Event Article

CEO Evolution

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On January 29, 2014 more than 200 participants attended CEO Evolution, a panel discussion featuring four exceptional Connecticut CEOs discussing the challenges they’ve faced while leading their businesses through tremendous periods of growth.

Named after his column in the Business Journal, panel moderator Mark Fagan, managing partner of the Norwalk office of Citrin Cooperman, believes that CEOs should focus their attention on strategic activities versus tactical ones, adding that the success of a company is heavily weighed on a CEO’s understanding of the business, anticipation of changes and strategic thinking.

Roundtable panelists featured Linda McMahon, co-founder and former CEO of WWE in Stamford; Austin McChord, founder and CEO of Datto in Norwalk; Paul Senecal, partner of United Services of America, in Bridgeport; and John Votto, president and CEO of the Hospital for Special Care in New Britain.

In addition to emphasizing hard work and dedication as traits for success, all four panelists stressed the importance of hiring qualified staff and allowing them to do their jobs so that the CEO can devote all efforts toward keeping their business on track.

Held at UConn Stamford, the event was hosted by the School of Business and Citrin Cooperman.

The Value of a Day’s Work: Panel Addresses Pay Equity

Posted on by Claire Hall

Women make up 48% of Connecticut’s labor force, and yet in 2011, Connecticut full-time working women earned just 78% of what their male counterparts earned, according to a research brief on pay equity by the Connecticut General Assembly Permanent Commission on the Status of Women (PCSW).Continue Reading

Student/Alumni Networking Event Marks the Start of a New Academic Year

Posted on by Claire Hall

The start of a new semester is an excellent time to strengthen connections and welcome in new students. That is just what happened at The Society Room on August 22 in downtown Hartford, as the UConn School of Business community welcomed in new students entering into the MBA, Master of Science in Financial Risk Management (MSFRM), and Master of Science in Business Analytics (MSBAPM). Continue Reading

Business Law Faculty Takes Center Stage at Annual Conference

Posted on by Claire Hall

The Business Law Faculty in the School of Business participated in the 88th annual Academy of Legal Studies in Business (ALSB) conference, held in Boston, Massachusetts on August 6-10, 2013. The conference featured presentations, workshops, and panels, and hundreds of legal scholars from around the world gathered to discuss a variety of legal and pedagogical topics. Continue Reading

Upcoming UConn Stamford Conference to “Celebrate Women Entrepreneurs” in Connecticut – SOLD OUT

Posted on by Melissa Ferrigno

SOLD OUT – The Connecticut Celebrates Women Entrepreneurs Conference is sold out. We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your understanding.

Connecticut’s first state-wide conference celebrating and supporting women entrepreneurs arrives Friday, September 20, 2013 at 8:30 a.m. at UConn’s Stamford campus. The event provides women business owners with an opportunity to network, showcase and expose their ventures to a state-wide audience, participate in a variety of educational and business building workshops, as well as meet, share ideas, and network with other women entrepreneurs.

This event is being presented by the UConn School of Business. Sponsors include Webster Bank as the Platinum Sponsor, TD Bank as a Gold Sponsor, and First County Bank as a Silver Sponsor. Bronze Sponsors include: People’s United Bank, Northwestern Mutual/The Bender Financial Group, Wells Fargo Advisors, Logicbroker, and LLBH Private Wealth Management of Westport, Connecticut. Hearst Media Services is the exclusive media sponsor.

Helping to greet attendees at this event will be Mary Holz-Clause, UConn’s vice president of economic development. Holz-Clause, whose office hosts the CT Small Business Development Center and administers several incubator programs to help entrepreneurs, states, “Women entrepreneurs often face unique challenges in growing their business. This conference will provide a forum for discussion, support, and identifying resources for helping women-owned business to thrive in Connecticut.”

This event begins in the morning with registration and continental breakfast and runs through an optional afternoon luncheon. Most of the activities are free and there is also no charge to register. Attendees can rent an exhibit table to market and sell their products and services during the event for $30. There is a cost for the keynote luncheon which is $50 per guest.

Says event co-founder Valarie Gelb, CEO and founder of TheBarnYardGroup, “Women entrepreneurs are vitally important to the economy in the State of Connecticut and this gathering of successful women gives us an opportunity to network and to celebrate our success.”

