You're at the helm of Drew Marine, a global solutions company for the maritime industry. Tell me more about Drew Marine. So, historically, Drew Marine would service what I would call heavy vessels- 200,000 dead weight ton and larger. So picture, oil tankers, cargo ships, bulkers, dry good carriers. We would provide fuel additives, water treatment chemistry, that could be used in various aspects of the vessel. We have refrigerant products, we have maintenance products - but the two main core product lines are water treatment and fuel additives. Now, what is Drew Marine's international footprint? Nine hundred ports around the world. We have operations in Europe that are based in Greece. We have some smaller pieces in Europe that are in the Netherlands as well as the United Kingdom. If you flip over to the Asian market, a manufacturing facility in Singapore, operations in Hong Kong, mainland China, Japan, sales offices in Korea, Taiwan, so on and so forth. And then wheel around yet again, you hit South America. We have operations down in Brazil and Argentina and Chile, and then come into North America and, obviously, United States, Canada, Mexico, and so forth. So we look at it in scales of ports. So when you take over the reigns of Drew Ooh, how much time do we got, so it kinda kind of twofold. I see, I see a company that is steep in history. It goes back to the 1920s. it is a company that, was there in the beginning, will be there in the end. no matter when that end might be, I believe we have a strong footprint in the Marine space, but I know there's so much more we can do. There's a ton we can do organically. we can grow via acquisition. That'll bring some new it and, and, or adjacent markets to the table. I don't see us just staying in Marine. industrial is where we could migrate to. In fact, if you went, if you go back into Drew's history, when Drew was owned by, Ashland, and even before that, the bigger entity was Drew industrial. Drew Marine has put its global innovation and manufacturing center in Waterbury. What was the impetus behind that? first and foremost, we didn't have one. So when I was diligencing the company, it was very clear from an innovation standpoint. we needed to fire up the engine again and, if I take a step back and I, if you don't mind, I want to link this with the manufacturing piece because I think this is important. Having an innovation center where you can not test out the products or having an innovation center that you can't convert something from a small scale, up to a big batch production, doesn't make a lot of sense to me. The two really need to go hand in hand. You can have a showcase somewhere. Which is different, but if you really want to have an innovation center and not just an R and D center, you need that aspect. You need to be able to replicate things that are going to happen at your customers or your business partners, or at an end user. You have to be able to test those things and you need to be able to make sure you can make something large scale from a raw material standpoint. So if I go and I look at what Waterbury has to offer. First and foremost, your, you're at what I would call the crossroads. You have, you know, 8 and 84. You're not far from 95 and 91. And if you look at the history of the Naugatuck Valley, it's been built on chemical companies. There are still a few chemical companies that are here today, but between chemistry and plating shops, there are a lot of chemists in the area. there are a lot of, schools that offer, chemistry, as a major, we have several of those institutions here in the greater Waterbury area. On top of all that you have a workforce that, you know, the guts and you know, what the metal that people are made of, and, on top of that, you have a friendly government, you have a government that wants to invest in business. And they want to see a hub and spoke. And Waterbury is definitely the center and a lot of these towns can benefit from it. So when we looked at. You know, wanting to be in control of our own destiny from a manufacturing standpoint, it then made perfect sense to just put the innovation center with it so long winded answer. But I think it's important to understand it. Are there partnerships that exist or being discussed between Drew Marine and other Waterbury organizations and areas like job training or research and development? Well, certainly from job training without a doubt, Kathy Awaad has a phenomenal program. that she's been a big supporter for years on top of that, if you look at a Post, you look at Naugatuck Valley, you look at UCONN, you look at some of the satellite, institutions that are here as well. I want to keep these kids here. it does not help this region in any way, shape or form if they go in to get their degrees and then, you know, they're gone and they go find jobs somewhere else, you gotta be able to have it here. And if you look at some of the investment opportunities that are gonna be coming down the pipe, especially with this Brown field remediations that are being done throughout Waterbury. This is the perfect spot to bring your company. Cause you do have the, the base of skilled workers that have been here, but on top of that, you have the youth movement that you can