Hartford Business Journal

28 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | FEBRUARy 20, 2023 2023 POWER 50 structural racism as well as promoting equity in social and economic mobility. Under his tutelage the foundation has issued grants for everything from improved police training and youth mental health services to food security, entrepreneurs and artists of color. The foundation has also invested in reentry programs for people returning from incarceration and neighborhood financial literacy. Two words that could describe Williams' tenure at the Foundation are balance and partnerships. For one, he has to balance the needs of, among others, the arts and cultural organizations that are vital to the region with the push for equality and mobility. Another balance he must strike is between the needs of urban and suburban communities. In 2018 he and his staff did a listening tour of all 29 towns the foundation serves. From that came the establishment of 29 separate community funds, independent of town government, for each town. Town residents have used the funds for a wide variety of social, cultural and recreational needs. Williams seeks to partner with whomever can help move a project along. Since day one, and particu- larly during the pandemic, the foun- dation has partnered with the city of Hartford on everything from providing food to the hungry and aid for small businesses to Wi-Fi expansion. Williams, a former mayor of Youngstown, Ohio, serves on the boards of the MetroHartford Alliance, AdvanceCT and is a member of the Governor's Workforce Council. Prior to joining the foundation, Williams served as U.S. Assis- tant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development, where he led the federal economic develop- ment agenda for the United States. Donald Allan Jr. Jay Williams D on Allan is one of those rare Connecticut corporate CEOs with strong ties to the state. Last year, Allan was named pres- ident and CEO of New Britain tool- making giant Stanley Black & Decker, replacing Jim Loree. Allan is a familiar name within the company and Greater Hartford. He joined Stanley in 1999 and worked his way up the corporate ladder, even- tually to president and chief financial officer before being named CEO. The University of Hartford grad- uate also previously held financial management positions with Loctite Corp. and spent nine years at Ernst & Young. Allan has also been active locally, having been a past board chair of the United Way of Central and Northeastern Connecticut. His time so far in the corner office hasn't been easy. Not even a full month into his new role, Allan in July announced Stanley Black & Decker — which has been significantly impacted by supply chain disruptions, inflation and slower demand, among other economic headwinds — was planning to implement a significant cost-cutting initiative that would trim expenses by up to $200 million by the end of 2022, $1 billion by the end of 2023 and $2 billion within three years. Part of the cost cuts involved companywide layoffs, including in Connecticut. Stanley also confirmed that it closed its downtown Hartford innova- tion center. Prior to becoming CEO, Allan shared responsibility for Stanley's global operations and supply chain. S ince arriving at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving in 2017, Jay Williams has signifi- cantly lifted the profile of the orga- nization, which sits on a $1-billion community fund. He has focused the 97-year-old foundation on breaking down Joanne Berger-Sweeney I n 2014, Joanne Berger-Sweeney became both the first woman and person of color to be named pres- ident of Trinity College in the liberal arts school's 200-year history. Berger-Sweeney, who led Tufts University as the dean of its School of Arts and Sciences from 2010 to 2014, said it was her parents and mentors along the way that led her to have a career in education. The 64-year-old Los Angeles native said her father, Paul, was one of the first Black attorneys in LA, and her mother, Arminta, was the first Black woman in a major metropolitan area to lead a Girl Scouts chapter as executive director. Berger-Sweeney said her major accomplishments so far at Trinity College have included increasing by 50% financial aid for undergraduate students and overseeing the college's most successful annual fund drive, raising more than $70 million in three years. The college is in the midst of a $500-million capital campaign. "We are pushing very close to $300 million," Berger-Sweeney recently told the Hartford Business Journal. She also helped get the Trinity-In- fosys Applied Learning Initiative off the ground in 2019. The program incorporates elements of liberal arts and tech training. Berger-Sweeney is a trained neuro- physiologist who has contributed to more than 60 scientific publications. She is also a board member of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a private institution that has helped shape contemporary education and biomedical research. The recipient of numerous awards, Berger-Sweeney is also a member of the Behavioral Neuroscience Review Panel of the National Science Foundation. 8 9 10

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