Bridgeport Regional Business Council marks year of advances at 2024 annual meeting

“When you leave here today, I want you to have three key details,” Bridgeport Regional Business Council (BRBC) President and CEO Dan Onofrio told the crowd of BRBC members in the ballroom of the Trumbull Marriot on June 20.

The first thing Onofrio urged members to leave the meeting knowing was the value of the chamber of commerce network to its respective industries and communities. The third was the importance of leadership, both within each business and to the role that all member businesses play for their communities.

But Onofrio said that the second key take away, “the value in thinking regionally and better understand the work the BRBC is doing from a regional perspective,” is “where the magic is within this organization.”

The BRBC is composed of the Stratford, Trumbull and Bridgeport Chambers of Commerce along with the Bridgeport Economic Development Corporation, Leadership Greater Bridgeport and the Women’s Leadership Council, supported by a number of partner organizations fostering economic development. By coordinating activities across the area, Southeastern Fairfield County is better able to respond to economic challenges that impact its constituent communities and organizations in different ways through collaboration and mutual aid.

According to Philip Conner, the BRBC’s Membership Director, that spirit is what has driven a recent spate of growth to 576 active members, including 121 new businesses within the community, yielding a retention rate of more than 80 percent.

“This growth isn’t just reflected in the numbers but in the energy and engagement we see every day,” Conner said. “We see new businesses emerge and the established businesses expand, all contributing to a vibrant and thriving local community.

Conner set a goal for 2025 for the addition of 150 new businesses and a further increase in the retention rate, which would see the BRBC’s membership rolls rise above pre-pandemic levels.

Conner then led a discussion between leaders of the municipal chambers that make up the BRBC: Fred Petross of the Trumbull Chamber, Bob David of the Stratford Chamber, and Bridgeport Chamber Chair Crystal Engram.

The panel of chamber leaders discussed their most effective initiatives, how the BRBC can more effectively support that work, and what the chambers need from their communities to best serve them.

Engram noted that the best way to earn community support is to make involvement in the community readily apparent.

“I encourage all of you business owners, you, the employees, your team, to get involved and share information about the chamber,” Engram stressed.

The event also highlighted the launch of a new website for the Connecticut Metropolitan Council of Governments (MetroCOG).  The new entity will allow Bridgeport, Easton, Fairfield, Monroe, Stratford and Trumbull to coordinate regional and transportation planning initiatives, and also apply for Federal grants aimed at county governments. The potential is for it to allow the disparate municipal governments to collaborate in the way that the BRBC has already enabled for area businesses.

In addition to the discussions, the business leaders were also addressed by Faizan Seyal, a middle school student from Fairfield who had won the state Civics Bee and would be able to attend the National Civics Bee in Washington, DC this November thanks to a partnership between the BRBC, the US Chamber of Commerce and the Connecticut Business and Industry Association. Seyal shared the essay he wrote about applying knowledge of civics to his everyday life, as illustrated by a legal analysis of when he pilfered a pair of chocolate covered strawberries from the family kitchen.

The annual meeting’s sole procedural obligation, the election of the organization’s six board members to serve from 2024 to 2027, passed without objections.

The new board will include Don Morissey, President, Aquarion Water Company; David Femi, Senior Vice President M&T Bank; Willie McBride, Principal MC McBride Electric LLC, Lorraine Gibbons, Executive Director, Cardinal Shehan Center; Al Carbone, Director, Community Affairs, United Illuminating; and Peter Russell, President at Santa Energy.

The event closed with Natalie Pryce, the BRBC’s Leadership and Development Director, presenting diplomas to the participants of Class 35 of the Leadership Greater Bridgeport Program.

“Leaders must understand the context of the communities they live in, and they lead within,” Pryce said of the graduates of the program who completed months of coursework including in-depth studies and business exercises. “Every region and every community is unique. A leadership style may not be as effective in one community as it was in another. Understanding a community’s history, challenges, missed opportunities, and success provides critical insight that can help a business, organization, and team make a decision.”