Hartford Business Journal

HBJ071326UF

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HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | JULY 13, 2026 13 TOTAL PROJECT SIZE: 25,000 SF Building For Your Success SPOTLIGHT ON: PRE-ENGINEERED METAL BUILDINGS ABLE COIL BOLTON, CT For over 61 years, metal buildings have been a staple of PDS. For this project, we were tasked by Able Coil to build a new state of the art pre-engineered metal office building and renovate their existing 20,000 square foot building into a new manufacturing facility in Bolton CT. Complete with multiple new offices and several specialty rooms, the exterior finish is a multifaceted design complete with Nichiha Vintage Cement siding and ACM paneling, full length store front windows and stone veneer. Structural upgrades to the existing building were necessary to bring it up to code and to support the new solar panel system. With in-house engineering, PDS can design the right building to fit your budget and timeline. 107 Old Windsor Road, Bloomfield, CT 06002 | 860.242.8586 | pdsec.com THINK • PLAN • BUILD two weeks." The resulting application, called Deploy IQ, uses AI to automate much of the software testing process. Mitchell said it now handles about 90% of that work. Deploy IQ is one of several AI applications Flare has developed for banks. Another one is Policy IQ, a tool that helps institutions update internal policies in response to changing regulatory guidance. Liberty is also using a tool called Lead IQ to help identify commercial lending opportunities for its recently opened Boston loan production office. The AI application analyzes market conditions and competitor activity to identify potential customers. Another application was devel- oped after Glidden asked for a way to identify customers who might be seeking a new banking relationship following the pending merger of Webster Bank and Banco Santander. The tool analyzes branch locations, deposit concentrations and commer- cial lending data to pinpoint markets with the greatest opportunity. Mitchell said many community banks remain in the early stages of AI adoption because they lack the financial resources to build their own AI teams. That forces them to work with outside consultants. "This industry is undergoing a once-in-a-generation shift with AI," Mitchell said. "There was when the internet was created and there's this. It's an AI tsunami right now. And community banks, as usual, are just far behind. The larger banks can afford developers and prompt engi- neers and a whole AI suite of people." A tool, not a replacement While Glidden said he wants AI used broadly, he also wants to ensure its deployment is carefully vetted. To support that goal, Liberty created a formal governance process for evalu- ating new AI applications. The AI Center of Excellence is overseen by Chief Operating Officer Jeremy Miller, Chief Financial Officer Paul Young and Chief Risk Officer Troy Damboise. It is co-chaired by David Hadd, who leads the bank's business transformation office, and Michael Stevens, Liberty's data architect. Business unit leaders have been asked to identify repetitive, labor-in- tensive processes that could benefit from AI. Before any new application is adopted, the committee reviews cybersecurity, data privacy, regulatory compliance, vendor stability and how employees will interact with the technology. Glidden said Liberty views AI as a tool to make employees more efficient, not replace them. Bank employees will continue reviewing AI-generated work and making final decisions, he said. "So, one of our main goals here is to really look into what I call ethical AI," Glidden said." Liberty Bank President and CEO David Glidden says artificial intelligence can improve efficiency while allowing employees to remain responsible for key decisions. HBJ File Photo

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