John Elliott

Joe Ercolano Named State Director of CTSBDC

Posted on by Claire Hall

Joe Ercolano (above) will lead a team of business advisors dedicated to small business growth in Connecticut as the new Director of CTSBDC (Photo Courtesy of CTSBDC)
Joe Ercolano (above) will lead a team of business advisors dedicated to small business growth in Connecticut as the Director of CTSBDC (Photo Courtesy of CTSBDC)

Joe Ercolano has been named the State Director of the Connecticut Small Business Development Center (CTSBDC), effective immediately. Ercolano, a former executive at Pitney Bowes, most recently served as the CTSBDC’s Acting State Director.Continue Reading

Family Businesses: ‘Your Name is On It!’

Posted on by Claire Hall
Cal Miller-Stevens, left, and her niece Capri Frank pose for a photo inside the store at Miller Foods, Inc., a fourth-generation, family owned and operated food business located in Avon, Conn. Behind them is a photo taken in the early 1960s, in the same location. From left is family matriarch Margaret "Oma" Miller and her two daughters, Sandi Trudeau (Frank's mother) and Miller-Stevens. (Nathan Oldham / UConn School of Business)
Cal Miller-Stevens, left, and her niece Capri Frank pose for a photo inside the store at Miller Foods, Inc., a fourth-generation, family owned and operated food business located in Avon, Conn. Behind them is a photo taken in the early 1960s, in the same location. From left is family matriarch Margaret “Oma” Miller and her two daughters, Sandi Trudeau (Frank’s mother) and Miller-Stevens. (Nathan Oldham / UConn School of Business)

UConn Revamps Family Business Program, Offers Bootcamp, Summer Internship Program to Help Multi-Generational Companies Thrive

Ask Julie Paine-Miller, vice president of Paine’s Inc. Recycling and Rubbish Removal, what it is like to be employed in a family-owned business, and she will share that some of her fondest childhood memories involve riding in her family’s garbage trucks.

“I have a deep-seated love for trash!,” Paine-Miller said with a laugh. “I have memories of being around the trucks from the time I was a little girl.”Continue Reading

Accounting’s Larry Gramling Retires After 38 Years

Posted on by Claire Hall
In this 2014 file photo, Professor Larry Gramling, then associate dean of Undergraduate Programs, poses with scholarship recipient Joseph Quinn during the Accounting Honors Banquet. (Kim Bova/UConn School of Business)
In this 2014 file photo, Professor Larry Gramling, then associate dean of Undergraduate Programs, poses with scholarship recipient Joseph Quinn during the Accounting Honors Banquet. (Kim Bova/UConn School of Business)

It was supposed to be a friendly game of touch football.Continue Reading

New Business School Faculty for 2018

Posted on by Claire Hall
Top row, from left: Alina Lerman, Alexander Amati, Heidi Bailey, Stephen Brown. Bottom row, from left: Wei Chen, Redona Methasani ’18 Ph.D., Jo (Kyoungjo) Oh.
Top row, from left: Alina Lerman, Alexander Amati, Heidi Bailey, Stephen Brown.
Bottom row, from left: Wei Chen, Redona Methasani ’18 Ph.D., Jo (Kyoungjo) Oh.

Four UConn alumni, high-ranking executives from Anthem and Electric Boat, and professors with ties to Harvard and Yale are among the 14 new faculty joining the UConn School of Business this fall.Continue Reading

CCEI Fellowship Program Features Top Entrepreneurs

Posted on by Claire Hall
Daniel Yasoshima '18 (Nathan Oldham/UConn School of Business)
Daniel Yasoshima ’18, a recent UConn graduate with a master of science in biomedical engineering, explains how the YouComm patient communication system would work. Yasoshima developed the innovation, soon to be tested at local hospitals, with Tom Cotton ’18 and engineering Professor Patrick Kumavor. (Nathan Oldham/UConn School of Business)

It is a great thing to be an entrepreneur; it is even better to be an entrepreneur who can make a difference in the world. Continue Reading

New Engineering Program Aims to Attract the Most Talented Entrepreneurs to Connecticut

Posted on by Melissa Ferrigno

UConn Today– In a push to attract highly talented entrepreneurs from around the world to the state of Connecticut, UConn is launching a new Master’s of Engineering in Global Entrepreneurship, the first engineering-focused entrepreneurial graduate degree in the state.

Nearly 1,300 Businesses Thrive with CTSBDC Free Help

Posted on by Claire Hall, Kristen Mozian
The Pastyrnaks of Counter Weight Brewing Co., just one of 1,284 businesses the CTSBDC helped in 2017 alone. (Connecticut Small Business Development Center)
The Pastyrnaks of Counter Weight Brewing Co., just one of 1,284 businesses the CTSBDC helped in 2017 alone. (Connecticut Small Business Development Center)

Entrepreneur Bill Pastyrnak had an extensive business background, and he and his son had a passion for brewing beer, but without a helping hand, they knew their dream of creating Counter Weight Brewing Co. in Hamden, Conn., wouldn’t come true. Continue Reading