CBIA BizCast

As students across Connecticut begin the new school year, some are returning to class after a summer filled with learning. More than 70 students recently completed ReadyCT’s G.R.I.T. (Get Ready! Immersive Traineeship) summer program. The CBIA BizCast team traveled to Pathways Academy of Technology and Design Aug. 9 for the annual G.R.I.T. showcase. “It really just allows them a way to learn more skills while still practicing a real business project," said Rachel Bader, Travelers assistant vice president, multi-national and chair of the Insurance and Finance Pathway at Weaver. "G.R.I.T. and Travelers have taught me how to communicate and work with others and step outside my comfort zone,” said Darren Burdette, a rising junior at Weaver.

After 40 years in business, Seymour-based Microboard has become known for two things: producing high-quality, high-tech circuit board assemblies and humanitarian missions helping people around the world. “There's not enough hours in my day to run this and listen to all that good news,” said Microboard CEO and president Nicole Russo. “You know, I just try to fit it all in.”

The Hartford Athletic started playing in the United Soccer League in 2019. Chairman Bruce Mandell started the club with his partners as a way to create something for the community and help the city economically. “I've always been involved in the community, and I wanted to do something really big for Hartford and wanted to bring people together and have a spot in Hartford to do that,” Mandell said. “Whether it's, you know, parents with their kids, or whether it's soccer fans, or whether it's people coming out to have a great time, we got to get our niche, and our fans have been unbelievable.” In 2020, the Athletic established the Green and Blue Foundation, raising money to give back to the community in different ways. “You know, that feels good to kind of utilize the Hartford athletic brand to support these community elements that really need help,” Mandell said.

Adam Rodrigues, Vice President at FORGE Connecticut, is a key player in connecting innovators with essential resources for their business journey. He discusses the challenges startups face when transitioning prototypes to market and the importance of collaboration with over 4,000 local manufacturers. The conversation also highlights the role of education in navigating manufacturing landscapes, the impact of community initiatives on Connecticut's startup ecosystem, and how embracing innovation is crucial for both startups and manufacturers alike.

Brian Zelman took what he calls a “circuitous” path in real estate. “I’ve always been interested in real estate from a young age,” said Zelman, principal of Zelman Real Estate on the CBIA BizCast. The Bloomfield native, who now lives in West Hartford, began his career as a residential broker, before migrating to commercial real estate and land development. Those developments started in the retail and healthcare spaces, but migrated to multifamily housing.

Bright Feeds, a Berlin-based startup, is working to solve the food waste crisis by turning unwanted food into high-quality animal feed. But for CEO Jonathan Fife, that mission is a long way from where he started his career at an investment in New York City. “While I was at the investment firm, I met our co-founder, Tim Rassias, who’s a serial entrepreneur who had started several successful businesses," Fife said. “He originally had the idea and got me into this craziness.” Fife and Rassias researched the food waste industry, and felt they could develop a technical solution to the problem. Now, the company is growing. With more than 20 employees they are quickly expanding their capabilities.

The clothes we wear, the cars we drive, the planes we fly in, and the furniture in our homes. We may not often think about how these things are made. But that’s not the case for Lenny Marano, Lectra president of Americas. “We're a strategic partner to those in the fashion, the furniture, and the automotive value streams,” Marano said. Lectra, a Paris-based technology company, acquired Gerber in 2021. In April, Lectra officially reopened a manufacturing facility in Tolland. The move came after outsourcing manufacturing to Massachusetts in 2018. “Since Lectra bought us, we know that we have a permanent home and we can make long term investments,” Marano said.

Most people know DoorDash for its food delivery service, but the company does much more than that for its more than 6,000 merchant partners in Connecticut alone. In 2018, DoorDash launched Project DASH, a social impact initiative to fight food insecurity. Project DASH is a last-mile delivery service allows organizations like food banks to use DoorDash for their deliveries. “We do have the logistics and we do have the social impact resources to solve for these problems around food insecurity,” said Christina Kennedy, DoorDash’s government relations lead for New England.

Later this year, the healthcare landscape for Virginia small businesses and their employees will change dramatically when they gain access to broad new options for affordable, quality health insurance. “This is a game changer,” said Democratic state Senator Monty Mason, a key figure behind bipartisan legislation permitting what are known as association health plans. “I think this has the capacity to be one of the most consequential pieces of legislation as far as impact on people." Healthcare costs jumped by 6% last year in Connecticut—more than $2 billion—and state lawmakers are now considering legislation similar to the Virginia law. HB 6710 continues to move through the General Assembly, clearing its latest legislative hurdle May 1 when it was approved by the Appropriations Committee with overwhelming support.

Shipman & Goodwin managing partner Leander Dolphin’s career as an attorney is marked by numerous successes. However, law wasn’t always part of her career aspirations. “What I wanted to do when I went to Wesleyan was I wanted to be an English professor,” she says. “I wanted to write books. And I wanted to focus my study on African-American literature, particularly by women.” But Dolphin’s plans began to change when an advisor told her that while she was talented, she lacked discipline and should consider doing something else.