Hartford Business Journal

www.HartfordBusiness.com • December 17, 2018 • Hartford Business Journal 9 Webster Bank CEO Ciulla recounts first-year successes By Gregory Seay gseay@hartfordbusiness.com H is first year at the helm of Wa- terbury regional lender Webster Financial Corp. and its flagship Webster Bank could not have gone better, John Ciulla says. "It's really been a terrific year,'' Ciulla said recently reflecting on the 11 months since tak- ing over as CEO of the $27 billion-asset holding company whose second-generation chief, James C. Smith, retired last December. Ciulla, between a break in a busy day of meet- ings, said Webster's employees in the Northeast, mid-Atlantic and Wisconsin, where the company's HSA Bank is based, are engaged and the leadership team he assembled to help him guide Webster in the post-Jim Smith era, have been matchless. "Jim and the efforts in the succession plan … really set me up for great success,'' Ciulla said. The result, he said, is that Webster has posted record financial performance in the first three quarters of 2018. Through the first nine months of this year, Webster Financial netted $261.6 million, or $2.77 a diluted share, vs. $185.5 mil- lion, or $1.94 a share in the year-ago period. There were several significant moves the bank made in 2018. In January, the bank joined a growing list of Connecticut and other U.S. companies that promised bonuses and/or higher pay to employ- ees following passage of federal tax reforms. Webster said it paid a one-time $1,000 cash Williams begins a year of transformation for Hartford Foundation By Sean Teehan steehan@hartfordbusiness.com J ay Williams' first full year as president of the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving proved to be a busy one. The organization covered a lot of ground and laid the foundation — no pun in- tended — for a new strategic plan. While he didn't quite meet his goal at the end of 2018 to visit all 29 communities the Hartford Foundation serves — that should be completed by February, he said — the $1 billion in assets founda- tion has made a concerted effort to ask community members directly how the foundation can better serve them as part of a statewide listening tour. Under Williams' leadership the foundation also introduced a new subsidiary focused on "impact investment," created a $2.9 million community fund, overhauled its aging technology infrastruc- ture, and made grants to various nonprofits in- cluding ones that support workforce development. "It has probably been one of the more ambi- tious years that the foundation has had over the past several years," Williams said. Williams joined the foundation about halfway through 2017. A former mayor of Youngstown, Ohio, Williams' last job before the Hartford Foundation was as an economic-development staffer at the U.S. Department of Commerce in Washington, D.C. The Hartford Foundation launched its new in- vestment arm — HSPG Impact Greater Hartford — in September to support affordable housing Redeker oversees completion of long-awaited Hartford Line By Sean Teehan steehan@hartfordbusiness.com F or Department of Transportation Com- missioner James Redeker, 2018 marked the culmination of a nearly decade-long effort to reestablish rail service be- tween Hartford and Springfield, Mass. "The Hartford Line, I helped write the grant in 2009," Redeker recalled. "To see it open in 2018 — and … we've exceeded our ridership forecast for the first year in just the first couple of months, it's another extraordinary success story." DOT ridership data seems to show pent-up demand for rail service since the $769 million CTrail Hartford Line began shuttling passengers in mid-June. Between June and October, rail ridership in the state increased from just over 100,000 passengers in 2017 to well over 220,000 in 2018, according to the state DOT. That's not including at least 10,000 CTrail ticket holders who had to ride Amtrak shuttle busses in Sep- tember and October, due to over demand. In addition to healthy ridership, Redeker said he thinks the Hartford Line will continue to spark transit-oriented development, pointing to housing projects in places like Meridan as demonstrative of transportation's importance to economic growth. "If you're going to fix the economy, you're go- ing to have to improve rail service, improve bus service, and you're going to have to get rid of congestion on highways," Redeker said. "Before the Hartford Line opened, we documented $400 Webster Financial CEO John Ciulla said there is nothing he would have done differently in his first year as chief executive. Department of Transportation Commissioner James Redeker wants to see increased infrastructure investment. Jay Williams will unveil the Hartford Foundation's new three- year strategic plan in 2019. Continued on next page >> Continued on next page >> Continued on next page >>

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