Hartford Business Journal

26 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | FEBRUARY 28, 2021 2022 POWER 50 A lan Lazowski is arguably Hartford's most influential businessman. He is the CEO and founder of LAZ Parking, one of the largest parking operators in the United States with about 12,000 employees and $1.8 billion in managed revenue. While his parking empire took a hit during the pandemic, it hasn't slowed down his focus on the future. He's in the middle of what he hopes to be a transformational period for LAZ Parking with intentions to remake the company into a more innovative digital parking operator. That pivot includes adopting new technologies that allow for a completely hands-free parking experience to potentially opening new business lines within his parking properties like parcel delivery and ghost kitchens, in addition to deploying thousands of electric vehicle chargers across the country. In November, Lazowski announced a partnership with air transport infrastructure firm Skyports to develop vertiports for electric air taxis at LAZ facilities in Los Angeles. Besides his core business, Lazowski has increasingly gotten into real estate development and investment in Hartford. He and New York landlord Shelbourne Global Solutions LLC teamed up in 2019 to buy the Gold Building for $70.5 million, and are partners, with developer Martin Kenny, on an ongoing $100-million redevelopment of downtown's Pratt Street corridor. Lazowski and Kenny also acquired a 50% ownership stake in four large Class A apartment buildings in downtown Hartford, known as the Spectra apartments. They contain a combined 554 mostly market-rate apartments. The son of Holocaust survivors, Lazowski served as a member of the United States Holocaust Museum's Council and is a current board member of the national NAACP. He also serves on the boards of many local nonprofits. Alan Lazowski 9 10 Andrea Comer & Michelle Seagull S tate Department of Consumer Protection Commissioner Michelle Seagull and Deputy Commissioner Andrea Comer will be overseeing the state's legal cannabis industry, which is in the process of launching after Gov. Ned Lamont signed the adult- use statute last June. Application windows for several different business licenses have been gradually opening since the beginning of February, so the DCP and Social Equity Council have been working to fine-tune rules, regulations and technical assistance programs to aid entrepreneurs. "In 2022 we expect to be spending a lot of time evaluating license applications and working with those applicants to get their business up and running," Seagull told HBJ earlier this year. "Right now we're still hoping that there will be sales available starting toward the end of 2022." Comer is chair of the SEC, which was created to try to ensure the state's cannabis industry benefits marginalized communities that have been disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs. With applications launched, the SEC is preparing for the lottery that will determine the first wave of legal retail cannabis businesses. All this regulatory work will require a lot of manpower, which is why DCP is looking to hire about 60 new staffers in 2022 to serve the cannabis industry, Seagull said. New employees will include members of DCP's legal team, licensing staff and site inspectors. "We are looking to hire a pretty significant number of people and it will cover a range of things," Seagull said. "[DCP] will be growing significantly."

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