Representatives from the State of Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development as well as other organizations such as Connecticut Innovations and the Small Business Development Center will also be available to help attendees leverage available resources from the state. In addition, attendees will be able to attend free educational workshops on a variety of relevant topics that range from getting funding for your business, leveraging digital media, and accessing available resources from the State of Connecticut.

Janis Collins, startup company advisor at the Stamford Innovation Center, will be leading an event workshop on business/entrepreneur resources available from the State of Connecticut. “It is a great time to be a woman entrepreneur in the State of Connecticut. Not only have we committed the resources to help new ventures get off the ground faster—and more successfully—we have designed support programs to meet the unique needs of women entrepreneurs. Representatives from some of these resources will be attending the event to provide information about these programs,” she says.

The conference will conclude with an afternoon luncheon featuring keynote speaker Cindi Bigelow, president and CEO of Bigelow Tea based in Fairfield, Connecticut, the #1 special tea company in the United States. Cindi will speak on leadership and motivation: “Leadership, what does that mean and how do we work on being the best leaders we can be? That is a question that must be a part of our daily thought process because only with strong and dynamic leadership can we expect to achieve success in our businesses. I will share with you my key areas of focus for getting my most motivated and effective teams all working together to drive the business forward,” shares Bigelow.

Event Details

All Connecticut women business owners and entrepreneurs from early stage to high-growth companies are welcome to attend.* Registration is free; just click uconn.biz/2013women to sign up.

Connecticut Celebrates Women Entrepreneurs
Friday, September 20, 2013
8:30am – 2:00pm
UConn Stamford Campus
Stamford, Connecticut
Register here >>

Join or follow the Twitter conversation: #CTCelebratesWomen

For more information about this event, contact Brian Brady, director of the Stamford Learning Accelerator, UConn School of Business at brian.brady@business.uconn.edu; Tim Dowding, associate director of the International Business Accelerator and professor, UConn School of Business, at tim.dowding@business.uconn.edu; or Valarie Gelb, CEO, TheBarnYardGroup at vgelb@thebarnyardgroup.com.

*Please note: While the Connecticut Celebrates Women Entrepreneurs one-day conference on September 20th is a celebration of women entrepreneurs, men are welcome and encouraged to attend.

UConn Real Estate to Present at International Conference on Residential Housing Policy in China

Posted on by Claire Hall

The UConn Center for Real Estate and Urban Economic Studies is playing a key role in the International Conference on Residential Housing Policy in China, taking place at the end of July in Shenzhen. The conference will focus on housing policies and systems in China after twenty years of reform in their housing market system. The UConn Real Estate Center co-sponsored the conference together with the Shenzhen Real Estate Research Center and the Real Estate Research Institute at Tsinghua University.

Two UConn professors are among five guests from the United States invited to make presentations to an audience of Chinese scholars and government administrators. Professor and Center Director John Glascock will be discussing housing markets development and Professor Katherine Pancak will be discussing real estate law issues. The additional U.S. speakers asked to share their expertise in housing policy are Professor Robert Edelstein from the University of California-Berkeley, Dr. Alex Schwartz, author of “Housing Policy in the United States,” and Frank Nothaft, chief economist at Freddie Mac.

22nd Annual Connecticut Commercial Real Estate Conference

Posted on by Claire Hall

On May 9, 2013, the UConn School of Business Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics hosted its 22nd Annual Connecticut Commercial Real Estate Conference at the Hartford Marriott Farmington. The conference this year was sponsored by The Center for Real Estate, CT Chapter of the Appraisal Institute, Connecticut Association of REALTORS, Inc., The Connecticut Attorney’s Title Insurance Company, and The Simon Konover Company.

The notable speakers this year included Steven Lanza, executive editor of The Connecticut Economy, who spoke about the economic forecast in the commercial real estate industry. A panel discussion ensued where UConn Center for Real Estate Director John Glascock and Peter M. Gioia of The Connecticut Business and Industry Association discussed the state of the economy and Connecticut Economic Development. Speaker Brad Hutensky, chairman of the International Council of Shopping Centers, gave a presentation on the global realty market and how it is currently expanding, and speaker Dags Chen of Cornerstone Research presented his findings on the Hartford and Stamford office markets.

