CBIA BizCast

When you think of the Department of Consumer Protection, product recalls and scam warnings may come to mind.

But the state agency also covers enforcement and compliance for a wide breadth of industries and businesses, including gaming, liquor, and cannabis.

The agency is also responsible for occupational licensing for many regulated trades and industries from accounting and architecture to contracting and electrical.

“It's amazing to see how many areas that the agency actually does cover, and really the good work that we do every day,” said DCP commissioner Bryan Cafferelli.

Cafferelli joined the BizCast to discuss how the agency works with the business community.

Gov. Ned Lamont appointed Cafferelli commissioner in 2023.

He previously worked as legal counsel for the Connecticut Senate Republican Office and as a drug control attorney for DCP from 2017 to 2019.

“When I first started, the governor had a few marching orders,” he said. “One was ‘do no harm.’”

“The other was, 'see what we can do about making one of the biggest regulatory agencies a little more business friendly.'”

To do that, Cafferelli said they try to connect with industry groups and trade organizations to understand their challenges.

“What I really believe is that there's a dialog that has to occur, because we don't have all the right answers,” he said.

“Oftentimes we'll say, ‘we hadn't looked at it that way.’

“And then maybe there is something we could do, not always, but it's worth the conversation, and I think that that's what we've encouraged.”

Cafferelli said there has been a “huge push” to increase efficiency at DCP.

A big part of that is improving the online licensing process.

DCP’s website has features to guide people through the application process, making it more streamlined and easier to understand.

“We want to help people get to yes,” he said.

“And that's really what the mission is. We want to get people licensed. We want to tell them how to stay in compliance, and we want to just let them do their business.”

Cafferelli said the agency also works hand-in-hand with the Department of Labor and Department of Economic and Community Development in an effort to make sure people and businesses have a seamless experience.

He cited DOL’s apprenticeship program as an example.

Because the agencies are now on the same computer system, when people complete their apprenticeship, DCP is automatically triggered to begin the licensing process.

Cafferelli said the effort has made the agency more efficient and increased their turnaround time for licensing.

And he said the agency plans to continue on this trajectory.

“It’s not time for a victory lap,” he said. “It’s time to keep improving on what we’ve done.”

Related Links:

Department of Consumer Protection

Website: https://portal.ct.gov/dcp?language=en_US

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ctdcp/

CBIA

Website: https://www.cbia.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cbia/

Like its labs—tucked away at the far end of a Branford research park—ViiV Healthcare’s accomplishments may not be well known.

But the company is an authentic Connecticut success, with a story that needs to be told.

ViiV and its cutting-edge R&D to treat and someday to cure HIV because the company has had such a profound impact on so many lives.

ViiV head of drug discovery Dr. Umesh Hanumegowda joined the CBIA BizCast for a conversation with CBIA Bioscience Growth Council executive director Paul Pescatello.

Few of us realize that in the wake of the chaos and tragedy of the 1980s AIDS epidemic, some of the most consequential research into HIV—the virus that causes AIDS—occurred in Connecticut.

Connecticut scientists were among the first to identify and find effective treatments for HIV.

HIV is so devastating because it is, first, a virus and therefore almost indescribably small—one human cell is 100 to 1000 times larger than a virus.

And viruses are wily and zombie-like, inserting themselves into a host’s cells and then taking over the cell’s protein synthesis pathways to replicate.

HIV is uniquely threatening because it destroys the immune system, the very mechanism our bodies use to fight infection.

“It’s a tough virus, a challenging virus,” Hanumegowda described. “It’s a sneaky virus, because it knows how to integrate, mutate and hide.”

Yale University research produced some of the first effective HIV medications.

Building on the work of Yale scientists, Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Wallingford labs became a center for the development of the first antiretro-viral treatments.

In many ways the intellectual heir to the rich Connecticut history of HIV R&D is ViiV.

Founded in 2009, ViiV is in the forefront of HIV research.

The company was the first to introduce the second generation HIV integrase inhibitor, now the backbone of HIV treatment.

ViiV’s HIV treatments suppress HIV to undetectable levels, dramatically improving the lives of HIV patients but also preventing transmission to others.

ViiV is also a leader in pre-exposure medications to prevent HIV infection.