keep here. And, you know, one of the things that I think is very important and especially as it relates to Drew is a human capital investment. So one of the things that we've rolled out here is a partnership with Post university where we're using Post. Oh, the word I would use is a further educate. Our greatest asset are our people are our team members. And whether it's just getting them to that next level, whether it's basic stuff like learning something with supply chain or learning something as relates to accounting, you know, we want to have opportunities from within. So. Having a relationship with them is, is huge. And again, if I look at Naugatuck Valley, one of the best programs in the Northeast, whether it's manufacturing, x-ray type technicians, not that we need that, but if you look at the programs that they offer there, it's, it's very clear that that investment is still being made. So you end up with that ready-made workforce and you, and you end up with something that I like to say services you more than you servicing it. In addition to the Drew Marine, you've also brought the headquarters of its parent company Drew international to the Waterbury region. And Naugatuck, what's the thinking there? close to home and nah just kidding. So, twofold, Drew Marine, today or Drew Marine historically, was based in Whippany New Jersey and the reason it was based there is because when they spun out from Ashland, they were literally one town over. Whippany is still gonna serve a purpose for us. Don't don't get me wrong. It's going to be our shirts, service center, which I think is, is very important. And I wanted to activate Drew international, which is the first company down from, where court square is our private equity firm. In the pecking order, because I don't just want this to be about the Marine space. And if we're going to, acquire companies that fill different verticals, you have to have a vehicle to drop them on there. Hence Drew International. I want to pay homage to the original Drew, which was why we call the Drew international versus anything else. Naugatuck it's again, you're, you're in a centralized location, access to all the different highways we can get to our Jersey office in two hours from here, we can get to, our manufacturing facility in 20 minutes, 30 minutes, depending on traffic. you take that into account and, and the talent that I hired to be on our senior team. It's perfect. And I gotta be honest with you. There's, there's a lot of investment that's been made even here in downtown Naugatuck as well as, as well as in Waterbury, by private individuals that are putting their money where their mouth is, and they're willing to work with companies to bring you here. I mean, we looked at a couple of different properties and they, they wanted to back us, you know, they courted us and, you know, I, I kinda, I kind of joke about it. I am, am I a sentimental guy? Yeah. In a lot of things, but not in business. I take, I think a different view with business, you know, it's, it's, it's my money. It's my, it's my. My team's money, you know, I'm not going to put our entity at risk. other than maybe calculated risks, I'll go through and see what the downside is going to be. But it was all upside with us going here. Drew Marine isn't the first global company you've helped center around Waterbury. Tell me about your days at MacDermid. Ah, so, just under 20 years there, I joined the MacDermid, in, June 22nd of 98, great company. Dan Lever, was CEO at the time Greg Bolingbroke, was my direct boss. Jay Lovotear was actually one of the reasons why I wanted to join their, Jay as one of two people I know who could do present value calculations in his head quicker than I can do it on a calculator and Jim Smith another Waterbury guy, is the other one. And Jim was actually on the board of MacDermid at the time, and MacDermid was a, call it a dream come true company. You know, this was a local company who treated everyone like you were a family. fast forward a little. I started as general accounting manager there. when we moved our corporate team, out to Colorado, it was kind of a sad, a sad state of affairs because, we had felt like, I don't want to put words in anyone's mouth, but we felt like we were abandoned in a lot of ways. We had had some issues in our manufacturing plant and we ended up closing the plant in Waterbury, which was a, which was a sad day. And we need some knee jerk reactions ended up moving corporate out of the out of state. had the opportunity, to take the company private. did that, working with Dan and team and I rose through the ranks to become CFO of the company. when we exited, private equity and that was court square that, that owned us so along with management, we were purchased by Platform Specialty Products, Martin Franklin and his group. Top-notch, investor, made his market at Jarden. And not a lot of people heard about Jarden, but you know, you've heard of Rawlings. You've heard of K2 skis. You've heard of American home products. They were all jarden's brand's, he, I don't know if we wanna call it ventured out into, into other things. And one of them was a specialty chemicals and, ended up being CFO of the company there. And when we were closing down