Hartford Business Journal

24 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | FEBRUARY 28, 2021 2022 POWER 50 Radenka Maric Luke Bronin T he state's flagship university has gone through significant leadership changes over the past year. First Thomas Katsouleas resigned suddenly after less than two years as the school's president, and then his interim replacement Dr. Andrew Agwunobi, who was also CEO of UConn Health, announced in January he was stepping down to take a private sector job with health insurer Humana. In an effort to create some short- term stability, UConn's board of trustees appointed Radenka Maric as interim president. While Maric may not be a household name to the general public, she's been a rising star at UConn. Maric has served as vice president for research since 2017 and oversees the school's $375 million research operations. Since Maric's arrival, research funding at UConn has soared from about $184.5 million in 2017 to a record-breaking $375 million in the 2020-2021 academic year. She recently predicted the school can reach $500 million in annual research funding in five years, an aggressive goal. Previously, she served as the inaugural executive director of UConn's $132 million Innovation Partnership Building, which houses specialized equipment and research centers and serves as a nexus for industry-academic partnerships. She is also a board of trustees distinguished professor and the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund professor of sustainable energy in UConn's Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and Department of Materials Science and Engineering. Maric worked for large and small corporations and federal labs in Japan, Canada and the U.S., before coming to Connecticut 12 years ago. She is an internationally renowned expert in batteries and fuel cells and was appointed by Gov. Ned Lamont to serve on the board of Connecticut Innovations, the state's quasi-public venture fund. 6 Chris DiPentima S everal months into the worst pandemic the country has seen in a century, longtime aerospace executive Chris DiPentima decided to switch careers, becoming CEO of Connecticut's largest business lobby. Since that time, he's led the Connecticut Business & Industry Association (CBIA) through one legislative session and scored key victories in helping defeat proposals viewed unfavorably by the private sector. DiPentima said CBIA — which has long pushed back against new mandates on employers, whether it's minimum wage hikes or higher taxes, and in favor of more funding and less regulation for key industry sectors like manufacturing and insurance — helped defeat around 80 measures last year that would have had a negative impact on Connecticut businesses. The group has also been heartened by Gov. Ned Lamont's generally more pro-business posture compared to some of his predecessors. But new challenges have emerged, especially in the form of a crippling worker shortage that, while not limited to Connecticut, is all the more worrying here because of the state's higher-than-average unemployment rate. DiPentima said CBIA wants to work with various stakeholders to develop a response to the problem. Remedies could include exempting workforce training programs from the state sales and use tax, expanding the state's manufacturing apprenticeship tax credit program to small and midsize manufacturers and enhancing workforce development efforts for incarcerated and returning citizens. As for the current legislative session, DiPentima said CBIA will stick to core priorities, including improving the state's affordability and reducing taxes. He also wants to see the state continue to pay down long-term liabilities. CBIA recently applauded Lamont's $336 million tax cut proposal but also said the plan didn't go far enough to help small businesses that have struggled through the pandemic. Before joining CBIA, DiPentima was division president of Leggett & Platt Aerospace, which includes Pegasus Manufacturing in Middletown. The Connecticut native and Durham resident has a bachelor's degree from Boston College and a law degree from Quinnipiac University School of Law. 7 H artford Mayor Luke Bronin is in his second term in office and his tenure has been marked by several significant issues including convincing the legislature to pass a massive $550-million-plus long- term bailout to help the city avert potential bankruptcy; firing and then hiring a new developer to complete Dunkin' Donuts Park and surrounding development; and, of course, dealing with the pandemic in a city home to two large hospitals and a population hit hard by the health and economic impacts of COVID-19. Bronin, who has been viewed favorably by the business community, will see a major economic development project come to fruition in the first half of this year when the first 270 apartments of Randy Salvatore's North Crossing development debut. The residential units, in the shadow of Dunkin' Donuts Park, have been years in the making, and Bronin played a key role in firing the project's original developer and then bringing in Salvatore to take it over. Bronin also helped with the $14 million redevelopment of Dillon Stadium. Most of his last two years in office have been dominated by responding to the pandemic through the adoption of certain restrictions and recovery efforts, including helping launch a grant program to

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