CBIA BizCast

“If you like what you do and you like who you do it with, you don't run away from happiness,” TD Bank’s Steve Moroney told the CBIA BizCast. Moroney has spent his entire 20-plus year career with the bank, including running the bank’s Westchester and Fairfield markets before being named market president for Connecticut and Rhode Island. “I've always liked the culture,” he said. “I love the brand, I love the people.” While he’s called Connecticut home since 2008, Moroney felt like he was starting over when he made the shift to New England. “The colleagues now that I have to lead, don't know who I am,” he said. “My peers that I need to get things done and be successful do not know who I am." Moroney said it was important for him to spend a lot of time getting to know his new team. “It's important for them to know that I'm someone that they want to follow,” he said. “So trying to be an empathetic leader, listening to them, finding out what's working, finding out what's not working.” As he’s built relationships with businesses, Moroney said he’s gained a new appreciation for manufacturing in Connecticut, and the industry’s impact on the state economy. “It's just a lot of fun as a banker to work with people and work with businesses that create things and build things,” he said. Moroney said it's particularly rewarding to be able to help small and mid-sized businesses achieve their goals. “You feel like you’re making more of an impact,” he said. “That piece of equipment that you're helping this company buy is really going to allow them to bring their business from good to great." Moroney said that many manufacturers in the state face similar challenges for their businesses' success. “I would say their concerns are all the same, which is mostly finding top talent, insurance costs, and energy costs." “I think our legislators and our local politicians in the state are going to be motivated to try to fix that for our manufacturers, because they see what a big part of GDP manufacturing is," Moroney said. Moroney also pointed to the shifting landscape surrounding interest rates as an important factor for manufacturers. He said when interest rates started spiking in 2022, manufacturers took a close look at their margins and profits. “I think a lot of manufacturers and other businesses started saying, ‘Maybe we're not going to invest in that piece of equipment, maybe we're not going to make that acquisition, maybe we're going to wait,’” he said. As rates come down, Moroney said many manufacturers will be able to take advantage of the lower cost of capital. Moroney said that as interest rates fall, TD Bank advises companies to be strategic about their opportunities to grow. “You want to make sure that you have the right talent for your growth,” he said. “The leadership table that you have might have allowed you to be successful, to grow from this point, it may not be the right leadership table to get you to the next point.” He said the second thing to consider is making sure companies are growing for the right reasons. “Sometimes chasing this new business that I don't have expertise in, I may not have the talent, I may not have the machinery, or I'm going to have to invest so much in machinery—if you don't execute, it could really hurt your business," he said. “So I think responsible growth and making sure you have the right talent is the key to the game. Related Links: TD Bank Website: https://www.td.com/us/en/personal-banking LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/td/ Steve Moroney on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephen-moroney-3576094/ CBIA Website: https://www.cbia.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cbia/

When you think of the Department of Consumer Protection, product recalls and scam warnings may come to mind. But the state agency also covers enforcement and compliance for a wide breadth of industries and businesses, including gaming, liquor, and cannabis. The agency is also responsible for occupational licensing for many regulated trades and industries from accounting and architecture to contracting and electrical. “It's amazing to see how many areas that the agency actually does cover, and really the good work that we do every day,” said DCP commissioner Bryan Cafferelli. Cafferelli joined the BizCast to discuss how the agency works with the business community. Gov. Ned Lamont appointed Cafferelli commissioner in 2023. He previously worked as legal counsel for the Connecticut Senate Republican Office and as a drug control attorney for DCP from 2017 to 2019. “When I first started, the governor had a few marching orders,” he said. “One was ‘do no harm.’” “The other was, 'see what we can do about making one of the biggest regulatory agencies a little more business friendly.'” To do that, Cafferelli said they try to connect with industry groups and trade organizations to understand their challenges. “What I really believe is that there's a dialog that has to occur, because we don't have all the right answers,” he said. “Oftentimes we'll say, ‘we hadn't looked at it that way.’ “And then maybe there is something we could do, not always, but it's worth the conversation, and I think that that's what we've encouraged.” Cafferelli said there has been a “huge push” to increase efficiency at DCP. A big part of that is improving the online licensing process. DCP’s website has features to guide people through the application process, making it more streamlined and easier to understand. “We want to help people get to yes,” he said. “And that's really what the mission is. We want to get people licensed. We want to tell them how to stay in compliance, and we want to just let them do their business.” Cafferelli said the agency also works hand-in-hand with the Department of Labor and Department of Economic and Community Development in an effort to make sure people and businesses have a seamless experience. He cited DOL’s apprenticeship program as an example. Because the agencies are now on the same computer system, when people complete their apprenticeship, DCP is automatically triggered to begin the licensing process. Cafferelli said the effort has made the agency more efficient and increased their turnaround time for licensing. And he said the agency plans to continue on this trajectory. “It’s not time for a victory lap,” he said. “It’s time to keep improving on what we’ve done.” Related Links: Department of Consumer Protection Website: https://portal.ct.gov/dcp?language=en_US LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ctdcp/ CBIA Website: https://www.cbia.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cbia/

Like its labs—tucked away at the far end of a Branford research park—ViiV Healthcare’s accomplishments may not be well known. But the company is an authentic Connecticut success, with a story that needs to be told. ViiV and its cutting-edge R&D to treat and someday to cure HIV because the company has had such a profound impact on so many lives. ViiV head of drug discovery Dr. Umesh Hanumegowda joined the CBIA BizCast for a conversation with CBIA Bioscience Growth Council executive director Paul Pescatello. Few of us realize that in the wake of the chaos and tragedy of the 1980s AIDS epidemic, some of the most consequential research into HIV—the virus that causes AIDS—occurred in Connecticut. Connecticut scientists were among the first to identify and find effective treatments for HIV. HIV is so devastating because it is, first, a virus and therefore almost indescribably small—one human cell is 100 to 1000 times larger than a virus. And viruses are wily and zombie-like, inserting themselves into a host’s cells and then taking over the cell’s protein synthesis pathways to replicate. HIV is uniquely threatening because it destroys the immune system, the very mechanism our bodies use to fight infection. “It’s a tough virus, a challenging virus,” Hanumegowda described. “It’s a sneaky virus, because it knows how to integrate, mutate and hide.” Yale University research produced some of the first effective HIV medications. Building on the work of Yale scientists, Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Wallingford labs became a center for the development of the first antiretro-viral treatments. In many ways the intellectual heir to the rich Connecticut history of HIV R&D is ViiV. Founded in 2009, ViiV is in the forefront of HIV research. The company was the first to introduce the second generation HIV integrase inhibitor, now the backbone of HIV treatment. ViiV’s HIV treatments suppress HIV to undetectable levels, dramatically improving the lives of HIV patients but also preventing transmission to others. ViiV is also a leader in pre-exposure medications to prevent HIV infection. ViiV’s pre-exposure medications stop HIV from taking hold of a cell. They act as a catalyst to help the body produce antibodies which block the enzyme needed by the virus to replicate and spread throughout the body. Hanumegowda chose to make HIV and ViiV the focus of his career. ViiV has a “state of the art research lab right here in Connecticut,” he said. “And HIV is challenging, and I like a tough challenge.” Another factor in Hanumegowda’s professional choices was the fact that “HIV disproportionately affects particular communities.” “There is a socio-economic aspect to the disease,” he said. “There is a deep stigma associated with HIV, and I feel this is a population I can help.” Will there be a cure for HIV? Hanumegowda is confident there will be. The cure could take the form of a vaccine, or “a combination of medicines and strategies.” One such strategy is the Initiative to End HIV by 2030. Among other measures, the initiative is about using testing and identifying barriers to treatment to combat HIV. Its goals are simple: diagnose, treat, prevent, and respond. It is a public-private partnership, built on collaboration with federal and state public health agencies and the business community. CBIA has signed on, pledging to make its employees and members more aware of how to prevent and treat HIV. As to ViiV, the company plans to stay focused. Hanumegowda emphasized that ViiV has “demonstrated that staying focused will fetch us the right results.” “So, we are in it till HIV and AIDS aren’t,” he said. Related Links: ViiV Healthcare Website: https://viivhealthcare.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/viiv-healthcare/ U.S. Business Action to End HIV: https://www.healthaction.org/endhiv CBIA Website: https://www.cbia.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cbia/ Paul Pescatello on X: https://twitter.com/CTBio

Sal Marino, Director of Finance and Operations at Charles IT, shares insights on the company’s impressive growth from $4 million to nearly $30 million in revenue since he joined in 2017. He highlights their unique approach as a service company focusing on small to midsize clients, ensuring cybersecurity compliance. Sal discusses innovative employee training programs, the power of transparency in building trust, and the strategic pivots post-COVID in navigating cybersecurity challenges. His leadership experience emphasizes the importance of adaptability in a fast-paced environment.

