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44 Hartford Business Journal • November 26, 2012 www.HartfordBusiness.com Celebrating 20 Years of Business News STORIES 20 Years of W hen terrorism and large-scale financial fraud rocked the United States in 2001, the shockwaves from both traveled quickly to greater Hart- ford, wiping out jobs and threatening the security of countless area residents. At a forum for municipal and business leaders held in December 2001, Bob Hanra- han, then president of East Windsor-based Wood Group Aero, said he had already laid off 30 percent of his employees, with more downsizing planned for January. While the federal government bailed out the nation's airlines, he argued, nothing had been done to protect aviation support industries which ran the gamut from engine repair to catering. U.S. Rep. John Larson concurred, voicing a need for low interest loans to keep area trav- el agencies, limousine services, and airport hotels afloat. With fewer people traveling and Federal Aviation Administration restrictions at an all- time high, overnight courier services reliant on commercial passenger flights suffered as well. West Hartford-based ProCourier resort- ed to sending deliveries by car throughout the country and into Canada, only to suffer more slow-downs when security measures in the buildings to which they delivered became more intricate. Corporate gift companies in Greater Hartford also fought to hang on as long time Manhattan-based customers downsized holi- day gift orders, or dropped them entirely in favor of donations to memorial funds. Dur- ing the Anthrax investigation which followed the attacks, Windsor-based ADVO Inc., at the time the United States Post Office's largest customer, offered a $500,000 reward for the capture of the individual responsible for mail- ing poisoned letters which killed five people. When the Enron scandal of 2001dominat- ed headlines, Hartford's financial center was hit hard as well. While alert fund managers were credited with keeping Enron-related losses to the city's pension fund to a mini- mum, a harsh spotlight was thrown onto the Connecticut Resource Recovery Authority, which had a much-criticized $220 million loan agreement with the disgraced company. At the Hartford offices of accounting giant Arthur Andersen, over 300 employees await- ed their uncertain fate while dealing with the backlash from angered clients. Longstanding partners — some of whom had entrusted the company for more than 25 years — quickly pulled the plug, while local workers struggled to understand how docu- ment shredding in their company's Houston offices triggered their speedy downfall here. Some felt betrayed by a community they had faithfully sup- ported through charity work, their efforts now overshadowed by the rep- utation which had been forced upon them. At a June 2002 rally at City Hall, workers and labor advocates gath- ered to hear former Enron workers urge unions to fight to protect the retirement services and benefits they themselves had lost in an instant. The message translated into a call to action for all workers whose security lay in the hands of seemingly unattainable higher-ups. A clerk at New Britain- based Stanley Works used the moment to protest a recent, albeit contested, vote by the company's board to relo- cate operations to Bermuda. Through 2002 and beyond, Hart- ford joined the rest of the country in slowly recovering from the blows of the pre- vious year. Wood Group Aero joined forces with Pratt & Whitney Power Systems of East Hartford to form Wood Group Pratt & Whitney Industrial Turbine Services, now in Bloomfield. Stanley Works went on to merge with Black & Decker in 2010; Stanley Black & Decker remains in New Britain. While not without scars – Arthur Andersen employees were left searching for work as their company dissolved beneath them – Hartford emerged from unprecedented challenges to move for- ward once again. – Karen Sackowitz At the Hartford offices of accounting giant Arthur Andersen, over 300 employees awaited their uncertain fate... E veryone has a memory of where they were on 9/11, and everyone knows of the effects the date had on the coun- try. What a lot of people don't know however, was the way Connecticut businesses pulled together to get each other through that tough time and made sure employees had the ability to work through the trauma of the event. Calls for business weren't all sales calls or all calls made to ensure products or ser- vices were going as planned. Business calls were made to make sure fellow business men and women were safe and sound, and loved ones were accounted for. I learned more about the loved ones of people in the business community in those days than in any of the hundreds of networking events I've attended over the years. I was in New York the day our country's future was changed forever. Front and cen- ter, attending a National Association for Business Economics conference right there in the ballroom of the Marriott, 3 World Trade Center, a room that abutted the North Tower, 1 World Trade Center. At 8:42, there was a shock that made us feel as if we were in the center of an earthquake. We immediately knew something really bad was going on. Luckily, well-trained security personnel in the complex got us safely into the lobby where we were then evacuated out of the building and across the street. Once the second building was hit and it was evident we were under attack, I urged everyone around me to get as far away from the buildings as possible, and began what was to be a very long and arduous journey to try and find a way back into Connecticut. A lot of the businesses in Manhattan stayed open for those of us try- ing to get home, offering water or soft drinks and a place to rest and try and recover. We were all in shock, many of us sitting in silence. People were changed instant- ly on that day. The CEO at CBIA at the time was Ken Decko, whose son lived in Manhattan. We shared a lot in the days following the attacks. Ken taught me a lot about business in the years I worked with and for him, before 9/11, and in the days and months following. Ken taught me that when you are under pressure, you have to sit back and think things through before giving a response. That advice was true in the office, and following 9/11. There was no normal way to just react to the pressures post 9/11. The enormous stress had to be methodically worked through, piece by piece. Work became a diversion for many from the awful memories of the World Trade Center site. The months following 9/11 were very difficult. But the strength that came out of the business community in Connecticut during that time cannot be reproduced. In the time following the attacks, we stood together as one. g Pete Gioia is a vice president and econo- mist with the Connecticut Business & Industry Association. 9/11 taught us a lot about ourselves By Peter Gioia "Remembrance" 'People were changed instantly on that day.' Enron and 9/11 take a toll Outside forces buffet Greater Hartford P h o t o / S t e v e L a S C h e v e r Silver lining While the Enron debacle sent oth- ers reeling, local serial entrepreneur Jim Barnes seized the moment. Coming off his success building Oakleaf Waste Management, he bought a company out of bankruptcy in 2004. By 2008, when this photo appeared in the Hartford Busi- ness Journal, he was seeking investors for what today is the service industry juggernaut, FM Facilities Maintenance.