After 28 years of working to strengthen the economy in Bridgeport and the region, Bridgeport Regional Business Council president and CEO Paul Timpanelli will retire effective Sept. 1.
His accomplishments at the helm of this 900-member organization include partnerships with Trumbull, Stratford and Bridgeport Chambers of Commerce, contributing to jobs expansion that aided the region”™s economic growth.
While at the helm Timpanelli increased business opportunities for residents through business expansion, retention, and recruitment including Housatonic Community College”™s relocation, the redevelopment of the former Read”™s department store, the $12 million West End Industrial Park, the sports entertainment complex at Harbor Yard and the Eco-Technology Park.
BRBC Board of Directors chairman Armando Goncalves, People”™s United Bank Market President for Southern Connecticut, Westchester and Hudson Valley, N.Y., said Timpanelli “has been, and always will be, a wonderful advocate for our members.”
Timpanelli and the BRBC worked on the mixed-used development Steelpointe Harbor project ”” a 2.8-million-square-foot mixed-use waterfront development of residential, restaurant, retail and commercial venues ”” Â and the newly-opened Bass Pro Shops featuring hunting, fishing and sporting gear.
““I have been exceptionally honored and grateful to have had this rewarding and challenging opportunity to create a regional business association that has had a measurable impact upon building an infrastructure and environment for job growth and economic vitality,” Timpanelli said.
Timpanelli began teaching in Trumbull in 1969 and later served as Trumbull’s town clerk and first selectman. The Trumbull High School and Sacred Heart University graduate holds a master”™s degree in urban sociology from St. John’s University and is a graduate of the Institute for Organizational Management, University of Delaware.
He belongs to the boards of the United Way of Coastal Fairfield County, Regional Youth Adult Social Action Partnership, the Bridgeport Public Education Fund, the Connecticut Employment and Training Commission, the Connecticut Metropolitan Chambers Council, the Barnum Festival, and the Governor”™s Transportation Funding Panel. In 2014, Timpanelli was selected as the 66th ringmaster of the Barnum Festival, the greater Bridgeport region”™s annual salute to and celebration of P.T. Barnum.
The BRBC will announce its new president and CEO in late summer while Timpanelli continues in an advisory role.
“It remains my plan and objective to continue to play a role in building a better region, where economic opportunity will positively impact more people,” he said.