ViiV’s pre-exposure medications stop HIV from taking hold of a cell. They act as a catalyst to help the body produce antibodies which block the enzyme needed by the virus to replicate and spread throughout the body.

Hanumegowda chose to make HIV and ViiV the focus of his career.

ViiV has a “state of the art research lab right here in Connecticut,” he said. “And HIV is challenging, and I like a tough challenge.”

Another factor in Hanumegowda’s professional choices was the fact that “HIV disproportionately affects particular communities.”

“There is a socio-economic aspect to the disease,” he said. “There is a deep stigma associated with HIV, and I feel this is a population I can help.”

Will there be a cure for HIV?

Hanumegowda is confident there will be.

The cure could take the form of a vaccine, or “a combination of medicines and strategies.”

One such strategy is the Initiative to End HIV by 2030.

Among other measures, the initiative is about using testing and identifying barriers to treatment to combat HIV.

Its goals are simple: diagnose, treat, prevent, and respond.

It is a public-private partnership, built on collaboration with federal and state public health agencies and the business community.

CBIA has signed on, pledging to make its employees and members more aware of how to prevent and treat HIV.

As to ViiV, the company plans to stay focused.

Hanumegowda emphasized that ViiV has “demonstrated that staying focused will fetch us the right results.”

“So, we are in it till HIV and AIDS aren’t,” he said.

Related Links:

ViiV Healthcare

Website: https://viivhealthcare.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/viiv-healthcare/

U.S. Business Action to End HIV: https://www.healthaction.org/endhiv

CBIA

Website: https://www.cbia.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cbia/

Paul Pescatello on X: https://twitter.com/CTBio

“We are a service company first and foremost, rather than IT. We just happen to do IT,” Charles IT director of finance and operations Sal Marino tells the CBIA BizCast.

The Middletown-based outsourced managed service provider has seen about 30% growth year over year since 2012.

But the company has much smaller beginnings.

Foster Charles started the company in 2006, when he was still in high school helping small companies with things like web development or sales systems support.

In 2012, he helped a large hospital become the first hospital to migrate to Google Apps.

“They basically offered him to come on and be their CIO. And he said, ‘no,’” said Marino.

“And when he turned all those things down, that's when he was like, ‘We gotta get serious.”

When Marino joined Charles IT in 2017, he was employee number 17.

At the time, the company was generating about $4 million in revenue.

“My job was to come on and take the hats off of Foster, who was trying to run all of those as well as manage the front end of the business,” he said.

“Fast forwarding to today, we're about 150 people and closing in on 30 million in revenue.”

Marino said one of the things that helped their growth is their expertise helping small to midsize companies navigate things like cybersecurity and compliance.

“We have all the tools and tons of great tech, but we really focus on making sure that the policies are in place, that they're doing the right things,” he said.

One of the challenges that comes with growing as quickly as Charles IT has, is finding the right people.

“The hard part is making sure that you're finding the people that align to your business, the values, and the things that you're looking for,” Marino said.

He added that during COVID, that became an even bigger challenge.

“Because of our culture and our requirement of being 100% in office, it made that immensely more difficult than it would be for everybody else,” he said.

“Our culture is all about collaboration, having people there to be able to bounce things off of in constant rapid change and growth.

“And it's really hard to accomplish that if you're not all together.”

He said the company works hard to create an environment where people want to come into the office.

That includes benefits like free dry cleaning, the ability to bring dogs into the office, or free drinks and snacks.

“If you have to leave home, it has to at least be as good, if not better, than being at home,” Marino said.

“And that's, that's really what we're trying to emulate in our office experience.”

Charles IT has also started its own training program to recruit talent and grow its workforce.

For the past three years, the company has put 12 people through a 90-day, paid IT training program each quarter.

Participants in the program come from a variety of backgrounds, including high school and college graduates.

“You can go out and get a really senior level individual, but they have all of their own bad habits and all these other things that you have to change and tweak, and allow them to learn your style,” Marino said.

“So why not train somebody who knows the basics, and then teach them in your ways so you don't have to break bad habits.”

As for the secret to Charles IT’s growth and success, Marino said “the magic behind the curtain is that we're just what you see is what you get.”

“It’s showing that we really care about the employees. When it’s not a facade, people come in, they see it, and they want to be a part of it,” he said.