“Leaning into how we can fundamentally transform lives and make them better, has been something I've been personally passionate about,” CliftonLarsonAllen’s strategic pursuits leader for manufacturing Jennifer Clement said about why she loves working with manufacturers. Clement and CLA New England Manufacturing Growth Network Leader Stephen Fuller joined the CBIA BizCast to highlight the company’s work in this major industry sector. With 130 offices nationwide, including three in Connecticut, CLA provides accounting, tax, outsourcing, and assurance services for a variety of industries including manufacturing. “I explored different industries and just clung to manufacturing, probably because it was just cool,” Fuller said. “Seeing a tangible thing created, and seeing those things created in Connecticut just made it more special to me.” Fuller said that as a Connecticut native, he’s passionate about seeing manufacturers in the state succeed. “This evolving industry within Connecticut has been there for a number of years, and that just means a lot,” he said. Fuller and Clement also shared their excitement with CLA's support of the Coolest Thing Made in Connecticut challenge. Starting with 16 things made by Connecticut manufacturers, companies will compete head-to-head with residents voting on their favorite products in each round. The CBIA Foundation is leading the initiative in partnership with the Connecticut Office of Manufacturing and CONNSTEP. “What a great way to promote what we do in Connecticut, not only for ourselves, but for the rest of the nation,” Fuller said. “I mean, there's some really, really cool stuff that we do.” Clement, who is based in CLA’s Milwaukee office, said Wisconsin has had a similar competition for the past eight years. “It is a frenzy each year,” she said. “So far over the eight-year span, we've had over a million people voting for these products. Clement said manufacturers across the country and in Connecticut are all dealing with challenges including softening demand, labor, and inventory. She said they work with businesses to help shore up their bottom line. “We're seeing a renewed effort and emphasis on profitability,” she said. “And what can we do in the short term to look at our cost structure.” Fuller said there are a number of state programs available to help manufacturers with job retention and growth, training, and tax incentives surrounding R&D and capital investments. “I think it's more about educating the manufacturers about what is out there," he said. Fuller noted that when it comes to growing the manufacturing workforce, it’s not just about recruiting, but also retaining workers. “There's this generational mind shift of what is important to this newer class of workers,” he said. “I think that's extremely important for manufacturers and companies across Connecticut to understand what makes them tick, and to work with them to develop programs that retain them.” Clement and Fuller said that many manufacturers are also looking to new technologies like AI to improve things like efficiency and predictive capabilities as well as attracting and retaining workers. “We've got to think about how we now transform the lives of especially the younger workforce,” Clement said. “Manufacturing is seeing the same thing.” “What we're starting to see is the understanding that it's time. It’s time for that shift, and to have that investment in the future," Fuller addeed. Clement noted that their remarks are not intended to be legal, financial advice, or accounting advice. Related Links: CliftonLarsenAllen Website: https://www.claconnect.com/en LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cliftonlarsonallen/ Stephen Fuller on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenfullercpa/ Jennifer Clement on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-clement-1553b81/ CBIA Website: www.cbia.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cbia/

Looking back over Nuovo Pasta's success, Carl Zuanelli said he wouldn’t be where he is without overcoming major challenges. “Anybody who's looking to have a big change in their life or to go out and pursue their dream, should understand that there are no big breakthroughs without big breakdowns,” he said. One of those breakdowns for Zuanelli came with the 2008 financial crisis. At that time, 75% of the company's business involved producing pasta for chefs and restaurants, with about 25% retail. But during the economic downturn, people stopped going out to eat, and Zuanelli said it looked like the company was going to be wiped out. “I was at probably the lowest low of my life,” he said. “This was about as low as you can get. This was subterranean low. “I come to realize later, the strong that do survive are those that are able to adapt." Zuanelli said he took a close look at the state of the industry. With the struggling economy and the growing popularity of food television, more people were cooking at home. Nuovo shifted their focus to retail and consumer packaged goods, leading to what Zuanelli called meteoric growth since 2008. “When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change," he said. Zuanelli said commitment to quality is a big part of the company's success. But he said Nuovo Pasta's employees are just as important as the pasta. “As the company continues to grow, and as we change the way that we grow, we can't lose the aspect of the culture of the company and that the people are the most important,” Zuanelli said. “One of the initiatives that we have, is a certification in a great place to work. We’re working towards that.” Zuanelli said the company has monthly communication sessions with employees from different areas to get their feedback. “It's so