After announcing plans to retire this month as commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Labor, Patricia Mayfield died Jan. 25 at her home in Waterbury. She had come out of retirement in 2006 to lead the department at the request of Gov. M. Jodi Rell.
Rell had already named Linda Agnew, deputy commissioner, as acting commissioner effective Feb. 1. Agnew joined the Department of Labor in 1999 and helped to establish its office of business enterprises. She was executive director of the governor”™s residence between 2004 and 2006 before returning to the Labor Department.
“I am deeply saddened by the passing of Commissioner Patricia Mayfield,” Rell said in a prepared statement. “Her distinguished career with the state of Connecticut stood as an outstanding example of dedicated public service and consummate professionalism. My thoughts and prayers are with her family and all her colleagues and friends at the Department of Labor.”
FactSet Research Systems Inc. and Stew Leonard”™s Inc. made Fortune Magazine”™s annual list of the 100 best places to work in the country.
Â
Both companies are based in Norwalk. No other Connecticut-based companies appeared on the list, which was topped by the Cary, N.C.-based software company SAS.
FactSet, which tracks financial markets for banks and traders, was ranked 48th on the list. The company increased the size of its employee base last year to more than 1,300 total, many of the gains coming overseas as it brought on workers that had previously worked for it on a contractual basis.
Stew Leonard”™s, ranked 64th on the list, reported a 6 percent drop in its own work force to fewer than 2,050 workers, though the company has a no-layoff policy and got points with Fortune for senior managers taking a pay freeze to meet that objective. The supermarket also has stores in Danbury, Newington, and Yonkers, N.Y., as well as several liquor stores throughout the tri-state area. Stew Leonard”™s reported $376 million in revenue in 2008.
“We continuously strive to make Stew Leonard”™s a better place to work; each year looking for new ways to recognize and thank our team members for their hard work and dedication,” CEO Stew Leonard Jr. said in a statement. “We”™ve implemented extensive training and mentoring programs to help our team excel and grow within the company and have been rewarded with tremendous loyalty and longevity ”“ something that makes us all very proud.”