Related Links:

Charles IT

Website: https://www.charlesit.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/charlesit/

Sal Marino on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sal-marino-cfe-mba-44354a66/

CBIA

Website: https://www.cbia.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cbia/

“Leaning into how we can fundamentally transform lives and make them better, has been something I've been personally passionate about,” CliftonLarsonAllen’s strategic pursuits leader for manufacturing Jennifer Clement said about why she loves working with manufacturers.

Clement and CLA New England Manufacturing Growth Network Leader Stephen Fuller joined the CBIA BizCast to highlight the company’s work in this major industry sector.

With 130 offices nationwide, including three in Connecticut, CLA provides accounting, tax, outsourcing, and assurance services for a variety of industries including manufacturing.

“I explored different industries and just clung to manufacturing, probably because it was just cool,” Fuller said.

“Seeing a tangible thing created, and seeing those things created in Connecticut just made it more special to me.”

Fuller said that as a Connecticut native, he’s passionate about seeing manufacturers in the state succeed.

“This evolving industry within Connecticut has been there for a number of years, and that just means a lot,” he said.

Fuller and Clement also shared their excitement with CLA's support of the Coolest Thing Made in Connecticut challenge.

Starting with 16 things made by Connecticut manufacturers, companies will compete head-to-head with residents voting on their favorite products in each round.

The CBIA Foundation is leading the initiative in partnership with the Connecticut Office of Manufacturing and CONNSTEP.

“What a great way to promote what we do in Connecticut, not only for ourselves, but for the rest of the nation,” Fuller said.

“I mean, there's some really, really cool stuff that we do.”

Clement, who is based in CLA’s Milwaukee office, said Wisconsin has had a similar competition for the past eight years.

“It is a frenzy each year,” she said. “So far over the eight-year span, we've had over a million people voting for these products.

Clement said manufacturers across the country and in Connecticut are all dealing with challenges including softening demand, labor, and inventory.

She said they work with businesses to help shore up their bottom line.

“We're seeing a renewed effort and emphasis on profitability,” she said. “And what can we do in the short term to look at our cost structure.”

Fuller said there are a number of state programs available to help manufacturers with job retention and growth, training, and tax incentives surrounding R&D and capital investments.

“I think it's more about educating the manufacturers about what is out there," he said.

Fuller noted that when it comes to growing the manufacturing workforce, it’s not just about recruiting, but also retaining workers.

“There's this generational mind shift of what is important to this newer class of workers,” he said.

“I think that's extremely important for manufacturers and companies across Connecticut to understand what makes them tick, and to work with them to develop programs that retain them.”

Clement and Fuller said that many manufacturers are also looking to new technologies like AI to improve things like efficiency and predictive capabilities as well as attracting and retaining workers.

“We've got to think about how we now transform the lives of especially the younger workforce,” Clement said. “Manufacturing is seeing the same thing.”

“What we're starting to see is the understanding that it's time. It’s time for that shift, and to have that investment in the future," Fuller addeed.

Clement noted that their remarks are not intended to be legal, financial advice, or accounting advice.

Related Links:

CliftonLarsenAllen

Website: https://www.claconnect.com/en

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cliftonlarsonallen/

Stephen Fuller on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenfullercpa/

Jennifer Clement on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-clement-1553b81/

CBIA

Website: www.cbia.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cbia/

Looking back over Nuovo Pasta's success, Carl Zuanelli said he wouldn’t be where he is without overcoming major challenges.

“Anybody who's looking to have a big change in their life or to go out and pursue their dream, should understand that there are no big breakthroughs without big breakdowns,” he said.

One of those breakdowns for Zuanelli came with the 2008 financial crisis.

At that time, 75% of the company's business involved producing pasta for chefs and restaurants, with about 25% retail.

But during the economic downturn, people stopped going out to eat, and Zuanelli said it looked like the company was going to be wiped out.

“I was at probably the lowest low of my life,” he said.

“This was about as low as you can get. This was subterranean low.

“I come to realize later, the strong that do survive are those that are able to adapt."

Zuanelli said he took a close look at the state of the industry.

With the struggling economy and the growing popularity of food television, more people were cooking at home.

Nuovo shifted their focus to retail and consumer packaged goods, leading to what Zuanelli called meteoric growth since 2008.

