Hartford Business Journal

HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | MARCH 4, 2024 35 POWER 50 state Capitol. The Lee Co. traces its roots back to Space Race-era technology develop- ment, when it supplied parts that kept the oxygen supply of astronauts safe while they walked on the moon during missions between 1969 and 1972. Today, Lee Co. has three sites in Westbrook and Essex, occupying more than 1 million square feet of manufac- turing and corporate office space. It employs more than 1,100 people. While she's spent more than 20 years at The Lee Co. working in different roles, Lee said her original passion was journalism. Before joining the family business, she worked for several years as a reporter in Houston, Texas, and Washington, D.C. ters at 75 Corporate Drive. It also has 190,000 square feet of distribution, manufacturing and engineering space in two other Trumbull buildings at 95 and 50 Corporate Drive. Prior to joining the company, Shef- field worked in investment banking for more than two decades, with a focus on medical equipment and technology. From 2009 to 2018, she was the managing director and global head of medical technology at UBS Secu- rities. She earned an MBA from the Columbia Business School. of Bank of America, he has a local leadership role at a multinational financial services company with the largest deposit market share in Connecticut. He's held the position since 2018, but has been with Bank of America and its predecessor banks in Hart- ford for much longer — since 1989. Early in his career, he worked at Connecticut Bank and Trust Co., then Fleet Bank after it acquired CBT. He started at Bank of America in 2004, after it acquired Fleet. He's not only survived each of the mergers, but found a way to rise up the ranks. Before being named president, Gianni focused on government and community relations, engaging with public officials and local leaders on policy priorities, and also becoming well-known within the nonprofit community. He still plays a government-relations role. Like all bankers, Gianni is managing several headwinds. Higher interest rates are causing borrowers to proceed cautiously with expansion and financing capital expenditures, Gianni told the HBJ earlier this year. "CFOs in Connecticut are scruti- nizing capital expenditures to ensure the projected return on any capital investment still makes sense given the higher cost of borrowing," Gianni said. "Fortunately, after pausing 32 Holly Sheffield H olly Sheffield has been leading Trumbull-based CooperSurgical during a period of growth and acquisitions. CooperSurgical is focused on advancing the health of women, babies and families, and its prod- ucts include an array of medical devices, such as vacuum-as- sisted infant delivery devices and amniocentesis needles. In the past few years, CooperSur- gical has announced several major deals, including a $1.6 billion acqui- sition of California-based Generate Life Sciences, which provides donor egg and sperm for fertility treatments, among other services. It previously bought U.K.-based Safe Obstetric Systems for around $52 million. It also purchased a Cali- fornia medical device company, Aegea Medical, and Illinois-based Embryo Options, which partners with fertility clinics to help patients manage frozen embryos, eggs and sperm. Sheffield was named president of CooperSurgical in July 2020, having previously joined its parent, Cooper- Companies, as executive vice presi- dent and chief strategy officer in 2018. CooperCompanies has two divi- sions, CooperSurgical and Cooper- Vision, with the latter focused on vision-related products. CooperSurgical occupies 267,000 square feet of leased space in Connecticut, including about 77,000 square feet in its Trumbull headquar- 33 Joe Gianni J oe Gianni is perhaps one of Greater Hartford's best-known business leaders. As the Greater Hartford president the 20 largest publicly traded compa- nies headquartered in Connecticut. She joined the company as president in 2017, and has a degree in electrical engineering from Lehigh University. As CEO of the Farmington-based elevator manufacturer, Marks helped lead Otis' 2020 spin-off from parent company United Technologies Corp. (now RTX Corp.) into an independent publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange. Otis makes and maintains elevators, escalators and moving walkways that are sold globally. Otis Worldwide reported $14.2 billion in net sales in 2023, up nearly 4% from a year earlier, and $1.4 billion in profits, up 12.2% from 2022. As of Dec. 31, Otis said it had 71,000 employees, with the majority (44%) in Asia and 23% in the Americas. Prior to joining Otis, Marks held senior leadership roles at several global businesses including IBM, Lock- heed Martin and Siemens AG. Marks is on Otis' board of directors and serves on the boards of manufac- turer Caterpillar Inc. and AdvanceCT, the state's nonprofit business recruit- ment arm. She is also a member of the Business Roundtable and chairs its trade and international committee. Marks is also a member of the U.S.- India CEO Forum. 31 Marietta Lee I n 2023, Marietta S. Lee became the first woman to lead The Lee Company, a Westbrook-based manufacturer her grandfather Leighton Lee II founded in 1948. The promotion, which made The Lee Co. a third-generation family business, came more than 20 years after she joined the company as an assistant facilities manager. The new CEO recently said she plans to lead her company toward steady growth as it develops new products and continues to make minia- ture precision fluid controls used in the aerospace, medical, scientific, printing and other industries. Additionally, Lee has taken on more of a statewide leadership role. In December, she was elected vice chair of the Connecticut Business & Industry Association's board of directors, a position that will allow her to help shape pro-business policies at the HWY 5 & CORPORATE RD FULLY PERMITTED, SHOVEL READY SITE AVAILABLE Metro Park North Nicholas Morizio, CRE, SIOR +1 860 616 4022 nicholas.morizio@colliers.com Philip Gagnon, SIOR +1 860 616 4016 philip.gagnon@colliers.com 860-249-6521 colliers.com/hartford 864 Wethersfield Avenue | Hartford, CT 06114 F O R M O R E I N F O R M AT I O N , P L E A S E C O N TA C T: Metro Park North TO EXIT 46 TO EXIT 45 Build-to-Suit Land Lease For Sale Fee Development 2024 or 2025 Delivery Building I - Up to 500,225 SF (cross dock); Divisible to ±120,000 SF Fully Approved Shovel Ready Distribution 2024

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