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JUNE 29, 2015
Volume 23, Number 31
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L o o k f o r t h i s
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Awards
event,
Sept. 30
No
Easy
Rider
No
Easy
Rider
Business adviser-
consultant Suzanne
Hopgood has
embraced Hartford as
her adopted home for
nearly four decades.
So much so, Hopgood
and husband Frank
Lord have rarely lived
outside the city.
Index
■ Executive Profile: PG. 5
■ Week in Review: PG. 6
■ Focus: PG. 8
■ The List: PG. 10
■ Deal Watch: PG. 11
■ Opinion & Commentary: PG. 20
Decision 2015
This week Hartford Business Journal sits down
with mayoral candidate Luke Bronin, the former
general counsel to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. Bronin
said he wants to become Hartford's chief
economic development officer. PG. 3
FOCUS:
EMPLOYEE BENEFITS
Education Perks
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield has added a free
tuition option to its education benefits package for its
1,400 Connecticut employees. Find out how the move
is part of a broader trend of companies reinstating
their tuition reimbursement programs as the economy
improves and labor market tightens. PG. 8
CRDA chair Hopgood peddles the city she pedals
By Gregory Seay
gseay@HartfordBusiness.com
I
n Suzanne Hopgood's world, everything she does is about mak-
ing an impact.
That goes for her full-time vocation as a business adviser and
crisis consultant in the U.S. and abroad, to her daily bicycle rides
throughout Hartford and, especially, to her equally full-time vol-
unteer — some say powerful — role as chair of the Capital Region
Development Authority (CRDA).
The quasi-public body charged with reinvigorating Greater Hart-
ford's commercial and residential infrastructure and amenities so
far has cleared way for some 1,100 new apartments and helped lure
UConn back to the center city, among other accomplishments.
But the next big challenge awaiting Hopgood and her CRDA col-
leagues is what to do with the aging XL Center sports arena-exhibition
Continued on page 12
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By Greg Bordonaro
gbordonaro@HartfordBusiness.com
C
onnecticut's small
employers, which have
long felt the brunt of
ever-increasing healthcare costs,
could get some relief in 2016.
One major insurer,
Anthem, has requested
an average 7.5 percent
rate decrease for small business health plans
it will sell on and off Connecticut's insurance
exchange next year.
Meanwhile, Aetna is asking state regula-
tors to essentially keep its small group rates
flat for 2016.
Four other small group insurers — Har-
vard Pilgrim, HealthyCT, Connecticare and
Oxford Health Plans — are asking, on average,
Continued on page 14
Health insurers rein in
small group rate hikes
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H A R T F O R D
MAYORAL RACE
2015