Hartford Business Journal

14 Hartford Business Journal • December 19, 2016 www.HartfordBusiness.com Zupkus Gilberto 5 to Watch in 2016 select BNE's bid. "It's obvious it's on hold at this time," Zup- kus said of the Goshen proposal. "That was an exciting project." Zupkus said BNE doesn't have any other Connecticut projects in the works. The company has had approvals for some time to build anoth- er three-turbine farm in Colebrook, but Zupkus said there are no plans to move it forward. He said BNE has begun to look for opportunities outside of the state, including in Oklahoma. Connecticut has not been an easy state for wind developers. Legislators enacted a three- year moratorium on wind projects in 2011. Opponents of the Colebrook South project staged a lengthy legal battle that ended up in the Connecticut Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of BNE in 2014. "We're hoping the process moves a little more quickly in the future," Zupkus said. n campaign. "We're seeing tremendous support from so many people," she said. That's balanced against the difficulties nonprofits are having in the face of massive state budget cuts. "From everything we hear, it's going to be a tougher year coming up," Gilberto said of the 2017-18 state budget being prepared by the incoming legislature. Recently, United Way of Central and Northeastern Connecticut awarded $95,000 to four nonprofit organizations to help offset the loss of public funding. That's similar to efforts last summer by the Hartford Founda- tion for Public Giving, which committed $1 million to assist nonprofits losing state aid. The United Way funding, Gilberto said, will help these nonprofits provide basic-needs ser- vices, mainly to help individuals facing domes- tic violence, homelessness and to support people with intellectual disabilities. One of the grants was to 211, the state information system for those seeking assistance information. Meantime, United Way also shined a bright light on Connecticut's economic condi- tions this year, releasing its biannual ALICE report survey, which found the number of households struggling to make ends meet in the state increased from 33 to 41 percent in two years. ALICE is an acronym for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed. It refers to households that earn more than the U.S. poverty level, but less than the basic cost of living for the area. In her United Way's 40-town coverage area, 37 saw increases in the number of ALICE households. Gilberto said a family of four with one infant and one pre-school child faces the highest cost of living. They need to make from $66,000 to $72,000 a year for what the study calls a survival budget, including hous- ing, child care and food. There's also the issue of companies in Greater Hartford not seeing a full recovery from the recession, as well as cost-of-living increases outstripping wage growth. Gilber- to, who is focusing on creating the right jobs for the recovering economy, said evolving technologies have replaced more jobs held by low-wage workers like office staff, grocery checkout and food prep. There's a trend away from full-time employment, what Gilberto calls a "gig" econ- omy for on-demand work — think Uber driv- ers as an example — with fluctuating hours and benefits, when they exist. One program Gilberto highlighted that could make an impact is a simple one: tax- preparation assistance for low-income fami- lies. Last year, 11,400 filers received help that led to $29.1 million in federal refunds and tax credits. "That money helps pay down debt, purchase necessities and gets reinvested back into the local economy," Gilberto said. n Shmerling Ojakian who would listen, but a leader that would lead," said Ojakian, former chief of staff to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. "And also they wanted some consistency, some stability and I think we've been able to, in the first year, at least achieve that on a short-term basis." Ojakian, who received a three-year con- tract extension Dec. 8, said relationships with bargaining units representing employees are much better than when he arrived. Negotia- tions continue and tentative agreements have been reached in many areas that benefit both sides, he said. Pay for the 7,000-plus faculty remains to be negotiated. Key, too, Ojakian said he repaired relationships with the General Assembly, which he believes helped reduce budget cuts. To cover the cuts, he canceled raises for about 300 managers, didn't refill positions, offered unpaid leave and avoided layoffs, unlike other state departments. Still, CSCU had to raise tuition by 5 percent at universities, 3.5 percent at community colleg- es and 4 percent at Charter Oak State College. CSCU also advocated successfully on behalf of part-time community college stu- dents, changing the formula for the former Governor's Scholarship program (now the Roberta B. Willis Scholarship) to benefit part- time students with low household incomes. Additionally, he's met with foundations about scholarship assistance to help com- pensate for state funding cuts. And, Ojakian is working to build partnerships with founda- tions and businesses to potentially help pay for CSCU programs that benefit businesses but cost more than tuition covers. He also established six work groups com- prising students, faculty, school presidents and CSCU administrators to get ideas for improvements, from supply-ordering effi- ciencies to boosting enrollment, which fell 3.2 percent this fall in headcount. He praised a pilot program at Asnuntuck Community College in Enfield that offers instate tuition to people in nearby Massachusetts, plus its Second Chance Pell Grant program for low- risk prisoners in Enfield, both of which helped spike enrollment. The instate offer also has been authorized for Western Connecticut State University in Danbury, next to New York. He's brought a sense of urgency to CSCU, including hiring two presidents in four months, while respecting the system's delib- erative culture. He also believes the system is now seen as a resource for schools. " … The first year was kind of taking stock of what was and then starting to lay the strat- egies for how do we move forward in … these different areas," Ojakian said. n Children's (CCMC) even booked an approxi- mately $6 million operating surplus for the year ended Sept. 30, topping a $4.3 million surplus in 2015 and a $31.7 million operating deficit in 2014. "I think it's been a terrific year," Shmer- ling said. "We continue to cut costs across the hospital. We've tried to eliminate waste." CCMC also recently revived affiliation talks with Yale New Haven Children's Hos- pital, which has 201 beds. Shmerling said the talks are on an aggressive timetable, with the hope of cementing a formal part- nership by Oct. 2017. Evaluating the merits of a partnership with Yale was among Shmerling's top charges when the board of directors hired him. "We're looking for economies of scale because we have duplicative overhead," he said, adding that the intent is not to eliminate jobs. Though CCMC and Yale are the largest pediatric hospitals in Connecticut, they may not be large enough on their own to compete with major hospitals in Boston, Shmerling said. "The average children's hospital is 300- plus beds," he said. "If we wanted to create a fellowship program to train pediatric special- ists, we are both too small." Another one of Shmerling's aims for his first year was to build up the hospital's founda- tion, which appointed a new president, David Kinahan, shortly after Shmerling arrived. Things appear to be going well so far. The Children's foundation raised a record $13.5 million for the year, capped off by a record $1.1 million raised at its annual fundraising gala in November. Other accomplishments in 2016 include helping relocate to Connecticut a Florida- based program for children with Glycogen Storage Disease, recruiting 16 new doctors, and taking over two pediatric offices previ- ously operated by UConn Health. n Look for our special 5 TO WATCH IN 2017 2016-2017 BOOK OF LISTS AND ECONOMIC FORECAST in our next week!

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