Danbury Hospital CEO wins entrepreneur award
Western Connecticut State University gave its 2011 Macricostas Entrepreneur of the Year award to Dr. John Murphy, CEO of the Western Connecticut Health Network Inc., which was formed from the combination of Danbury Hospital and New Milford Hospital.
Murphy, a neurologist and Newtown resident, joined the Danbury Hospital administration as executive vice president in 2008 and became CEO in July 2010.
The award is named for Constantine Macricostas, CEO of Brookfield-based Photronics Inc., and his wife, Marie.
Â
Employers hold line on pay
Workers can expect modest pay raises averaging 2.8 percent next year, compared to 2.7 percent in 2011, according to a survey by Buck Consultants, a subsidiary of Norwalk-based Xerox Corp.
“Most employers plan to hold the line similar to 2011,” said Stephen Mork, principal at Buck Consultants, in a prepared statement. “Given the slow economic recovery and stubborn unemployment rate, organizations are taking a cautious and conservative approach to compensation planning to stay within their payroll budgets.”
Just more than half of organizations surveyed offer a hiring or retention bonus to employees with specialized industry or product knowledge, while referral bonuses are offered by 56 percent.
Â
Report: Yacht designer opens Greenwich office
Sparkman & Stephens relocated its New York City headquarters to Greenwich, with the company also having locations in Newport, R.I., and Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Sparkman & Stephens has produced some 2,700 yacht designs in its 75-year history, including “Manitou,” which President John F. Kennedy used as his “floating White House” after its original owner donated it to the U.S. Coast Guard.
The company told a Greenwich Time correspondent that many of its customers live in the Greenwich area.
Â
J.H. Cohn establishes local office
Accounting and consulting firm J.H. Cohn L.L.P. opened its first Fairfield County office at 1177 Summer St., where it is leasing some 2,500 square feet of space.
RHYS Commercial Real Estate represented the company in its search for office space.
J.H. Cohn was founded in 1919 by Julius Cohn, who the company says was one of the first men in the U.S. to obtain the certified public accountant designation. The company also has offices in Glastonbury, White Plains, N.Y., and New York City.
WestConn breaks ground on building
Western Connecticut State University broke ground on a visual and performing arts building, with both Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and his predecessor Gov. M. Jodi Rell in attendance.
The $97 million facility is to have three floors and 135,000 square feet of space.
Study: Bridges in poor shape
Lower Fairfield County has the third-highest percentage of deficient bridges of any area in the Northeast, and the 15th worst nationally according to a study by Transportation for America.
Nearly 13 percent of the bridges in lower Fairfield County are deficient by the standards used by Transportation for America, or more than 100 total. Those bridges carry nearly 1.4 million vehicles daily, the group added, with only three other areas in the U.S. having more drivers crossing deficient spans.
Tulsa, Okla., has the worst bridges in the nation with nearly 28 percent of them in poor shape, but Pennsylvania municipalities took five of the eight worst slots on the survey. In the Northeast, only Portland, Maine, and Springfield, Mass., had a worse record than lower Fairfield County.
United Rentals sees improving construction
United Rentals Inc. CEO Michael Kneeland said customers are “bullish” about the prospect for construction activity next year.
Greenwich-based United Rentals earned $65 million in the third quarter on $713 million in revenue, up 18 percent from a year earlier.
“Obviously, in the last quarter we had some storms,” Kneeland said, in a conference call with investment analysts. “We had some areas along the East Coast that had a minor effect ”“ nonetheless, it was an effect that drove some of our utilization a little bit higher.”
Aircastle, Southern Air in first deal
Fresh off $55 million in new financing, Norwalk-based Southern Air Holdings Inc. is leasing a pair of cargo jets from Aircastle Ltd.
It marks Stamford-based Aircastle”™s first-ever lease deal with Southern Air, as it converts two Boeing 747-400 jets into freighters. Aircastle has more than 135 aircraft in all it leases to some 60 customers.
Â
Social media, mobile to dominate e-commerce
By 2015, companies will generate 50 percent of web sales via their social presence and mobile applications, according to estimates by analysts with Stamford-based Gartner Inc.
Gartner analysts discussed the future of e-commerce at Gartner Symposium/ITxpo in Orlando, Fla., in mid-October.
As the number of mobile phones overtakes PCs, customers will use mobile browsers and applications as the main points of interaction.
“E-commerce organizations will need to scale up their operations to handle the increased visitation loads resulting from customers not having to wait until they are in front of a PC to obtain answers to questions or place orders,” said Gene Alvarez, research vice president at Gartner, in a prepared statement. “Customers are clamoring for new and easy ways to interact with the organizations they deal with and no company should think itself immune to this new business dynamic.”
New field house in Stratford
A new field house in Stratford held its grand opening Oct. 22, named for Erin Babineau, the 10-year-old daughter of Jeff and Donna Babineau of Stratford who died in a car accident six years ago.
Located behind Sterling House Community Center at 2283 Main St., Erin”™s Gym is a 14,000-square-foot indoor turf facility that will house youth sports and is otherwise available to rent.
Stamford Chamber moves upstairs
The Stamford Chamber of Commerce is relocating its offices to the sixth floor of 733 Summer St., from its longtime quarters on the ground floor.
Chamber CEO Jack Condlin said the new space is more efficient for the chamber”™s needs.