“When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change," he said.

Zuanelli said commitment to quality is a big part of the company's success.

But he said Nuovo Pasta's employees are just as important as the pasta.

“As the company continues to grow, and as we change the way that we grow, we can't lose the aspect of the culture of the company and that the people are the most important,” Zuanelli said.

“One of the initiatives that we have, is a certification in a great place to work. We’re working towards that.”

Zuanelli said the company has monthly communication sessions with employees from different areas to get their feedback.

“It's so important to get that perspective from your team, your company, the employees, so that you can continue to be a place that grows and be a great place to work,” he said.

Zuanelli said that for both the company and his family, Connecticut is a great place to call home.

“I think Connecticut is, in so many ways, a great place to do business,” he said.

Zuanelli said organizations like CBIA and government agencies like the Department of Economic and Community Development have been helpful for businesses in the state.

“Yeah, there’s work to be done,” he said. “And, you know, I'm leaning in on that, but I think they've been very positive in creating jobs.”

Zuanelli said he's pushing for more incentives for businesses to open more factories, or invest in new equipment or technologies.

“I think that there's work to be done for manufacturers and attracting more manufacturers, and how we can keep more manufacturers here in Connecticut,” he said.

Zuanelli also credited Connecticut's workforce, calling it “an asset for any company.”

He said part of what makes the workforce so special is work ethic.

“I think a lot of it is based on the old New England work ethic, but also the immigration that's taken place and how open Connecticut has been,” he said.

Zuanelli said that growing up in a family of immigrants, he understands the immigrant experience.

That passion for the immigrant community led him to join the board of the Connecticut Institute for Refugees and Immigrants.

CIRI is a nonprofit organization that provides support and services to immigrants, refugees, and survivors of human trafficking.

“I don't think we can pay back the sacrifices that our families have made in terms of their immigrant journey,” Zuanelli said.

“So if we can't pay back, we've got to pay forward, and that's why I think it's so important.”

Related Links:

Nuovo Pasta

https://www.nuovopasta.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/nuovo-pasta-productions-ltd/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/carl-zuanelli-88523230/

Connecticut Institute for Refugees and Immigrants

https://cirict.org/

CBIA

https://www.cbia.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/cbia/

Carl Zuanelli knows his pasta. As founder and CEO of Nuovo Pasta Productions, Ltd, Zuanelli has been making fresh pasta for 35 years.

“I refer to pasta as joy on a fork,” Zuanelli told the CBIA BizCast in the first of a two-part conversation.

“I’ve never seen anyone eat pasta and not be enjoying it. It brings a smile to their face.”

Since Zuanelli started the company in 1989, Nuovo Pasta has become a leading national producer of premium refrigerated pasta and sauce.

“We make things like ravioli and tortellini and long cut pastas, like fettuccine, or linguini, tagliatelle,” he said.

But Zuanelli’s career journey didn’t start with pasta.

“I was in the financial services world,” he said.

After college, Zuanelli worked for Citbank and Merrill Lynch.

But he said that, even as a child, he knew he wanted to have his own business.

“There was this thing inside of me that just said that I wanted to have my own business,” he said.

And while that dream wasn’t to own a pasta company, the classic Italian food was always part of his life.

“I grew up in a home that had an Italian culture in it, because my grandparents lived in the home with us,” Zuanelli said.

“They had brought a lot of culture from the old country, including the food and how the food was prepared.”

Amid market turmoil in 1987, he decided to exercise his entrepreneurial spirit.

Through research, he discovered a boom in pasta consumption and an emerging market for refrigerated pasta.

“I had actually put together a business plan at that time,” Zuanelli said. “And I presented it to investors.”

Zuanelli only had one problem.

“I had actually no experience except eating pasta,” he said.

That experience came from a chance encounter, after a night out for Zuanelli’s parents.

He said his mother told him, “your father and I just had a magnificent meal at a restaurant called Pasta Nostra in South Norwalk. You should just go down and check it out and see what it’s all about.”

So on a Tuesday morning, he stopped at the restaurant and got the attention of the chef making pasta in the window.

“I told him that I was interested in learning how to make pasta,” Zuanelli said.

“He said, ‘if you’re willing to cook with me at night, I’ll teach you how to make fresh pasta.’

