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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 AUGUST 24, 2015 Volume 23, Number 39 $3.00 Subscribe online Be part of the 2015 Business Gives Back Visit HartfordBusiness.com and click 'Special Editions' for more information. Publishing NOV. 24 Index ■ Week in Review: PG. 6 ■ Focus: PG. 8 ■ The List: PG. 9 ■ Deal Watch: PG. 10 ■ Nonprofit Notebook: PG. 16 ■ Opinion & Commentary: PG. 20 FOCUS: BUSINESS OF SPORTS Major League Market A new report says Greater Hartford's wealth and population should support a major league franchise. Find out what's interfering with the region's ability to attract a team from one of the major league sports. PG. 8 Fall Green Guide Connecticut is modifying the utility business model to cater more toward renewable energy and increased efficiency. See Special Insert CT, N. England bank CEOs' pay rising By Gregory Seay gseay@HartfordBusiness.com C onnecticut is home to two of New England's highest-paid bankers, with Webster Financial Chairman and CEO James C. Smith besting his seven other in- state rivals in compensation. Smith, a second-generation leader of Web- ster Bank, the Waterbury regional lender his father founded during the Great Depression, in 2014 took home base pay and other com- pensation totaling $5.2 million, according to a CEO pay survey of New England's biggest regional and community banks by financial- services data compiler SNL Financial. Smith's 2014 compensation, which was up 5.2 percent from a year earlier, included an $882,435 base salary, non-equity incentives, stock awards and other compensation. He didn't receive a bonus last year. CEOs of Connecticut's publicly traded banks saw their collective compensation rise 7.4 percent in 2014, SNL's pay survey shows. Of the eight Nutmeg State bankers, three saw their overall compensation decline in 2014, while the rest saw richer pay packages. Topping all New England bankers in total compensation last year was Boston's State Street Corp. CEO Joseph L. Hooley, at $18.8 million, up from $15.8 million a year earlier. No. 2 was Citizens Financial Group CEO Bruce CT's top paid bankers James C. Smith Webster Bank $5.2M John P. Barnes People's United Financial $3.7M Continued on page 12 New telemedicine technology aims to disrupt eye exam business By Matt Pilon mpilon@HartfordBusiness.com S ome experts believe technology will con- tinue to displace workers, particularly those in lower-skilled jobs, but one profes- sional group that has unexpectedly found itself in the automation crosshairs is optometrists. Last month, a Chicago startup launched an online eye exam service in Connecticut and 26 other states that provides patients with a glasses or contacts prescription without ever having to leave the house. The venture-backed company, Opterna- tive, says its 25-minute test (which costs $40 for a glasses or contacts prescription or $60 for both) can generate a prescription that a 30-patient clinical trial determined is just Continued on page 14 V I RT UA L T E S T I N G Dr. Erin McCleary, a Greater Hartford optometrist, worries that a new online vision test will hurt both optometry practices and patients' eye health. P H O T O | P A B L O R O B L E S GreenGuide C O N N E C T I C U T UTILITY 2.0 Lonnie Reed champions new law for CT government, utilities to better integrate renewables A s u p p l e m e n t o f FA L L 2 0 1 5 HYDROGEN VEHICLES GET FUELING GRANT ECOMPANY: NORWICH ENERGY FIRM TARGETS BUSINESS CUSTOMERS