our, our Denver operations, Dan leaver and I had had a conversation and I had no desire to go to Miami. I didn't want to go to Florida. I have ms. I hate the heat. I really hate the heat. Not that it's great here in the Northeast, but it's a lot better, than Florida, no disrespect to Florida. but it gave me an opportunity to come home. And as part of that, I rebuilt my teams here. the finance teams, the tax teams, the treasury teams that I had out in Colorado, and then ended up being about, call it 25-30 jobs that we brought here because only two of us moved back. The rest of the individuals were all from Colorado. fast forward, a little more. I did, some great discussions with Dan and, and our innovation teams at, at McDermott. And we wanted to expand. Our R and D operations here and through a couple acquisitions that we did, we were able to do that. So I want to say all in, if you started looking at the pieces between the acquisitions, the new positions and everything else, it was probably close to a hundred different jobs at any given point that we brought into the city, or we kept into the city because we had purchased a piece of, The old chemtura business at that, at that same time, it was fun. Now I'm not competing against. my former company in any way, shape or form they're industrial plating, electronics, plating, graphics, and stuff like that. water treatment, chemistry, fuel additives. Do I want to get any industrial space? Yes. Cause I, I think this company has a lot more to offer. and I also think this company can become a business partner, to a whole different set, that we can take existing products and bring them into new opportunities. So. That's that's what I want to do here. I, I told the guys at court square, I'll stay as long as you want me to stay. but I want to have fun. And right now I'm having fun. You mentioned having spent a lot of your time, growing up and professionally in the Waterbury area, but also several years in greater Denver. are there parallels to the growth that you saw in the Denver region and what's going on in the Waterbury region? I would look at it two ways. the good and the bad. And you can, you can, you can decipher this yourself when you go out West. It's a very different pace as being here on the East coast. So, When the, I used to laugh when the little sign says, don't walk, people don't walk, even though there's no cars coming, they just, they state, they stand there. me, I would walk across the road and people would be screaming. You know, my God, my God, you're going to get hit. Trust me. There was no car coming. Like you're not going to get it. so it's a, it's a, it's a different pace. But one of the things that I, that I admired that, that the city of Denver did, and I, and I think this was huge is they went through a, an entire what I would call Renaissance. In their downtown area, it was, it was what they referred to it as LoDo. So you had, Safeco field, used to video of mile high on one end and kind of in the middle, you had Pepsi center and on the far end you had Coors field. And in between they had all these old factories, they had all these old warehouses and they renovated them into condos, or they renovated them into businesses or they renovated them into opportunities. I see us doing that here now. And I got to give a. Post is a, is a perfect example where, you know, they needed somebody to fill that vacant spot. The Howland Hughes building, it was an eyesore for years, no disrespect, but it was an eyesore for years. And, you know, with the investment that came in through both a private partnership and, you know, via the mayor working in right wrong or indifferent pitching ideas to the state to get some funding to do it. they were able to get that building revitalized and John Hopkins and team comes on there and they put their money where their mouth is. And now you have what is a perfect flagship to be down there. You also have UCONN not far from there. You also have what I referred to as some great opportunities, because if you start to now go around the corner, you have what could be a whole revitalized downtown with restaurants. Not just pizza parlors, but restaurants, you have entertainment with the palace theater. Those are all the things that Denver started with. So if you look at what, what they refer to as the 16th street mall, which was everything kind of started there and branched out, you can easily do that with the green. On top of that, we have something here that, that. That they did not have. And you have a hospital in that downtown area with St. Mary's. You also have a hospital on the other end with Waterbury hospital, but you can, you can build what I would call a health complex and through all those little buildings that are up there, you can have a ton of specialized medicine. You know, where they have an MS center. You can have a joint center, you can have a complete cardiac center. You can have things that can bring others into this region. You have a museum downtown. Those are all things that can bring people into the city. You know, I've invested personally in a lot of stuff with Special Olympics. I was a big backer of bringing the Special Olympics basketball, the state basketball tournament here, where