Hartford Business Journal

14 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | JUNE 2, 2025 Muse is invested in other aspects of women's sports, including the pro soccer team Washington Spirit. Grazioli-Venier was the first woman to be appointed to the board of legendary Italian club Juventus, where she helped launch Juventus Women. Eventually, Stein says, the league wants to sell WPBL franchises to potential owners around the country — and he indicates that the Connecticut Baseball Project may have stiff competition. "We've had many, many offers and expressions of interest in buying individual franchises from great groups and great individuals who are passionate about women's sport," he said. "Ultimately, there could be 32 teams." New England appeal That enthusiasm is apparently matched by potential players. The league is holding tryouts this summer and has already had 600 players register. Although there hasn't been a professional league in this country for decades, there are plenty of women playing baseball. "There are women's teams around the country," said Siegal, WPBL's co-founder. "There's 10,000 girls playing baseball at various levels, from T-ball on up. There's over a thousand girls playing high school baseball with the boys, and next year there'll be about eight to 10 women playing college baseball with men." In fact, the U.S. already has a national team, which competes against 25 other countries in the Women's Baseball World Cup. Siegal herself has waited a long time for this. She's been playing baseball since she was five, and pitched batting practice for multiple MLB teams before making history as the first female coach of an MLB team with the Oakland Athletics organization in 2015. She also founded Baseball for All to promote women in the game. Siegal has plenty of New England ties, having gone to high school in New Hampshire and earned her Ph.D. at Springfield College in western Massa- chusetts. She's also worked at North- eastern in Boston. "I'm a fan of New England and I think it's a wonderful spot to have a team," she said. "I think there's a sports fandom that is particular to New England, and personally I'd love to see a team in the New England area as we grow." That enthusiasm is welcome news to Freyer. "I want to make it undeniable that there is a team coming here, I believe that strongly in it," he said. "I'm gonna take this as far as I can. That's my goal, and no one's told me 'no' yet." Otis Worldwide engineer Russell Gottlieb at the bottom floor of the company's 28-story elevator test tower in Bristol. HBJ PHOTO | HARRIET JONES Towering Task In CT, engineers shape key part of Otis' future business — modernizing the world's aging elevators, escalators statement: the company makes more than 60% of its revenues and 90% of its profits from servicing elevators. Modernization is currently growing even faster than service — orders were up 18% in 2024. The aftermarket business is increas- ingly profitable. The company's oper- ating margins are around 6% on new installations, compared to close to 25% in its service business. The emphasis on aftermarket also insulates Otis from fluctuations in new construction, which it has seen most notably in a years-long slowdown in the hugely important Chinese market. The publicly traded company — which employs 72,000 people worldwide, including almost half in Asia and 21% in the Americas — reported $14.3 billion in revenue and a $1.7 billion profit in 2024. New technologies Modernization of an aging elevator can be addressed in a number of different ways, depending on a client's needs. "The minimum is replacing the computer, the controller. That's the way it starts," Otis spokesperson Ed Jacovino said. "You can add into that the aesthetic pieces, the buttons, the rope or the belts, and even the full motor. And even at that point, you're coming short of a full replacement." Elevator technology is always changing, too. The vintage elevator in the Empire State Building was replaced by Otis' latest Gen2 model. "We've come a long way with motion control, smoothness, safety, service- ability, predictability, life — all those things," said Otis engineer Russell Gottlieb. "Just like in the car industry." The pandemic sped up adoption of some of the other new technologies that Otis had in development, like integra- tion with a phone app that will hail an elevator and direct it to the correct floor, making the experience touchless. Elevators are also now part of the internet of things, connected devices that are continually feeding back data about their operation to service tech- nicians — who often can be informed about faults before a building manager is aware of them. "There's been situations where the mechanic has woken up, checked their phone, called the customer and said, 'hey, looks like elevator number four isn't working. You mind if I come by at 7:30?'" By Harriet Jones hjones@hartfordbusiness.com I n the lobby of Otis Worldwide's elevator test tower in Bristol sits a vintage machine, in front of a huge aerial photo of the Empire State Building. This hulking green piece of metal is the drive for the original elevator inside the iconic building's mast — installed by Otis in 1931. It was removed in a renovation project finished in 2021. Now it's on display not just as a reminder of the company's storied past, but as a clue to its future. Just like the Empire State Building, much of the world's built infrastructure is aging — including a lot of elevators. "Everywhere around the world there's a big need for modernization now," says Otis spokesperson Katy Padgett. "You'll see that in our earnings reports. We'll report on service, but also moderniza- tion. That's an important and growing part of our business." By the company's estimates, around 8 million of the world's 22 million eleva- tors are more than 20 years old — the age at which building managers might consider investing in modernization. That number is expected to rise to 15 million elevators in the next decade. Otis currently maintains and services some 2.4 million units. It's what the company's CEO Judy Marks has spoken of as a "flywheel" business model. Every elevator the company installs can yield years of revenue from servicing and eventually, modernization. And that's evident in Otis' income Play Ball Continued from page 13

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