“I said, ‘you got a deal.’ And I went back to Merrill, and that week, I gave them my notice.”

For the next year and a half, Zuanelli worked at the restaurant, learning how to make different types of specialty fresh pasta.

In 1989, he started Nuovo Pasta, and said he’s never looked back.

“Some people say, ‘you know, you should have something to fall back on. If you’re going to start a business you should have something to fall back on,’” he said.

“My advice is have no fallback position. Because if it’s something that you’re passionate about, you have to burn the bridges behind you.”

Today, the company has more than 300 employees in four facilities in Stratford, including two state-of-the-art pasta manufacturing facilities.

They also have a facility in Cleveland, Ohio where they make long cut pastas and sauces.

While he says his passion and commitment to excellence plays a role in his success, Zuanelli said the company’s most valuable asset is the people.

“I think it’s a commitment to the quality of a product and the respect for the people that use their talents and their skills every day.”

In part two of the discussion, Zuanelli will share some of the darkest moments of his career, and how he turned them around.

Related Links:

Nuovo Pasta

Website: https://www.nuovopasta.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nuovo-pasta-productions-ltd/

Carl Zuanelli on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carl-zuanelli-88523230/

CBIA

Website: https://www.cbia.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cbia/

“We love to say we’re not from Colorado,” Bolder Company co-founder Jenny Drescher told the CBIA BizCast about how the company got its name.

“It does not have a ‘u’ in it. It’s Bolder, like ‘be a Bolder version of yourself.’ That’s how the name was born.”

Drescher founded the professional training and coaching company in 2014 with her longtime friend Ellen Feldman Ornato.

At the time, Ornato owned a training and development company and Drescher had an executive coaching business.

“We were taking courses in theatrical improvisation and realizing that the skills that we were learning in improv were directly affecting the way that we were facilitating conversations with other people in our individual businesses,” said Ornato.

“I immediately just said, ‘Oh, this was the toolkit I was looking for,’” added Drescher.

The two decided to take that toolkit and start their own business.

“We don't teach improv, we don't teach comedy,” Drescher said.

“But improvisation is an applied toolkit that works really well for learning.”

Drescher and Ornato said they work with companies to create tailored and customized programs for their teams.

“If their goal is to enrich the whole team,” said Ornato.

"We found it's most effective to have people learning the same things together, and then applying them together so that they have a common language so that they have the energy of having gone through that process together, and they deepen their relationships.”

Their programs can include conference speaking and one-off sessions.

But Ornato and Drescher said long-term programs have a deeper impact.

“When you learn with your team over time,” Ornato said, “we're celebrating each other's successes, we are acknowledging that sometimes we mess up and we didn't die, and we support each other forward.”

Drescher added they work to take deep dives to find out what’s hurting a business.

“We help people find hope in the midst of the things that are hurting them the most,” Drescher said.

“We like to drill a little further down, because nine times out of 10, it's not the culture.

“It's specific behaviors, inside the culture, inside the working climate, that are working for or against what the company is after.”

At the beginning, Drescher and Ornato focused The Bolder Company on working with entrepreneurs.

The business evolved to work with nonprofit organizations and eventually with the architecture, engineering, construction, and manufacturing industries.

“If you look at manufacturing, there's like, 150 year legacy of, you're a part of the machine," Drescher said.

“And manufacturing is, across the board, changing that, which is wonderful and amazing.”

Ornato and Drescher’s passion for manufacturing has now led to a new venture.

They recently launched a new podcast, the Manufacturing Shake-up.

Sponsored by the Connecticut Office of Manufacturing, the goal is to promote and highlight women at different levels of the manufacturing industry.

“And there's some great stories there,” said Ornato.

“So that's really what we're highlighting as well as the skills that women need to develop—things like becoming better at networking, understanding emotional intelligence, understanding presence and presentation, and how you walk into the room and finding a seat at the main table.”

Related Links:

The Bolder Company

Website: https://www.theboldercompany.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-bolder-company/

Jenny Drescher on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bolderjenny/

Ellen Feldman Ornato on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ellen-feldman-ornato/

The Manufacturing Shake-up

Website: https://www.manufacturingshakeup.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-manufacturing-shake-up/posts/?feedView=all

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ManufacturingShakeUp

CBIA

Website: www.cbia.com

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/cbia/

For C4 Communications founder and president Colomobo DiSalvatore III, success is all about problem solving.

