for that.” 8

MEDIA PARTNER

Antoine Remy, CFO and vice president of finance for The Dannon Co. Inc., has two obsessions and one feeds into the other. The first is to make sure Americans eat more yogurt. The second is to make sure that Dannon, based in White Plains, N.Y., and one of the world’s largest yogurt producers, continues to report increased sales and growth. Remy was joined June 26 by several Westchester and Fairfield County CFOs and business experts to discuss the changing role of chief financial officers in the post-recession

corporate environment. Despite the ever-present reminders of the recession in boardrooms and on balance sheets, Remy said the job of a CFO is not to automatically shoot down a bold idea but to find a way to transform it “into a profitable and sustainable proposal.” “I wouldn’t kill the idea at first because of financial constraints – I would first look at what’s going to drive growth,” Remy said. “Growth is what’s missing today. It’s not a matter of trying to do it cheaper or to do less – it’s about going back to growth.” On every shelf, page 6

airfield County is getting an unexpected stimulus, after Stamford Health System announced plans to build a new Stamford Hospital facility in one phase of construction through the spring of 2016, abandoning previous plans for multiple phases. Stamford Health System said it expects the new timetable to cost $450 million, less than the $575 million it had estimated for a multiphase construction project that could have lasted 15 years. If the construction sector represents a small component of the state’s economy, it has an outsized impact in terms of spurring spending from area suppliers and vendors. With construction employment running 1 percent below last year’s levels as Charged up, page 6

Creative Corridor gains momentum BY JENNIFER BISSELL

jbissell@westfairinc.com

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ired of living in New York City’s shadow, the Fairfield County Public Relations Association relaunched the Connecticut creative corridor initiative, now named C3, at its annual meeting. With new leadership and a strategic plan in place, keynote speaker and C3 pioneer Luke Scott said the initiative is ready to take off, almost a year since it was announced. Its goal: Attract top talent and clients by rebranding “sleepy” Fairfield County as a hotbed of creative talent. Europe calling?, page 6

Fairfield County celebrates 40under40 • 27


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