In brief

Malloy names interim higher ed chief

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy appointed a Maine administrator as interim president of the new Connecticut Board of Regents of Higher Education, which has combined oversight for the Connecticut State University and community college systems.

Robert Kennedy previously was president of the University of Maine. Before that he was an administrator with Texas A&M University and the University of Maryland. He holds a doctorate degree in botany from the University of California.

“Bob turned the University of Maine into a job engine and managed that institution with an entrepreneur”™s eye,” Malloy stated.

Michael Meotti, the current interim president, will report to Kennedy as executive vice president. Malloy will not name a permanent president until regents send their recommendations to him next year.

 

Greenwich Chamber hires chief

The Greenwich Chamber of Commerce hired Marcia O”™Kane as its new executive director, after the departure earlier this year of Mary Ann Morrison, its longtime chamber chief.

O”™Kane is a graduate of Niagara University and holds an MBA from Boston University. Previously, she was executive director of the Stamford Senior Center and before that was director of finance and administration at Person-to-Person in Darien. She has served on several nonprofit boards, including the Women”™s Business Development Center.

 

Stamford residential building changes hands

An Arizona company acquired a luxury apartment building on Washington Boulevard in Stamford called “blvd,” which was only completed this year by RMS Construction L.L.C.

The Wolff Co. lined up $20 million in financing to support the deal from People”™s United Financial Inc., according to CB Richard Ellis, which brokered the deal. The residential building has more than 90 one- and two-bedroom rental apartments that have been listed at between $2,100 and $3,800. In June, RMS said the building had taken just over two months to become fully leased.

 

Compass shoulders up CamelBak

For $258 million, Compass Diversified Holdings Inc. acquired a 90 percent stake in CamelBak Products L.L.C., a Petaluma, Calif.-based seller of hydration packs, water bottles and other outdoors gear.

CamelBak was founded in 1989 and reported $122 million in sales last year.

Westport-based Compass buys and sells operating companies, with its portfolio including Ergobaby, a maker of wearable baby carriers, and Fox Racing Shox, which makes suspensions for mountain bikes and off-road vehicles.

 

AT&T adding 80 technicians

AT&T Inc. is hiring 80 technicians in Connecticut for service calls on its U-verse television service, which competes against cable and satellite TV companies.

AT&T has its main Connecticut office in New Haven. The company said it invested more than $750 million in its Connecticut networks between 2008 and 2010.

DOL: County gains jobs in July

Fairfield County employers appeared to have added 800 jobs in July, even as job losses in Hartford pushed the state down slightly for the month.

Manufacturing posted the best gain in July according to estimates by the state, with the Department of Labor calculating 2,100 additional jobs in a single month; the leisure and hospitality segment, conversely, shed 2,400 jobs, with the DOL not offering a theory on why that might have occurred.

The DOL calculated an unemployment rate of 7.4 percent for the Danbury labor market and 8.5 percent for lower Fairfield County, roughly flat from June but comparing favorably to the 9.1 percent jobless rate in Connecticut and the U.S.

 

DOL raids Westport sites

The state Department of Labor ordered work halted at a half-dozen construction projects over two weeks in late July and early August, claiming companies had misclassified workers as independent contractors to avoid paying various employment taxes and workers”™ compensation insurance.

In the past six months, the DOL has inspected nearly 70 construction sites and reviewed the records of 300 contractors, issuing stop orders to some 100 companies.

 

Baldwin reels off more red ink

Printing systems maker Baldwin Technology Corp. closed out its fiscal year ending in June with a big gain in revenue, but losing $14 million after posting a small profit in fiscal 2010 thanks to a $9.3 million gain from a legal settlement.

Baldwin Tech sells systems used to keep printing presses clean, maintaining a small headquarters in Shelton. It suffered a $9.2 million loss in its fiscal fourth quarter despite sales jumping nearly 40 percent from a year earlier.

Waterbury hospitals latest to merge

A private equity company agreed to underwrite 80 percent of the costs for a $400 million medical center combining the operations of Waterbury Hospital and Saint Mary”™s Health System, with the deal requiring a final agreement and state approval.

It marks the first deal in Connecticut for LHP Hospital Group Inc., a Plano, Texas, company that would contribute most of the capital but share governance.

Last year, New Milford Hospital merged into Danbury Hospital, with the institutions still working to integrate their practices, while Yale New Haven Hospital is absorbing the Hospital of Saint Raphael in New Haven. Earlier this year, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced plans for $864 million in upgrades at the University of Connecticut Health Center and the adjacent John Dempsey Hospital in Farmington.

 

Ex-CEO wins pay spat

An arbitrator ordered medical device vendor Competitive Technologies Inc. to pay its former CEO $750,000, with CTI saying it was reviewing its options without disclosing the additional legal channels that might be open to it.

Fairfield-based CTI”™s products include a non-invasive device to reduce pain. In the second quarter, the company lost $1.3 million as revenue dropped to $300,000 from more than $1 million a year earlier.

A year ago, CTI fired John Nano for what it claimed was willful misconduct and gross negligence, which it said allowed it to withhold compensation under an employment agreement. Prior to the conclusion of the arbitration hearings, CTI sued the American Arbitration Association, which was administrating the case, with a federal judge denying a request for a temporary restraining order to halt the proceeding.