Hartford Business Journal

2 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | APRIL 15, 2024 Biz Briefs Tel: (860) 236-9998 | Fax: (860) 570-2493 Copyright 2020. All rights reserved. Postmaster: Please send address changes to: Hartford Business Journal P.O Box 330 Congers, NY 10920-9894 Subscriptions Annual subscriptions are $132.00. To subscribe, visit HartfordBusiness.com, email circulation@ hartfordbusiness.com, or call (845) 267-3008. Advertising For advertising information, please call (860) 236-9998. Please address all correspondence to: Hartford Business Journal, 100 Allyn Street, Suite 3, Hartford, CT 06103 Stay Connected For breaking and daily Greater Hartford business news go to: www.HartfordBusiness.com HBJ on Twitter: @HartfordBiz HBJ on Facebook: www.facebook.com/HartfordBiz HBJ on Linkedln:www.linkedin.com/company/the-Hart- ford-Business-Journal Daily e-newsletters: HBJ Today, CT Morning Blend: www.hartfordbusiness.com/enewsletters Hartford Business Journal (ISSN 1083-5245) is published bi-weekly, 27x per year — including two special issues in November and December — by New England Business Media, LLC, 100 Allyn Street, Suite 3, Hartford, CT 06103. Periodicals postage paid at Hartford, CT and at additional entry points. Peter Stanton | CEO, pstanton@nebusinessmedia.com Tom Curtin | President, ext. 124, tcurtin@hartfordbusiness.com Editorial Greg Bordonaro | Editor, ext. 139 gbordonaro@hartfordbusiness.com Drew Larson | Web Editor, ext. 121 alarson@hartfordbusiness.com Beat: Energy Michael Puffer | Staff Writer, ext. 145 mpuffer@hartfordbusiness.com Beats: Real Estate, Economic Development, Banking & Finance Hanna Snyder Gambini | Staff Writer hgambini@hartfordbusiness.com Beats: Economic Development, Arts, Culture & Tourism Skyler Frazer | Staff Writer, ext. 145 sfrazer@hartfordbusiness.com Beats: Government, Manufacturing, Cannabis David Krechevsky | Staff Writer, ext. 702 davidk@hartfordbusiness.com Beats: Health Care, Bioscience Stephanie R. Meagher | Research Director Heide Martin | Research Assistant Steve Laschever | Photographer Business Tom Curtin | Publisher, ext. 124, tcurtin@hartfordbusiness.com Jessica M. Quinn | General Manager, ext. 137 jquinn@hartfordbusiness.com Daniel Schilke | Senior Accounts Manager, ext. 135, dschilke@HartfordBusiness.com Emily Paskind | Senior Accounts Manager, ext. 133, epaskind@hartfordbusiness.com Donna Hogan | Senior Accounts Manager, ext. 101, dhogan@hartfordbusiness.com Paul Stone | Senior Accounts Manager, ext. 136, pstone@hartfordbusiness.com Tracy Rodwill | Human Resources Manager trodwill@nebusinessmedia.com Production Bartosz Zinowko | Production Director, ext. 147 bzinowko@hartfordbusiness.com Trinity Sunderlin | Graphic Designer tsunderlin@hartfordbusiness.com The UConn men's basketball team celebrated its sixth national championship in Phoenix, Arizona. UConn men's basketball celebrates 6th national championship T he UConn men's basketball team, which provides a major boost to downtown Hartford when it plays home games at the XL Center, on April 8 completed a dominant 37-3 season with a 75-60 victory over Purdue to win the 2024 NCAA Division I national championship. It's UConn's second national championship in two years, and the men's team's sixth national championship overall. UConn is now among the winningest college basketball programs of all-time, moving ahead of Duke, which has five national titles. Only UCLA (11) and Kentucky (eight) have more national championships. North Carolina also has six national titles. The UConn women's basketball team, which lost in this year's Final Four to Iowa, has won a record 11 NCAA championships. The UConn men's team this season played eight games at the XL Center, winning all of them. passenger count of 6.75 million. In 2023, Bradley had 6.13 million domestic flight passengers, 107,686 international passengers, and nearly 2,000 passengers who took charter flights. Aer Lingus, which last year re-es- tablished its direct flight from Bradley to Dublin, Ireland, recorded 73,238 passengers in 2023. Breeze Airways, which has aggressively increased its number of routes at Bradley in recent years, recorded 418,890 passengers in 2023. New billionaire rankings include 15 CT residents, 2 newcomers There are a record 2,781 billion- aires in the world — 141 more than last year, and 26 more than in 2021. Their aggregate net worth is $14.2 trillion, according to Forbes' recently released World's Billionaires List for 2024. The U.S. has a record 813 billion- aires, whose net worths total $5.7 trillion, according to Forbes. Of those, 15 reside in Connecticut. The newcomers are Doug Ostrover of Greenwich, and Michael Rees of New Canaan, the latter of whom was on the list previously, but PHOTO | UCONN ATHLETICS Lawrence P. Ward, UHart's newly named president. Connecticut billionaire Todd Boehly on the cover of Forbes. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED IMAGE | FORBES University of Hartford names new president Lawrence P. Ward, who is currently vice president of learner success and dean of campus life at Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, will become the University of Hartford's seventh president on July 1. He will succeed Stephen Mulready, who has served as acting president since the retirement of Gregory Woodward last summer. Before his time at Babson, Ward served as associate dean for academic programs at American University's Kogod School of Busi- ness in Washington, D.C. He also previously served as a healthcare account executive for Hartford health insurer Aetna. He has other ties to Connecticut: he earned his undergraduate business degree from UConn. Ward's appointment comes as UHart has faced financial chal- lenges coming out of the pandemic. The school last year had to hire an independent advisory firm to recommend ways to shore up its financial position, after failing to meet the debt service coverage ratio required for over $100 million in bonds used for campus improve- ments and other purposes. UHart has responded by imple- menting budget reforms and making other changes. Passenger traffic at Bradley Airport grew 7.8% in 2023 Bradley International Airport saw its passenger traffic increase nearly 8% in 2023, but the Windsor Locks airfield still hasn't returned to pre-pandemic activity levels. In 2023, Bradley Airport reported 6.24 million passengers, up 7.8% from 2022. That was the highest number of passengers since the 2020 pandemic. However, that total was still 7.5% below 2019's Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED dropped off, and returned this year. Ostrover and Rees co-founded Blue Owl, an investment firm special- izing in private credit with $165 billion in assets under management. Ostrover, 61, has a net worth of $2.8 billion; Rees, 49, has a net worth of $1.7 billion, according to the data. Steve Cohen, who oversees Point72 Asset Management, a $30.6 billion hedge fund, stands his ground as Connecticut's wealthiest resident. The 67-year-old Greenwich resident has a net worth of $19.8 billion and is the 97th wealthiest person in the world, according to the rankings. He also owns the New York Mets.

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