important to get that perspective from your team, your company, the employees, so that you can continue to be a place that grows and be a great place to work,” he said. Zuanelli said that for both the company and his family, Connecticut is a great place to call home. “I think Connecticut is, in so many ways, a great place to do business,” he said. Zuanelli said organizations like CBIA and government agencies like the Department of Economic and Community Development have been helpful for businesses in the state. “Yeah, there’s work to be done,” he said. “And, you know, I'm leaning in on that, but I think they've been very positive in creating jobs.” Zuanelli said he's pushing for more incentives for businesses to open more factories, or invest in new equipment or technologies. “I think that there's work to be done for manufacturers and attracting more manufacturers, and how we can keep more manufacturers here in Connecticut,” he said. Zuanelli also credited Connecticut's workforce, calling it “an asset for any company.” He said part of what makes the workforce so special is work ethic. “I think a lot of it is based on the old New England work ethic, but also the immigration that's taken place and how open Connecticut has been,” he said. Zuanelli said that growing up in a family of immigrants, he understands the immigrant experience. That passion for the immigrant community led him to join the board of the Connecticut Institute for Refugees and Immigrants. CIRI is a nonprofit organization that provides support and services to immigrants, refugees, and survivors of human trafficking. “I don't think we can pay back the sacrifices that our families have made in terms of their immigrant journey,” Zuanelli said. “So if we can't pay back, we've got to pay forward, and that's why I think it's so important.” Related Links: Nuovo Pasta https://www.nuovopasta.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/nuovo-pasta-productions-ltd/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/carl-zuanelli-88523230/ Connecticut Institute for Refugees and Immigrants https://cirict.org/ CBIA https://www.cbia.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/cbia/

Carl Zuanelli knows his pasta. As founder and CEO of Nuovo Pasta Productions, Ltd, Zuanelli has been making fresh pasta for 35 years. “I refer to pasta as joy on a fork,” Zuanelli told the CBIA BizCast in the first of a two-part conversation. “I’ve never seen anyone eat pasta and not be enjoying it. It brings a smile to their face.” Since Zuanelli started the company in 1989, Nuovo Pasta has become a leading national producer of premium refrigerated pasta and sauce. “We make things like ravioli and tortellini and long cut pastas, like fettuccine, or linguini, tagliatelle,” he said. But Zuanelli’s career journey didn’t start with pasta. “I was in the financial services world,” he said. After college, Zuanelli worked for Citbank and Merrill Lynch. But he said that, even as a child, he knew he wanted to have his own business. “There was this thing inside of me that just said that I wanted to have my own business,” he said. And while that dream wasn’t to own a pasta company, the classic Italian food was always part of his life. “I grew up in a home that had an Italian culture in it, because my grandparents lived in the home with us,” Zuanelli said. “They had brought a lot of culture from the old country, including the food and how the food was prepared.” Amid market turmoil in 1987, he decided to exercise his entrepreneurial spirit. Through research, he discovered a boom in pasta consumption and an emerging market for refrigerated pasta. “I had actually put together a business plan at that time,” Zuanelli said. “And I presented it to investors.” Zuanelli only had one problem. “I had actually no experience except eating pasta,” he said. That experience came from a chance encounter, after a night out for Zuanelli’s parents. He said his mother told him, “your father and I just had a magnificent meal at a restaurant called Pasta Nostra in South Norwalk. You should just go down and check it out and see what it’s all about.” So on a Tuesday morning, he stopped at the restaurant and got the attention of the chef making pasta in the window. “I told him that I was interested in learning how to make pasta,” Zuanelli said. “He said, ‘if you’re willing to cook with me at night, I’ll teach you how to make fresh pasta.’ “I said, ‘you got a deal.’ And I went back to Merrill, and that week, I gave them my notice.” For the next year and a half, Zuanelli worked at the restaurant, learning how to make different types of specialty fresh pasta. In 1989, he started Nuovo Pasta, and said he’s never looked back. “Some people say, ‘you know, you should have something to fall back on. If you’re going to start a business you should have something to fall back on,’” he said. “My advice is have no fallback position. Because if it’s something that you’re passionate about, you have to burn the bridges behind you.” Today, the company has more than 300 employees in four facilities in Stratford, including two state-of-the-art pasta manufacturing facilities. They also have a facility in Cleveland, Ohio where they make long cut pastas and sauces. While he says his passion and commitment to excellence plays a role in his success, Zuanelli said the company’s most valuable asset is the people. “I think it’s a commitment to the quality of a product and the respect for the people that use their talents and their skills every day.” In part two of the discussion, Zuanelli will share some of the darkest moments of his career, and how he turned them around. Related Links: Nuovo Pasta Website: https://www.nuovopasta.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nuovo-pasta-productions-ltd/ Carl Zuanelli on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carl-zuanelli-88523230/ CBIA Website: https://www.cbia.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cbia/

