CBIA BizCast

Bright Feeds, a Berlin-based startup, is working to solve the food waste crisis by turning unwanted food into high-quality animal feed. But for CEO Jonathan Fife, that mission is a long way from where he started his career at an investment in New York City. “While I was at the investment firm, I met our co-founder, Tim Rassias, who’s a serial entrepreneur who had started several successful businesses," Fife said. “He originally had the idea and got me into this craziness.” Fife and Rassias researched the food waste industry, and felt they could develop a technical solution to the problem. Now, the company is growing. With more than 20 employees they are quickly expanding their capabilities.

The clothes we wear, the cars we drive, the planes we fly in, and the furniture in our homes. We may not often think about how these things are made. But that’s not the case for Lenny Marano, Lectra president of Americas. “We're a strategic partner to those in the fashion, the furniture, and the automotive value streams,” Marano said. Lectra, a Paris-based technology company, acquired Gerber in 2021. In April, Lectra officially reopened a manufacturing facility in Tolland. The move came after outsourcing manufacturing to Massachusetts in 2018. “Since Lectra bought us, we know that we have a permanent home and we can make long term investments,” Marano said.

Most people know DoorDash for its food delivery service, but the company does much more than that for its more than 6,000 merchant partners in Connecticut alone. In 2018, DoorDash launched Project DASH, a social impact initiative to fight food insecurity. Project DASH is a last-mile delivery service allows organizations like food banks to use DoorDash for their deliveries. “We do have the logistics and we do have the social impact resources to solve for these problems around food insecurity,” said Christina Kennedy, DoorDash’s government relations lead for New England.

Later this year, the healthcare landscape for Virginia small businesses and their employees will change dramatically when they gain access to broad new options for affordable, quality health insurance. “This is a game changer,” said Democratic state Senator Monty Mason, a key figure behind bipartisan legislation permitting what are known as association health plans. “I think this has the capacity to be one of the most consequential pieces of legislation as far as impact on people." Healthcare costs jumped by 6% last year in Connecticut—more than $2 billion—and state lawmakers are now considering legislation similar to the Virginia law. HB 6710 continues to move through the General Assembly, clearing its latest legislative hurdle May 1 when it was approved by the Appropriations Committee with overwhelming support.

Shipman & Goodwin managing partner Leander Dolphin’s career as an attorney is marked by numerous successes. However, law wasn’t always part of her career aspirations. “What I wanted to do when I went to Wesleyan was I wanted to be an English professor,” she says. “I wanted to write books. And I wanted to focus my study on African-American literature, particularly by women.” But Dolphin’s plans began to change when an advisor told her that while she was talented, she lacked discipline and should consider doing something else.

For best friends Lora Karam and Beverly Canepari, traveling around Connecticut is more than just a hobby, it’s a growing business. Karam and Canepari are the creators of Unlocking Connecticut, a website and social media pages devoted to highlighting the best places to visit, shop, and eat around the state. Karam said their goal is simple, “promoting small business and having fun at the same time.” “We try to keep it light and engaging and spreading the message of businesses in Connecticut,” she said. Website: https://unlockingconnecticut.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unlockingconnecticut/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/unlockingconnecticut

The CBIA BizCast team sits down with Nessel founders Stephanie Boms and Della Leapman.  For mothers who are breastfeeding, having a dedicated and comfortable lactation space at work goes a long way toward making them feel supported by their employers.  But those spaces aren’t always available.  That’s where Nessel comes in.  “We provide lactation furniture, we provide lactation pods, we do custom design work, and we do consulting to help do some executive education,” said Boms.  “Our mission is to transform organizations and really help support working women when they return from maternity leave.”

The BizCast team speaks with Connectiut comptroller Sean Scanlon, who was elected in November 2022. Scanlon said one of his first priorities was to ensure that the fiscal guardrails implemented in the bipartisan 2017 budget, remained in place. Scanlon said those fiscal reforms drove five consecutive years of budget surpluses, the biggest rainy day fund in state history, and paying down almost $6 billion in state employee pension debt. Another initiative is to get businesses signed up for MyCTSavings, the state-run retirement program. "I guarantee you it's an easy process, it's a quick process, and your employees will benefit from this,” he said.

The BizCast team speaks with Autac, Inc. president and CEO Marie-Louise Burkle. For the last 75 years and counting, it’s been all about family at the Connecticut manufacturer. “I grew up here, I spent a lot of time here as a child,” said Burkle. Her father Robert Burkle started the company in Hamden in 1947 to provide coiled cords for the trucking industry. He eventually moved the company from Hamden to Branford, and in 1977 Autac began manufacturing its own wire and cords.

The CBIA BizCast team talks with Birdon Group CEO Jamie Bruce and Birdon America president Robert Scott. The company recently added a facility in Portland, Connecticut where they are looking to modernize and expand. “We looked at the other six facilities, but what we really liked about the site here in Portland was the opportunities we could see with the site,” said Bruce. “It reminded me a lot of Port Macquarie where I'm from in Australia, a similar size community."