CBIA BizCast

Starting a business and launching a new product can be a daunting prospect. From creating a prototype to connecting with manufacturers and suppliers, there is a lot for entrepreneurs and startups to navigate. That’s where FORGE Connecticut comes in. FORGE helps connect innovators with product development assistance, regional manufacturers, and supply chain resources. “There’s a lot of great innova...

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...

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 busines...

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 20...

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 logistic...

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...

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 beg...

For best friends Lora Karam and Beverly Canepari, traveling around Connecticut is more than just a hobby, it’s a growing business. Karam and Canepari are the creators of Unlocking Connecticut, a website and social media pages devoted to highlighting the best places to visit, shop, and eat around the state. Karam said their goal is simple, “promoting small business and having fun at the same time.”...

The CBIA BizCast team sits down with Nessel founders Stephanie Boms and Della Leapman.  For mothers who are breastfeeding, having a dedicated and comfortable lactation space at work goes a long way toward making them feel supported by their employers.  But those spaces aren’t always available.  That’s where Nessel comes in.  “We provide lactation furniture, we provide lactation pods, we do custom...

The BizCast team speaks with Connectiut comptroller Sean Scanlon, who was elected in November 2022. Scanlon said one of his first priorities was to ensure that the fiscal guardrails implemented in the bipartisan 2017 budget, remained in place. Scanlon said those fiscal reforms drove five consecutive years of budget surpluses, the biggest rainy day fund in state history, and paying down almost $6 b...

The BizCast team speaks with Autac, Inc. president and CEO Marie-Louise Burkle. For the last 75 years and counting, it’s been all about family at the Connecticut manufacturer. “I grew up here, I spent a lot of time here as a child,” said Burkle. Her father Robert Burkle started the company in Hamden in 1947 to provide coiled cords for the trucking industry. He eventually moved the company from Ham...

The CBIA BizCast team talks with Birdon Group CEO Jamie Bruce and Birdon America president Robert Scott. The company recently added a facility in Portland, Connecticut where they are looking to modernize and expand. “We looked at the other six facilities, but what we really liked about the site here in Portland was the opportunities we could see with the site,” said Bruce. “It reminded me a lot of...

The CBIA BizCast team speaks with Alexandra Daum as she looks to use her business background in her new role as DECD commissioner. “I know what it feels like to be on the other side of the table so to speak,” she said. “I know what it’s like to be a small business owner and the ups and downs and certainly have experienced those ups and downs myself.” She said her main priorities are to get the wor...

Hartford Healthcare president Jeff Flaks speaks to the CBIA BizCast team about the company's commitment to Connecticut, including its new partnership with Google. “We have a huge impact as the second largest employer in the state of Connecticut and as an organization of our size and scale, we can do more.”

The CBIA BizCast team spoke with RSM industrials senior analyst Kendra Blacksher about how employers are navigating and thriving in the uncertain economy. Blacksher and RSM supported the creation of the 2022 Connecticut Manufacturing Report, which highlights the needs of manufacturers in the state. She also moderated a panel of manufacturing leaders during CBIA’s Made in Connecticut: Manufacturing...

Connecticut Main Street Center executive director Michelle McCabe joins the CBIA BizCast team to talk about what the organization is doing to revitalize downtowns across the state. The Connecticut native has been working for nonprofit organizations for many years. She recently brought her skills and passion to CMSC. “Main Street itself is an ecosystem. It’s a place where so any different people, i...

It’s an exciting time for Bill Smith, the founder and CEO of Infinity Fuel Cell & Hydrogen, Inc. The company is at the forefront of the hydrogen fuel cell industry, highlighted by their involvement in a NASA program to launch one of their fuel cells into space on an unmanned ship in September. The fuel cell, which has been in the works since 2005, is now being tested to simulate conditions in oute...

CBIA’s BizCast team sits down with James Shmerling, the president CEO at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center to discuss his 42 year career, navigating through the pandemic, and the role of children’s hospitals in the community. “We have to understand and appreciate that there is a definite role for children’s hospitals,” Shmerling said. “But we have a much bigger role in trying to promote their...

CBIA’s BizCast team sits down with Downes Construction vice president of field operations John Fraioli and apprentice carpenter Michael Feliciano to discuss the company’s apprenticeship program. Fraioli, who was born and raised in New Britain, started as an apprentice carpenter himself with Downes 42 years ago. “I’ve seen our company grow from probably 15 employees to now at 65 employees,” Fraioli...

CBIA’s BizCast team speaks with TD Bank’s Mike LaBella about the bank’s history in Connecticut and how it works to help small businesses thrive in today’s economy. LaBella will also open CBIA’s Made in Connecticut 2022 Manufacturing Summit Oct. 27 at the Toyota Oakdale Theater. A year ago when he spoke at the conference, LaBella said we were in a different place—unsure of where the economy was goi...

CBIA’s BizCast team speaks with Shipman & Goodwin LLP’s Jaime Welsh and Metropolitan Community Church of Hartford’s Rev. Aaron Miller about ways they support the transgender community and how businesses can support employees. The two organizations partnered with GLAD and other community groups for GLAD’s Transgender ID project, an ID clinic that offers legal name and gender change services to peop...

CBIA’s BizCast team speaks with CBIA HR Counsel Diane Mokriski about complaints employers receive by mail and how to respond. Mokriski said there are various types of complaints employers may receive from agencies related to CHRO or EEOC discrimination, an OSHA safety violation, improper tax withholding or a complaint related to a Department of Labor violation. Mokriski breaks down the process aft...

CBIA’s BizCast team speaks with Nicholas Gondek and Emily Turcan from Adia about the company’s focus on additive manufacturing. Gondek is the director of additive manufacturing and Turcan is a strategic account manager. Formerly known as ACT 3D Equipment and Services, the team rebranded to Adia earlier this summer. The team helps large and small companies throughout various industries develop 3D p...

CBIA’s BizCast team speaks with Paul Savas, vice president of Comcast Business for the western New England region about what the company is doing to support small businesses. Savas said they launched Comcast RISE in 2020 as part of a Comcast $100 million commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

CBIA’s BizCast team speaks with Robinson + Cole LLP managing partner Rhonda Tobin about the firm’s plans to move its downtown Hartford office to a new location in the city. The firm announced it would be moving to One State Street, known as the Hartford Steam Boiler building, last month. “Our top mission is to deliver outstanding client service, and the way that we do that is to recruit and retain...