“We love to say we’re not from Colorado,” Bolder Company co-founder Jenny Drescher told the CBIA BizCast about how the company got its name. “It does not have a ‘u’ in it. It’s Bolder, like ‘be a Bolder version of yourself.’ That’s how the name was born.” Drescher founded the professional training and coaching company in 2014 with her longtime friend Ellen Feldman Ornato. At the time, Ornato owned a training and development company and Drescher had an executive coaching business. “We were taking courses in theatrical improvisation and realizing that the skills that we were learning in improv were directly affecting the way that we were facilitating conversations with other people in our individual businesses,” said Ornato. “I immediately just said, ‘Oh, this was the toolkit I was looking for,’” added Drescher. The two decided to take that toolkit and start their own business. “We don't teach improv, we don't teach comedy,” Drescher said. “But improvisation is an applied toolkit that works really well for learning.” Drescher and Ornato said they work with companies to create tailored and customized programs for their teams. “If their goal is to enrich the whole team,” said Ornato. "We found it's most effective to have people learning the same things together, and then applying them together so that they have a common language so that they have the energy of having gone through that process together, and they deepen their relationships.” Their programs can include conference speaking and one-off sessions. But Ornato and Drescher said long-term programs have a deeper impact. “When you learn with your team over time,” Ornato said, “we're celebrating each other's successes, we are acknowledging that sometimes we mess up and we didn't die, and we support each other forward.” Drescher added they work to take deep dives to find out what’s hurting a business. “We help people find hope in the midst of the things that are hurting them the most,” Drescher said. “We like to drill a little further down, because nine times out of 10, it's not the culture. “It's specific behaviors, inside the culture, inside the working climate, that are working for or against what the company is after.” At the beginning, Drescher and Ornato focused The Bolder Company on working with entrepreneurs. The business evolved to work with nonprofit organizations and eventually with the architecture, engineering, construction, and manufacturing industries. “If you look at manufacturing, there's like, 150 year legacy of, you're a part of the machine," Drescher said. “And manufacturing is, across the board, changing that, which is wonderful and amazing.” Ornato and Drescher’s passion for manufacturing has now led to a new venture. They recently launched a new podcast, the Manufacturing Shake-up. Sponsored by the Connecticut Office of Manufacturing, the goal is to promote and highlight women at different levels of the manufacturing industry. “And there's some great stories there,” said Ornato. “So that's really what we're highlighting as well as the skills that women need to develop—things like becoming better at networking, understanding emotional intelligence, understanding presence and presentation, and how you walk into the room and finding a seat at the main table.” Related Links: The Bolder Company Website: https://www.theboldercompany.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-bolder-company/ Jenny Drescher on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bolderjenny/ Ellen Feldman Ornato on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ellen-feldman-ornato/ The Manufacturing Shake-up Website: https://www.manufacturingshakeup.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-manufacturing-shake-up/posts/?feedView=all YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ManufacturingShakeUp CBIA Website: www.cbia.com LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/cbia/

For C4 Communications founder and president Colomobo DiSalvatore III, success is all about problem solving. “We try to go into our clients, we try to add value, and help solve problems,” DiSalvatore told the CBIA BizCast. “And we know that if we do that, that we will be rewarded over time.” C4 Communications is a telecommunications company specializing in helping small and midsize companies evaluate, select, implement, and manage telecommunications solutions. DiSalvatore said he sort of “fell into” the telecommunications industry and founded the company in 2001. “Between the ages of 16 and 24, which is when I started the company, I had 10 different jobs,” he said. “I was effectively unemployable. So I had to come up with my own company.” DiSalvatore credits his father for instilling an entrepreneurial spirit and for teaching him lessons about business ownership. “He also made this point of trying to find a business where you can make some sort of residual or some sort of royalty income,” he said. “I’m really grateful for that advice.” For nearly 10 years, DiSalvatore ran the company by himself with some help from his sister-in-law. He said he’s grateful for that experience, because he was able to work from home and be there for his growing family. “My wife, Amy and I, we had six children in that period of time, so we have a large family,” DiSalvatore said. “I really captured a lot of moments in my kids that I may not have captured otherwise.” DiSalvatore also said that time period also taught him the importance of finding a work-life balance. “Work can very much dominate if