Hartford Business Journal

CFO of the Year 2014 www.HartfordBusiness.com November10,2014•Hartford Business Journal CFO - 11 "We're taking real estate and converting it to cash," Wood said. "We had three key parcels for sale. We had significant pieces of property with deferred maintenance and very high operating costs. We're recy- cling our real estate interest into our new facility." The move also helped ASD reduce operating costs by more than $2 million per year, Wood said. At the same time, over the past two years, the school's endowment and pension plan have grown by 35 percent. "Our defined benefit plan is over-funded right now, which is rare," Wood said. "Part of the battle is to be able to invest prudently, but you also have to manage the benefits prudently." Wood said one reason ASD has had modest operating surpluses is because he uses a very detailed budgeting process, which incorpo- rates enhancements to current programs. "When you do have multiple programs that complicate the fund- ing model, I work with the executive director and the senior man- agement team because we have to address those needs, prioritize, and allocate," Wood said. "It's a lot of team-building and negotiating a consensus amongst everyone." Wood said he is prudent with cost control. Many years ago, he instituted a process whereby all contracts over $50,000 are reviewed on a regular basis. From time to time, he and the business office will issue requests for proposals and services to ensure ASD is receiving the most competitive pricing available. Creating efficiencies also frees up cash to invest in things like the recent installation of air conditioning in three of the school's larg- est dormitories, which represent about 90 percent of the residential space on campus. "We're always looking to expand our programs," he said. "Unfortu- nately, when times get tough, organizations have a tendency to focus on the cost control side. What you have to do is balance some cost control with program growth." Bravin, Wood and the rest of the senior management team are currently working on a new strategic plan. Marilyn Rettig, ASD's director of institutional investment, said Wood has made her job raising funds much easier. "We have a very strong, very transparent approach to finances at the organization, and that is always good for potential funders," Rettig said. Wood works to keep the jargon to a minimum, so that all staff he interacts with feels comfortable. "He's a team player," Rettig said. "He tries very hard to make what he does accessible to the rest of us who are not finance people." Wood, of Avon, said the American School for the Deaf has provided him with a rewarding career. "I spent 25 years in banking," he said. "I was a senior executive, and through relationships (formed through banking) I was able to find connections here." Wood is married and has two adult children. His wife, Marie Wood, works at ASD in the Birth-to-Three program. A certified public accountant, Wood has been a member of the Connecticut Society of CPAs since 1986. He also serves on the board as treasurer of Saints Cyril and Methodius Orthodox Church in Plymouth. Wood said he enjoys reading and spends two to three hours a day with a book. "I'll never stop learning," he said. "It's important to be good at what you do, but I think you constantly have to expand the perimeter of your knowledge. As chief financial officer, I can be working on any- thing from a security issue to a technology issue to pricing strategies with respect to the services that we offer." Insurance solutions that fit your budget and benefit your employees Put us to work for you. 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Put us to work for you, we're GREAT for your company! { } It's important to be good at what you do, but I think you constantly have to expand the perimeter of your knowledge. As chief financial officer, I can be working on anything from a security issue to a technology issue to pricing strategies with respect to the services that we offer. Subscribe You'll find it in print • Need to grow your busiNess? • research your competitioN? • FiNd hartFord's latest busiNess News aNd ecoNomic treNds? To subscribe call 845-267-3008 or go to www.HartfordBusiness.com Subscribe today and get access to the information that Central Connecticut business people and decision makers use every day. it's in print 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 March 31, 2014 Volume 22, number 19 $3.00 subscribe online June 5, 2014 Only 10 weeks until C T B E x p o . c o m Index ■ Reporter's Notebook: PG. 5 ■ Week in Review: PG. 6 ■ The List: PG. 10 ■ Deal Watch: PG. 11 ■ Nonprofit Notebook: PG. 19 ■ Opinion & Commentary: PG. 20 Faces oF Business Main Street Mainstay Manchester's Bray Jewelers has survived for almost 100 years. Read about the family business' secrets to success and what makes customers keep coming back. PG. 3 Focus: economic DeveloPment Social Entrepreneurship Hartford business accelerator aims to nurture socially conscious businesses. PG. 8 Music copyright lawsuits cost restaurants unexpected thousands By Matt Pilon mpilon@HartfordBusiness.com A few years ago, nine songs were played inside Shelton's Vazzy's Cucina restaurant that ended up costing owners John Vazzano and Vincent L. Noce $18,000. That's because an agent of licensing giant Broadcast Music Inc., which represents the artists who owned the tracks, attested to being present when the tunes were played and sued Vazzano and Noce for copyright infringement, claiming the restaurant's music qualified as a public per- formance. Under federal copyright law, that meant the restaurant had to pay for the rights to play the songs, BMI said. Vazzano said he thinks a private party actually played the tunes. Broadcast Music Inc. • Founded in 1939 • Represents more than 600,000 songwriters and publishers with more than 8.5 million songs. • Distributed 85 cents of every dollar in licensing revenue in royalties — that amounted to $814 million in fiscal 2013. By Gregory Seay gseay@HartfordBusiness.com B y late May, the Corporation For Independent Living (CIL) expects to have in its hands title to the derelict Capewell Horse- nails factory in Hartford's South End in a bid to convert the idle eyesore into 72 apartments and an adjacent parcel into 24 affordable townhomes. If it does, it will open another fruit- ful chapter for a South End nonprofit that has leveraged — and exported — its talent as a group-home developer to shelter a diverse swath of central Connecticut's population. It, too, will be one of the final swan songs before the yearend retirement of its first and only chief executive. Since its launch in 1979 to finance, build, lease out — then ultimately give away — supportive shelter for thou- sands of the state's physically and mentally disabled, CIL has invested $458 million to construct or convert 2,205 dwelling units into shelter for 7,200 residents in Connecticut and Massachusetts. For at least a dozen years, CIL has applied that same skill set to its expand- ing for-profit realty development opera- tions that include Capewell, and a neigh- boring nonprofit-office-space cluster. In February, CIL announced it bought and will resume work on the $3.34 mil- lion Depot Crossing mixed-use project John Vazzano, owner of Vazzy's Cucina in Shelton, was upset when his restaurant had to pay $18,000 to settle a music copyright lawsuit. P h o t o | P a b l o R o b l e s Continued on page 16 Continued on page 15 Martin "Marty'' Legault, president and CEO, Corporation For Independent Living (CIL) With Legault, developer CIL soars as landlord Sued for a ong

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