Hartford Business Journal Special Editions

6 Hartford Business Journal • October 6, 2014 www.HartfordBusiness.com L i f e t i m e A c h i e v e m e n t A w A r d s 2 0 1 4 raThGEBEr devotes career to making connecticut a better place for business By Krystal Overmyer Special to the Hartford Business Journal A wind-solar turbine in a remote Nepali village repre- sents more than charity to John Rathgeber, president and CEO of the Connecticut Business & Industry Asso- ciation. Built by Hartford High School students and supported by CBIA, the turbine is the type of educational opportunity Rathgeber thinks could help close Connecticut's achievement gap — and ultimately make Connecticut a better place to do business. "If you think about the main thing that allows companies to be success- ful in the state of Connecticut, it has been, and will be going forward, the quality of the workforce," he said. Rathgeber's efforts to improve education in Connecticut will be just one piece of his legacy with the CBIA when he retires at the end of the year. Since 1977, Rathgeber, 64, has worked in various capacities to pro- mote a healthy business climate through economic growth and services to members. Since he began, the association has grown from about 2,800 member companies to about 10,000. "John was instrumental in growing CBIA from a pretty small organization when he started 37 years ago to one that is now, by many measures, one of the largest of its kind in the country," said Joe Brennan, CBIA's executive vice president who will replace Rathgeber in 2015. Part of CBIA's success is rooted in Rathgeber's ability to marry innovative services to members with robust public policy efforts. Rathgeber started at CBIA as a staff attorney dealing with tax, environmental and energy policy. He quickly found he enjoyed using his legal skills to forward the organi- zation's mission of enhancing Connecticut's business climate. During his tenure, he helmed efforts to reform workers com- pensation and tax policy to boost competiveness of manufac- turers and financial services companies. He also led efforts to improve services to members. In the 1990s, CBIA created a health insurance exchange for small businesses, building the systems and infrastructure for the operation. CBIA's ability to listen to members' needs and create products to address them is another example of what sets CBIA apart from its peers, Rathgeber said. "There's a bit of an entrepreneur- ial spirit here to try and think through how we are able to do things for our members that help them in an area of significant concern," Rathgeber said. More recently, Rathgeber has renewed his focus on educa- tion, particularly early childhood education. The CBIA Education Foundation, founded in 1983, seeks to help develop a skilled work- force in Connecticut. For Rathgeber, that has meant addressing some of the inequalities in Connecticut's education system, as well as persuading business leaders that they have a vested inter- est in the education of Connecticut's youngest residents. "I think it has become better understood by the business community that you have to be engaged early on in order to have kids graduate from high school who are ready to go on to college or enter the workforce," he said. Rathgeber has weathered periods of economic chal- lenge at CBIA. The recession in the late '80s and early '90s was longer and deeper in Connecticut than in other parts of the country, Brennan said. He credits Rathgeber for fighting through that period to restore jobs, strengthen the economy and support members' success. Despite those challenges, Rathgeber said persuading Connecticut's political leadership to strengthen the private sector has been his most difficult task. Not all political lead- ers understand the business community's impact and how it is critically important for the future of the state, he said. Increasing partisan divide is also making building consensus more difficult, Rathgeber said. CBIA's nonpartisan campaign to make Connecticut one of the top 20 business-friendly states by 2017 is one way the organization is hoping to foster new discussion on the topic, Rathgeber said. Brennan said Rathgeber's passion and command of the issues have earned respect from both sides of the political aisle. "When you hear him testify at the State Capitol, he very much believes in the CBIA mission and has worked tirelessly to advance that mission over the years," Brennan said. Rathgeber is a member of the board of trustees of the New Britain Museum of American Art and serves on the boards of the Connecticut Council for Education Reform, the National Associa- tion of Manufacturers, the Connecticut Center for School Change and the New England Legal Foundation. Rathgeber received a political science degree from Colgate University in 1972, earned his law degree at Suffolk University Law School in 1976, and was admitted to the Connecticut Bar that same year. After he steps down from CBIA, he plans to continue work- ing to improve education in Connecticut with his wife of 41 years, Susan. P H O T O | S T e v e L a S c H e v e r

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