“We try to go into our clients, we try to add value, and help solve problems,” DiSalvatore told the CBIA BizCast. “And we know that if we do that, that we will be rewarded over time.”

C4 Communications is a telecommunications company specializing in helping small and midsize companies evaluate, select, implement, and manage telecommunications solutions.

DiSalvatore said he sort of “fell into” the telecommunications industry and founded the company in 2001.

“Between the ages of 16 and 24, which is when I started the company, I had 10 different jobs,” he said.

“I was effectively unemployable. So I had to come up with my own company.”

DiSalvatore credits his father for instilling an entrepreneurial spirit and for teaching him lessons about business ownership.

“He also made this point of trying to find a business where you can make some sort of residual or some sort of royalty income,” he said.

“I’m really grateful for that advice.”

For nearly 10 years, DiSalvatore ran the company by himself with some help from his sister-in-law.

He said he’s grateful for that experience, because he was able to work from home and be there for his growing family.

“My wife, Amy and I, we had six children in that period of time, so we have a large family,” DiSalvatore said.

“I really captured a lot of moments in my kids that I may not have captured otherwise.”

DiSalvatore also said that time period also taught him the importance of finding a work-life balance.

“Work can very much dominate if you’re a hard worker and if you’re possibly a workaholic,” he said.

“I had to be really intentional at a point to turn off the work and to stop working to make sure that I didn’t sneak down into the basement or sneak into my office when it’s time to be with the kids.”

Eventually, as the company grew, DiSalvatore began to bring on more people.

But he kept the company virtual and tried to instill that balance as a core value.

He said when the pandemic hit, it was actually an asset to be a virtual company.

Because the team was already remote, they didn’t miss a beat and were able help their clients pivot quickly.

“As everybody was trying to set their employees and their teams to be able to work from home, we were actually positioned well to help them do that,” DiSalvatore said.

C4 Communications is now a team of about nine people, and DiSalvatore said he had to shift his mindset as a leader and give people freedom to grow.

“I had to learn that there were people out there that could actually deliver excellence, and they could even do it differently than the way that I did it,” he said.

He said he loves getting positive unsolicited feedback from clients about his team.

“When I get a comment like that, I’m just reminded of what an amazing group of people that have been willing to come work for me.”

DiSalvatore said they have clients all over the country, but he loves growing and doing business here in Connecticut.

“Relationships matter in Connecticut,” he said. “Your reputation matters.”

“People care about meeting face to face and having a personal relationship with who they do business with.

“And because we like to operate like that, I think Connecticut’s a great place for us to continue to do business and to grow this business.”

Related Links:

C4 Comunications

Website: https://www.c4communications.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/c4-communications-llc/

Colombo DiSalvatore’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colombo-disalvatore-iii-1502139/

CBIA

Website: https://www.cbia.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cbia/

For The Computer Company president Kevin Barros, a career in IT was something of an accident.

“I kind of started off individually on my own, just kind of doing a little bit of side work, make a few extra bucks on the weekends and nights,” he told the CBIA BizCast.

Barros said he always liked technology, but never thought he’d own a company.

“Slowly it kind of grew to one referral, to another referral.”

Barros launched the venture with name KBIT Group, before acquiring Shell Systems in 2018.

Through those early years, he was working by himself, while going to school.

“Iit was very difficult, a lot of hours, a lot of white hairs, but it was all worth it in the end.”

In 2020, Barros realized that he needed help to keep up with the demand and acquired The Computer Company.

The company offers IT services for small and medium businesses, education institutions, and government entities.

Those services include helpdesk support, networking, development and website design, and cybersecurity.

The company also has data centers in Cromwell, and Las Vegas to help ensure disaster recovery capabilities.

“Everyone has their own unique challenges,” Barros said. “But at the end of the day, the goal is the same.”

“People want to be up, they want IT to work, they want it to be productive, and of course, they want it to be secure.”

Barros said cybersecurity is becoming a bigger concern for companies, especially small businesses.

“Even large companies have breaches,” he said. “But those can weather the storm, they can weather that breach and they could weather the bad publicity for a little bit.”

