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6 n e w h a v e n B I Z | S e p t e m b e r / O c t o b e r 2 0 1 9 | n e w h a v e n b i z . c o m By Michael C. Bingham O N T H E R E C O R D | Q & A CERC's 'Super Turbo-Charger' I n late July Peter Denious, 52, of Wilton succeeded the retiring Robert Santy as chief executive officer of the Connecticut Economic Resource Center (CERC), the state's nonprofit business research, recruitment and retention arm. Upon taking office Gov. Ned Lamont in February charged CERC and the state's Department of Economic & Community Development (DECD) with forming a public- private partnership that confers a leading role on CERC for business recruitment and retention while DECD functions as principal interface between state and local government entities and the private sector. Denious is a longtime private equity and venture capital professional who most recently was a senior executive with Aberdeen Standard Investments and previously FLAG Capital Management, where he spent most of his career overseeing investments across the U.S. and worldwide. Denious was graduated from Trinity College and earned an MBA from the Tuck School of Dartmouth College. What attracted you to this opportunity? A couple of things. First, the civic orientation of it: I was looking to give back in some capacity, and this fit the bill. Second, I think it's a tremendous challenge, and I would love to make a difference tying these two thoughts together. irdly, what I see is a business- building opportunity with a lot of entrepreneurial elements —as someone who comes from an economic-development background, I come in with eyes wide open, a fresh perspective and energy. e big push is to really work with the administration and the governor to turbo-charge economic development. Why was this the right move for you now — when you're right in the middle of your peak earning years? is [opportunity] came at a very logical point in my professional development and career. I spent 23 years in the private-equity industry. I le my previous employer [Aber- deen Standard Investments] looking for a new challenge and a new direction. I love a good challenge. I am an entrepreneurial business-de- velopment person at heart. I think I am a good listener and a good collaborator. I think I've got some- thing to offer the state, so I'm going to double down here and give it my best shot. I really hope my team and I can make a difference. Every administration when it takes office talks a good game about economic development and improving the business climate. What convinced you that Ned Lamont actually meant what he said? First of all, he's a business guy. He gets it. I was impressed by how much time he's spent with the busi- ness community in the state. In his first [seven] months he's been out there talking about CERC and how it can and should be working with DECD. He's a fan of private-public partnerships and he sees this as a way to bring additional horsepower to the effort. We also have a lot of influential, key business leaders in the state involved in this on the board [of directors]. And that level of commitment has not been seen before and is a big reason I'm in this seat. ere's a lot of interest and genuine effort in turning the tide, so to speak. If you could reduce the challenge of your new position to one goal, what would it be? Working to pull together all the constituent parts across the state involved in economic development to grow our state. I think there's a big effort to reach out and bring into the fold [diverse business voices], not [assume] we have all the answers to all these complicated business questions, and be a gate- keeper for the best ideas to move our state forward. Before you began in late July did you have an opportunity to sit down with [former PepsiCo CEO] Indra Nooyi and/or [Webster Financial Chairman] Jim Smith to see what the economic-development landscape looked like through their eyes? I had multiple conversations with the board and with Jim and others who were very involved in the pro- cess. It was more of a dialogue, than an 'interview' — a real discussion. In the end their biggest question for me was: If you had a blank sheet of paper, how would you think about going about this? I articulated a style "A t t h e h i g h e s t l e v e l I t h i n k C E R C w i l l b e t h e t i p o f t h e s p e a r f o r e c o n o m i c d e v e l o p m e n t . "

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