Hartford Business Journal

HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | JUNE 24, 2024 3 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 Peter Stanton | CEO, pstanton@nebusinessmedia.com Tom Curtin | President, ext. 124, tcurtin@hartfordbusiness.com 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. 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 Tracy Rodwill | Human Resources Manager trodwill@nebusinessmedia.com Staff Bartosz Zinowko | Production Director, ext. 147 bzinowko@hartfordbusiness.com Lindsay Langenauer | Digital Marketing Manager, ext. 134 llangenauer@hartfordbusiness.com Trinity Sunderlin | Graphic Designer tsunderlin@hartfordbusiness.com Aetna's Hartford headquarters at 151 Farmington Ave. Aetna to leave CT's small group fully insured market as insurers seek rate hikes for 2025 H artford health insurer Aetna will be the latest insurer to exit Connecticut's fully insured small group health insurance market, according to state regulators. Aetna has informed the state Department of Insurance it has decided to leave the small group market and will no longer offer new businesses small group health plans. The insurer will only renew existing plans through the end of the year, the insurance department said. Aetna joins several other insurers that have recently fled the small group market, which many have described as being in collapse amid less competition and escalating costs. In May, Bloomfield-based Cigna Healthcare and New York-based insur- ance technology company Oscar notified policyholders in Connecticut they will stop renewing and enrolling new small groups in a plan they jointly launched a few years ago. Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and ConnectiCare have also withdrawn their small group plans, which are for employers with 50 or fewer workers. The Insurance Department made the disclosure about Aetna's depar- ture on the same day the agency announced new rate requests for 2025. Insurance carriers selling policies on and off Connecticut's Affordable Care Act exchange have asked the state for an average rate increase of 8.3% for individual plans, and 11.9% for small group plans, the agency said. New Haven Bank CEO to retire; new leader announced One of the few women bank CEOs in Connecticut will step down from her post by the end of this year as she heads into retirement. Maureen A. Frank has led New Haven Bank for the past 11 years, helping grow the community lender from $58 million in assets to $195 million. She relinquished her president title on June 10, and will step down as CEO later this year, the bank said. New Haven Bank is one of the youngest lenders in Connecticut, founded in 2010 as Start Bank before it took on its current name in 2019. During her tenure, Frank led the bank to profitability and its name change, and opened a second branch in West Haven in 2023. Frank has been replaced as presi- dent by Judith Corprew, who will also take over the CEO role later this year. Corprew most recently served as chief risk and compliance officer and executive vice president at Stamford-based Patriot Bank, with $1.1 billion in assets. Lamont appoints Stanley Black & Decker exec as Board of Regents chair Gov. Ned Lamont has appointed Martin Guay to serve as chair of the Connecticut Board of Regents, the governing body for the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities (CSCU) system. Guay, who has been serving as a Regents board member since September 2023, is the vice president of business development at Stanley Black & Decker in New Britain. Guay will succeed current Board of Regents Chair JoAnn Ryan, president and CEO of the Northwest Connecticut Chamber of Commerce. There are 15 volunteer voting members of the Board of Regents — nine are appointed by the governor, four are appointed by legislative leaders, and two are students chosen by their peers. In his business development role at Stanley Black & Decker, Guay works with startups, academia, venture capital, philan- thropy and global corporations on economic and workforce development efforts. Simsbury architecture firm Phase Zero Design Corp. acquired Phase Zero Design Corp., a Simsbury-based commer- cial architecture and interior design firm, is joining an affil- iate of commercial real estate giant Colliers. Phase Zero will merge with New Jersey-based Colliers Engineering & Design, a privately held company with more than 75 offices throughout the United States. Terms of the deal, which is expected to close in the third quarter, were not disclosed. Phase Zero also has offices in Hingham, Massachusetts and Cary, North Carolina. As of the second quarter of 2023, Phase Zero reported having 17 local architects, ranking it the fifth-largest architecture firm in Greater Hartford, according to Hartford Business Journal's Book of Lists. It also reported five local interior designers and 28 local employees, according to the BOL. Phase Zero's senior leadership will remain with the company, based on the agreement. CEO Ricci sets 2025 retirement date; Hospital for Special Care begins search for next chief executive Lynn Ricci, the president and CEO of New Britain-based the Hospital for Special Care, announced she plans to retire next year. Ricci has been with the long-term, acute care hospital since 2004, and was elevated to CEO in 2015. The Hospital for Special Care has hired national executive search firm WittKieffer to help find its next chief executive. Ricci will retire once a successor is chosen and onboarded, the hospital said. According to an announcement, Ricci is credited with signifi- cantly growing program services, with the hospital now serving patients from the entire state of Connecticut as well as 24 other states throughout the country. PHOTO | COSTAR Maureen Frank Martin Guay Lynn Ricci

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