Issue link: https://nebusinessmedia.uberflip.com/i/477238
www.HartfordBusiness.com November 26, 2012 • Hartford Business Journal 79 Celebrating 20 Years of Business News HONORED those Molly rees gaviN Women in Business 2011 A drive to better her profession and the organization she leads were behind Molly Rees Gavin's selection as an outstanding Woman in Business. During her more than 30 years at Connecticut Commu- nity Care Inc. in Bristol, where she is now president, she has championed a philosophy of customer first, employees sec- ond, and herself third in terms of importance of delivery of services and success. Rees Gavin started at CCCI in 1976 when it was just a dem- onstration project designed to get people taken care of in their homes and not be warehoused in a nursing home setting. "I loved the actual clinic work and I also developed a real interest in the public policy and the advo- cacy we did and the system reforms," said Rees Gavin. She is a founder of the National Association of Certified Care Man- agers (NACCM) and continues to serve on its board. Rees Gavin said the organization needed to be established to set standards for her profession. "The feeling was there were no standards [in the 1980s and early 1990s]. Anybody could call themselves a care manager," Rees Gavin said at the time of her award. aMy JaFFe Barzach Forty Under 40, 2000 From personal sorrow, Amy Jaffee Barzach built a business that opened up playgrounds around the nation to special needs children when she cre- ated Boundless Playgrounds in Bloomfield. After their nine- month-old son Jonathan died from spinal muscular atrophy, Barzach and her husband Peter channeled their grief into Jona- than's Dream – one of the first universally accessible playgrounds in the country, created by more than 1,000 volunteers, opening at the Mandell Jewish Community Center. A profile article in Jewish Woman Magazine deemed her a Jewish hero. Barzach led a team of passionate parents and professionals to found Boundless Playgrounds in 1997. During her tenure as its founding executive director, Boundless Playgrounds raised aware- ness of the need for and benefits of inclusive playgrounds generating interest from people in every state, helped communities develop 135 inclusive playgrounds in 25 states, successfully implemented three state initiatives, and raised millions of dollars for this cause includ- ing $10,000,000 in challenge grants that directly helped more than 50 communities develop their own inclusive playgrounds. After dedi- cating more than a decade of her life to Boundless Playgrounds, she turned over leadership of Boundless Playgrounds to Fred Leone, CEO in September 2008 siMoN KoNover Lifetime Achieve- ment Award, 2010 From one tiny motel in the North End of Hartford, he "has crafted a major real estate behemoth, with commercial and residential construction, development and management; and a hotel ownership and management wing, stretching across the Northeast and Mid- west," the Hartford Business Journal wrote. The profile added, "He is a blend of hard-nosed negotiator, compassionate donor and seer; and bemused observer of markets and money — the kind of gentleman who deserves that old label 'comfortable in his own skin.'" Konover was a penniless young Jewish boy who escaped the Nazi horrors in Poland and the Russia — and made it to Ellis Island, via Cuba. He has been a major donor to causes related to Israel and Jew- ish charity and education; to higher education and other projects as well. He has been a champion of nonprofit and low-and moderate- income housing in the region — and he was a key player in the cre- ation of the late Paul Newman's 'Hole in the Wall' camp in Ashford. alaN lazowsKi Lifetime Achievement Award, 2011 From simple ventures sometimes grow massive business orga- nizations. Such is the case with Allen Lazowski who took a valet parking business and turned it into LAZ Parking, the fourth largest commercial parking operation in the country, with regional offices across the country, with 6,000 employees, with more than 425,000 parking spaces. His story was recounted in the Hartford Business Journal when Lazowski received his award. "It began when Lazows- ki was a student at the Universi- ty of Connecticut. He recruited a few pals and they began valet parking cars at the old Frank's Restaurant in downtown Hart- ford. They made money (a little bit). Alan saw the opportunity. Prominent Hartford business- man David Chase gave Lazows- ki the parking chores at the old Hilton Hotel — and a career was born." Since then, LAZ parking has seen explosive growth and increased sophistication of the organization. Beyond the expansion outside of Connecticut to 21 states, LAZ partnered in 2007 with VINCI Park, Europe's largest parking operation, to gain additional capital and assist VINCI in an expansion into the United States. Money and volunteer effort is poured into both Jewish causes and general charitable efforts — with added vigor, since Lazowski estab- lished the LAZ Parking Charitable Foundation in 2010. Joseph MarFuggi Lifetime Achievement Award, 2010 "In 25 years, Joseph Marfuggi, president and CEO of Riverfront Recapture, has not only recaptured the river, but also captured the hearts and minds and imagina- tion of opinion leaders, donors whose checks don't bounce, and the general population from hundreds of miles around Hartford — city, suburban and ex-urban folks who now see the river as a recreational and envi- ronmental jewel," the Hartford Business Journal wrote. The profile continued, "The magic of Marfuggi was to break up a grand vision into digestible parts; to slowly and carefully introduce ideas that would liberate the river from its bond- age, that would make it desir- able, that would engage the communities in the region; that would, of course, goose up Riverfront Recapture with enough clout to get the job done." Of course, Marfuggi did have a life before the river. He held vari- ous writing and political jobs and was assistant director of develop- ment at UConn Health Center prior to joining Riverfront Recapture in 1986. 'The magic of Marfuggi was to break up a grand vision into digestible parts; to slowly and carefully introduce ideas that would liberate the river from its bondage.' Hartford Business Journal, 2010 Continued on next page