For more information on the annual Connecticut Commercial Real Estate Conference, click here.

Business Leadership Council and Macy’s Host “Suits2Shorts” Picnic

Posted on by Claire Hall

On Friday, May 3rd, the Business Leadership Council and Macy’s hosted “Suits2Shorts,” an end-of-year celebration to recognize the hard work and dedication of all UConn School of Business students during the 2012–2013 academic year. Students were recognized for their leadership and career development efforts throughout the year and were invited to put aside their business suits for the day in order to relax and enjoy the sunshine in their summer shorts. School of Business Dean John Elliott, along with Jim Lowe, Robin Coulter, Mo Hussein, Min Lin, Brandy Nelson and Seanice Austin all joined in the festivities to congratulate our students. Danica Porter, our sponsor from Macy’s, was a gracious hostess who asked nothing of the students except to enjoy the day. We look forward to partnering with Macy’s more in the future to support the synergies between School of Business students and the Macy’s / Bloomingdale’s Careers after College program.

UConn Students Win 1st Place in Statewide Competition – Venture Business Category

Posted on by Claire Hall

On Friday, April 26, eighteen finalists from nine Connecticut universities competed in the statewide 2013 Connecticut Collegiate Business Model Competition. Among the first place winners were UConn School of Business undergraduates Tim Hidu ’13 and Paul Melancon ’13, whose business, Sea Green Organics, was awarded first place in the venture business category, coming ahead of three competing MBA teams. Sea Green Organics aims to commercially produce and distribute an organic liquid seaweed-based lawn fertilizer. They are one of among four teams working with faculty advisor Tim Dowding from the University of Connecticut School of Business in Stamford that were competitively selected as finalists in Friday’s competition.

The competition, administered by the Entrepreneurship Foundation, was held at the New Haven Lawn Club in New Haven, Connecticut. Student teams had ten minutes including Q&A to convince a panel of investors and authorities on entrepreneurship that their business was the best investment. Winners were awarded cash grants, free services, and advice to encourage and assist them to move forward with their new ventures.

The purpose of the competition is “to recognize excellence in entrepreneurship education and to bring to light innovative business models with the promise of providing new jobs and economic growth for the state.” Approximately 100 business plans were submitted in total.

Winning Student Businesses

Personal Business Category

First Place
Cinegame, Cinema Marketing Platform, Central Connecticut State University

Second Place and Best Written Executive Summary
Pancake Power, Gateway Community College, A food truck serving healthy gourmet pancakes

Best Oral Presentation
IGreekU, Social media network for Fraternity and Sorority life, Quinnipiac University

Venture Business Category

First Place
Sea Green Organics, organic liquid seaweed-based lawn fertilizer, University of Connecticut – Stamford

Second Place and Best Written Executive Summary
Pulse.ly, Mobile phone-based customer feedback at the point of sale, Yale University

Best Oral Presentation
WattMarket, Connecting investors with clean energy projects through the web, Yale University

Awards

  • The Winning Personal and Venture Businesses each received a $1000 grant Sponsored by Day Pitney LLP and Launch Capital.
  • The Personal winner also received a $2500 booth for one day at the Eastern States Exposition in September. The Venture winner also received a Legal Services Package from Day Pitney LLP valued at $5000 and an invitation to “Breakfast with a VC” at Launch Capital.
  • The second-place Personal and Venture Businesses received a $500 grant.
  • The Best Personal and Venture Oral Presentation received a $500 grant. Sponsored by Dolores and Cliff Ennico
  • The Best Personal and Venture Written Executive Summary (as determined by the Semi-Final judges) received a $500 grant.
  • The winning school for each of the four awards received a trophy.

Colleges and Universities

Central Connecticut State University
Fairfield University
Gateway Community College
Quinnipiac University
University of Bridgeport
University of Connecticut – Stamford
University of Hartford
University of New Haven
Yale University

Pictured L to R: Master of Ceremonies Cliff Ennico, Paul Melancon and Tim Hidu of Sea Green Organics, and Judge Ben Wiles of Day Pitney LLP

Additional photos from the event can be viewed here.