Hartford Business Journal

22 Hartford Business Journal • August 17, 2015 www.HartfordBusiness.com ACCOLADES & MORE ▶ ▶ Eight UnitedHealthcare finance staff members recently spent the day refurbishing the weight room at the Southwest Boys and Girls Club. The gym facility was refreshed, painted and repaired to provide an environment that encourages club kids to have a healthy, physically active lifestyle. The Boys and Girls Clubs' Sports, Fitness & Recreation programs foster physical fitness, develop social skills and provide a positive way for young people to spend leisure time and channel their youthful energy. The UnitedHealthcare finance staff members pictured (from left) are Josh Adler, Brian Gauthier, Deidre Gugliotti, Toni Johnson, Zack Marcoux, John Nagy, Leonard Pienee and David Symonette. ▶ ▶ Bloomfield insurer Cigna was a presenting sponsor in the Shatterproof Challenge Hartford. More than10 employees rappelled the 22-story Hartford Hilton in support of Shatterproof, a national organization that helps protect children from addiction to alcohol or other drugs and aims to end the stigma and suffering of those affected by addiction. Cigna also presented Shatterproof with a check for $20,000 to support its efforts to increase awareness and funding for the prevention, treatment and recovery of addiction. The event raised more than $185,000. CIGNA SPONSORS HARTFORD SHATTERPROOF CHALLENGE ▶ ▶ Bob's Discount Furniture recently held its 28th annual golf outing where more than 250 participants took part at the Tunxis Plantation Country Club, followed by a gala at The Farmington Club. The event raised $452,000 for children's charities, which will benefit organizations selected by Bob's Discount Furniture's Charitable Foundation, including the Nutmeg Big Brothers Big Sisters, Family & Children's Aid, Connecticut Children's Medical Center and Camp Rising Sun, a camp for over 120 children battling cancer. The golf outing has raised more than $6 million for charity in its 28-year history. Bob's Discount Furniture became an event partner in 1991, when the company was started. Pictured is Bob Kaufman, president emeritus and co-founder of Bob's Discount Furniture. BOB'S HOLDS 28TH ANNUAL GOLF OUTING FOR CHILDREN'S CHARITIES UNITEDHEALTHCARE STAFF VOLUNTEERS AT SOUTHWEST CLUB OF NOTE UCONN REALTY PROFESSOR NAMED KINNARD DISTINGUISHED RESEARCH SCHOLAR UConn professor John Clapp has been named the first Kinnard Distinguished Research Scholar in the business school's Center for Real Estate. Clapp is a long-time professor of real estate and finance at the UConn School of Business. His statistical methods for tracking the evolution of property prices over space and time were featured at a meeting of the International Association of Assessing Officers and published in the Journal of Property Tax Assessment and Administration. His extensive research on that topic has resulted in numerous articles in scholarly journals. Clapp also served as the director for the Center for Real Estate and Urban Economic Studies from 2009 to 2012. • • • MATTHEW S. HOFFMAN NAMED ONE OF AUTOMOTIVE NEWS' 40 UNDER 40 Hoffman Auto Group's Vice President Matthew S. Hoffman has been named one of Automotive News' national 40 Under 40 Retail. The list includes key players in the automotive industry across the nation who have demonstrat- ed their ambition, expertise and growth plans for this generation and beyond. Hoffman started as a lot attendant. In his current role he is focused on improving the business, giving back to the commu- nity and setting the bar high for his team. • • • ST. FRANCIS CARE SELECTED TO PARTICIPATE IN NATIONAL HEALTH EQUITY INITIATIVE Hartford's St. Francis Care has been selected to participate in a national helaht equity initiative called "National Initiative V: Improving Community Health and Health Equity through Medical Education," sponsored by Chicago-based Alliance of Independent Academic Medical Centers. St. Francis was selected based on its demonstrated commitment to better understanding and reducing health disparities in its commu- nity. During the program, a leadership team from St. Francis will collaborate with select hospitals from across the United States in engaging community partnerships that will result in better care for at-risk populations. • • • DAY PITNEY PARTNER RECEIVES CT BAR ASSOC. EDWARD F. HENNESSEY PROFESSIONALISM AWARD The Connecticut Bar Association presented the Edward F. Hennessey Professionalism Award to Day Pitney partner Albert Zakarian in recognition of his dedication to the highest ideals and standards of the legal profession. Award recipients must have demonstrated integrity, character, compe- tence, ethics, civility and mentoring over the course of their career while also enhancing the public's perception of the legal profession. Zakarian has tried more than 100 cases to verdict, including representing high- profile public figures in civil litigation. His practice is focused on labor, employment and business litigation in state and federal courts. • • • EVERSOURCE RECEIVES INNOVATION PRIZE Berlin utility Eversource was recently recognized as a 2015 Connecticut Quality Improvement Award Innovation Prize recipient for its state-of-the-art PRIME program. The PRIME program was estab- lished to help customers reduce electric consumption per unit manu- factured through process improvements. In 2013 and 2014, 129 Eversource customers participated in PRIME and saved a combined total of more than 3.6 million kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, which resulted in approximately 1,700 tons of avoided CO2 emissions. Please Note: All electronic submissions for Accolades should be sent to accolades@HartfordBusiness.com. For more information about the Hartford Business Journal's Accolades Page, please visit www.HartfordBusiness.com. Matthew S. Hoffman

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