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G r e at e r H a r t f o r d ' s B u s i n e s s n e w s w w w. H a r t f o rd B u s i n e s s . c o m for more B2B news visit January 12, 2015 Volume 23, number 7 $3.00 subscribe online Friday, March 20th, 2015 8:30am – 1:00pm Hartford Hilton L e a r n i n n o v a t e C o L L a b o r a t e S a v e SUMMIT ANNUAL 's Index ■ Reporter's Notebook: PG. 5 ■ Week in Review: PG. 6 ■ The List: PGS. 9, 10 ■ Deal Watch: PG. 11 ■ Nonprofit Profile: PG. 18 ■ Opinion & Commentary: PG. 20 Preserving Independence Find out why two of Greater Hartford's largest independent doctor groups are planning to join forces and what the merger could mean to the competitive landscape. PG. 3 FocuS: LeGiSLative Preview Toll Concerns Find out where businesses stand on the issue of adding tolls to Connecticut highways. PG. 8 Not all of CT satisfied with low fuel prices By Gregory Seay gseay@HartfordBusiness.com C onnecticut gasoline prices are the lowest in years, and the motoring public couldn't be happier. So, with the drop, wholesalers and retail gas-station operators are giddy, too, right? Wrong. Falling pump prices have also exacerbated the decades-long "gas war'' between Connecticut's gasoline wholesalers and retailers and state policy- and budgetmak- ers. But one state lawmaker says time may finally have come to eliminate one of those fuels taxes. Dealers say that Connecticut's taxes on motor fuels consistently rank it among the three most cost- ly states to sell gasoline, leaving them vulnerable to out-of-state competitors along the Massachu- setts, New York and Rhode Island borders, which are taxed less and can sell their product cheaper. That also has left Connecticut vulnerable to reductions in its col- lection of motor-fuel tax receipts. "Their volumes on the borders, especially the Massachusetts- Connecticut border, are down to The Fas Mart gasoline station on Enfield Street in Enfield has had trouble competing with the cheaper gas prices offered at the Pride station, shown above, in Longmeadow, Mass., located less than a block away. P H O T O | H B J F i l e Continued on page 14 Continued on page 12 CT companies make progress in diversifying top ranks By Sheena Butler-Young sbulter@HartfordBusiness.com W omen account for more than half of U.S. college students and influence 80 percent of the purchasing decisions in the country, yet many states still struggle to end leadership dis- parities in the workforce and close gender-wage gaps. Connecticut, however, is one of several top-ranking states leading the charge in offering women greater opportunities for professional development and economic growth, according to one recent study. Several recent high-profile women executive promotions in Con- necticut — Hartford health insurer Aetna naming Karen Rohan NarrowiNg the GEndEr GaP Jill Hummel was named president of Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield in Connecticut in 2013, joining a growing number of women in the state taking on executive posts. P H O T O | P a B l O R O B l e s