“But the smaller guys don't have that luxury as much. They don't have the financial backing. So the impact is much greater for those smaller ones for sure.”

Since Barros acquired The Computer Company,the business has grown from 12-13 employees to nearly 40.

He credits that team for the company’s success and growth, adding that seeing his employees thrive is one of his favorite parts of his job.

“The team is everything to us,” he said. “The company is not just me, it’s them.”

“I love seeing when they kind of get really excited about tech and saying, ‘Hey, I figured this out.’”

Barros said that as a Connecticut native, he’s committed to growing the business here.

“This is my backyard,” he said. “I have this push to stay here even if there are some struggles.”

Barros said growing the business is all about taking risks, and knowing that you aren’t always going to get a return on it.

But he was encouraged by a family member to take the leap and grow the business.

“He was kind of like, ‘Listen, you can do this,’” Barros said. “‘Yeah, it's gonna be stressful. Yeah, you're gonna hate it some days. But you gotta just do it.’”

“And I really appreciated that.”

Barros said that as he grew the business, he realized that acquiring companies is about a lot more than money.

“You have to also think about that old business owner,” he said. “It’s kind of their baby.”

He said that they want to know that their clients and employees will be taken care of.

“It’s trying to show or build that trust with them to kind of say, ‘Hey, don't don't worry about it, I got it, we can take it to the next level.’”

As for what that next level is for Barros and The Computer Company?

He said they’re looking for additional acquisitions and bringing on more employees.

“40 is cool. Four hundred would be better,” he said.

Related Links:

The Computer Company: https://computercompany.net/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-computer-company-inc./

Kevin Barros on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-barros-a55a2ba9/

CBIA: https://www.cbia.com/

In a lifetime, one-in-four women and one-in-seven men will be affected by domestic or intimate partner violence.

And each year, the Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence serves about 40,000 people.

“We are the state's leading voice for survivors and victims of domestic violence and their families,” CCADV president and CEO Meghan Scanlon told the CBIA BizCast.

The organization has 18 member agencies across the state providing services ranging from sheltering and counseling to children’s, family, and survivor services.

Their mission is to also reduce violence through outreach, education, training, technical assistance, and advocacy.

“We made a lot of progress in terms of talking about it more openly and publicly, and there being reduced stigma and shame around sharing stories, which has been great,” Scanlon said.

“But we still have a lot of work to do.”

Scanlon said that one of her goals is to change the mindset around domestic violence from a criminal justice issue, to more of a public health issue.

“The coalition is really focused on how do we get to people and provide them the education and training and awareness before they end up in the criminal justice system,” she said.

One of the ways they hope to raise that awareness is by working with employers.

“Statistically, one of the places that survivors feel the safest is in their workplace,” Scanlon said.

“So oftentimes, it's one of the only places that they go to during a day where they're getting away from the abuse.”

CCADV applied for a grant from the U.S. Department of Labor to work with employers to provide basic awareness and education about how domestic violence impacts the workplace.

Scanlon said that includes understanding performance issues, or safety issues if a perpetrator calls or shows up at a workplace.

She said the education and awareness starts as small as having posters or magnets in the workplace.

It can also include training for employers and employees and specialized training for those who raise their hand and say they want to be a go-to person in the office.

The overall goal is to let employers and coworkers know what to look out for and what to do when somebody discloses they are in an abusive situation.

That can be as simple as sharing information about ctsafeconnect.org or the statewide domestic violence hotline. That number is 888-774-2900.

"If you can connect them to the resources that we have across the state, chances are we can we can work with them on a safety plan, we can make sure that they're being thoughtful around that strategy," Scanlon said.

Scanlon said the resources aren’t just for a crisis situation, but can provide support or information to family members, coworkers or bystanders.

“When somebody gets to a place where they disclose something that vulnerable to you, you have this moment to build trust with them and connect them to something,” Scanlon said.

“It's very much a culture shift for employees and employers to recognize that this is something that happens in the workplace, and we should know what to do if and when it does happen.”

If you or someone you know needs help, or more resources, visit https://www.ctsafeconnect.org/ or call or text 888-774-2900. It’s free, confidential, and available 24/7. And for more information about the Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence, visit https://www.ctcadv.org/