you’re a hard worker and if you’re possibly a workaholic,” he said. “I had to be really intentional at a point to turn off the work and to stop working to make sure that I didn’t sneak down into the basement or sneak into my office when it’s time to be with the kids.” Eventually, as the company grew, DiSalvatore began to bring on more people. But he kept the company virtual and tried to instill that balance as a core value. He said when the pandemic hit, it was actually an asset to be a virtual company. Because the team was already remote, they didn’t miss a beat and were able help their clients pivot quickly. “As everybody was trying to set their employees and their teams to be able to work from home, we were actually positioned well to help them do that,” DiSalvatore said. C4 Communications is now a team of about nine people, and DiSalvatore said he had to shift his mindset as a leader and give people freedom to grow. “I had to learn that there were people out there that could actually deliver excellence, and they could even do it differently than the way that I did it,” he said. He said he loves getting positive unsolicited feedback from clients about his team. “When I get a comment like that, I’m just reminded of what an amazing group of people that have been willing to come work for me.” DiSalvatore said they have clients all over the country, but he loves growing and doing business here in Connecticut. “Relationships matter in Connecticut,” he said. “Your reputation matters.” “People care about meeting face to face and having a personal relationship with who they do business with. “And because we like to operate like that, I think Connecticut’s a great place for us to continue to do business and to grow this business.” Related Links: C4 Comunications Website: https://www.c4communications.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/c4-communications-llc/ Colombo DiSalvatore’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colombo-disalvatore-iii-1502139/ CBIA Website: https://www.cbia.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cbia/

For The Computer Company president Kevin Barros, a career in IT was something of an accident. “I kind of started off individually on my own, just kind of doing a little bit of side work, make a few extra bucks on the weekends and nights,” he told the CBIA BizCast. Barros said he always liked technology, but never thought he’d own a company. “Slowly it kind of grew to one referral, to another referral.” Barros launched the venture with name KBIT Group, before acquiring Shell Systems in 2018. Through those early years, he was working by himself, while going to school. “Iit was very difficult, a lot of hours, a lot of white hairs, but it was all worth it in the end.” In 2020, Barros realized that he needed help to keep up with the demand and acquired The Computer Company. The company offers IT services for small and medium businesses, education institutions, and government entities. Those services include helpdesk support, networking, development and website design, and cybersecurity. The company also has data centers in Cromwell, and Las Vegas to help ensure disaster recovery capabilities. “Everyone has their own unique challenges,” Barros said. “But at the end of the day, the goal is the same.” “People want to be up, they want IT to work, they want it to be productive, and of course, they want it to be secure.” Barros said cybersecurity is becoming a bigger concern for companies, especially small businesses. “Even large companies have breaches,” he said. “But those can weather the storm, they can weather that breach and they could weather the bad publicity for a little bit.” “But the smaller guys don't have that luxury as much. They don't have the financial backing. So the impact is much greater for those smaller ones for sure.” Since Barros acquired The Computer Company,the business has grown from 12-13 employees to nearly 40. He credits that team for the company’s success and growth, adding that seeing his employees thrive is one of his favorite parts of his job. “The team is everything to us,” he said. “The company is not just me, it’s them.” “I love seeing when they kind of get really excited about tech and saying, ‘Hey, I figured this out.’” Barros said that as a Connecticut native, he’s committed to growing the business here. “This is my backyard,” he said. “I have this push to stay here even if there are some struggles.” Barros said growing the business is all about taking risks, and knowing that you aren’t always going to get a return on it. But he was encouraged by a family member to take the leap and grow the business. “He was kind of like, ‘Listen, you can do this,’” Barros said. “‘Yeah, it's gonna be stressful. Yeah, you're gonna hate it some days. But you gotta just do it.’” “And I really appreciated that.” Barros said that as he grew the business, he realized that acquiring companies is about a lot more than money. “You have to also think about that old business owner,” he said. “It’s kind of their baby.” He said that they want to know that their clients and employees will be taken care of. “It’s trying to show or build that trust with them to kind of say, ‘Hey, don't don't worry about it, I got it, we can take it to the next level.’” As for what that next level is for Barros and The Computer Company? He said they’re looking for additional acquisitions and bringing on more employees. “40 is cool. Four hundred would be better,” he said. Related Links: The Computer Company: https://computercompany.net/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-computer-company-inc./ Kevin Barros on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-barros-a55a2ba9/ CBIA: https://www.cbia.com/