you have over 400 athletes, not counting the Waterbury athletes, but 400 athletes who come into this city and into this area for a weekend, you're telling me we can't pick up business in our restaurants, in our hotels or in a museum or show or anything for these athletes on top of it. We, and, and, you know, not to be a, a jerk here, but business has to get behind it. It can not just be the city doing it all. There has to be ambassadors for businesses that are willing to step up to say, we want to invest in this area. And, and it's not just about Waterbury because how Waterbury goes. And I don't care what anyone says, how Waterbury goes, these surrounding towns are gonna go. And if you can't find a one spot, you're going to go somewhere else and you, and it can't just do it on big business. You need that small family business as well to tie into it. It has to be a complete package. That's what made Denver successful. That's what could make Waterbury successful, but more importantly, it could make the region successful. And, you know, I encourage you. Don't just come here for tax breaks. Come here because you want to come here. Right. Don't don't put a gun to someone's head and say, you don't give me this tax break. I'm not going to cover that. That's a cop out and it's a crock. You want to come somewhere nice where you can provide something for your greatest assets, your workers give them a good quality of life. You've got a lot of thoughts. You got a lot of irons in the fire. You've accomplished a lot in your career. All doing this while dealing with multiple sclerosis. When were you diagnosed with MS? A 2007, April, April of 07. It was a, we had just, taken MacDermid private, and when you were a little man on the pole, you're at a mule, you carry all the books. Right. And. I had thought I pinched a nerve in this shoulder because this whole hand and arm were tingling. And, as the week went on, it got worse. And, long story short, had, one hell of a visit to a, to an ER out there. anyone who knows me will know the colorful metaphors and phrases that I was using with the doctor, as they were trying to explain to me that I had one of two things. but I think, If I've taken a day off since then, I'd be shocked due to my MS. I just, I, I refuse. I, I say I have MS the MS doesn't have me and I'm actually doing really good lately with, treatments and, a side doctor, that I'm seeing. It's been, he's been doing some great things for me. So. So how does MS affect you on a day to day basis? You get tired. Me. I get tired. The end of the day, I burned a lot on energy and I only sleep three to four hours a night, so I would burn even more energy, up until let's call it three months ago. I had constant, tingling in this leg that would turn into numbness. I had no feeling in this hand. I couldn't do things with this hand, to be honest with you, through a series of new regiments and. Some changes to the health aspect. I can do things now with this cause I can feel again. but the fatigue, the fatigue is worse and I hate the heat. The heat just, it wears you down, but I go, you know, a hundred thousand miles an hour with my head on fire. I know one speed is full speed at, I don't, I don't know anything else. It's just, it's how I'm built. I've I've always been that way. And MS becomes your enemy, because of that. But if you, if you manage it and. You know me, I'm lucky I have a great support network, family, friends that are always looking out for me in one way, shape or form, sometimes looking out for me too much in one way, shape or form. But, you know, they helped me get through things when I have a bad day, they're, they're there for me. And when I have a good day, they're there for me. You were born and raised in Waterbury. Yes. Tell me about your upbringing. My upbringing. so people always ask me, what are the few things that drive you? And one of them is my, my earliest memory. So, at the top of scott road there's Scott garden apartments. And, my father's a barber. My mother was a x-ray technician. and, They both worked several jobs over the years, especially when I, when I was a kid. So we had one car in the family at the time. And, they used to be a Wawa's at, at the bottom of Scott road, not there anymore. And it was a treat when you can go down and get the pickle out of the barrel, you know, anyone who knows that, Wawa's that was like a treat, you know, you could go in with the tongs and you know, you pull the pickle out and they slice it and eat it. I love pickles. So we used to have to walk down. And, in the winter and even in the summer, we'd have to wait for my father to come home. My father would come by to Wawa's and you know, he'd pick us up and we'd drive up the Hill. So I learned a long time ago. You never walked down a Hill that you don't know how to walk up. And, It sounds crazy, but that's something that's driven me forever. So I don't walk into a room that I don't know how to walk out of. I don't go into a business relationship that I can't grow, or I can't get the hell out of if it's, if it's not good. anyone who knows me will tell you if I don't like you, I tell you if I like you, I tell you if someone says, well, I heard Frank said this it's a crock. Trust me, Frank would say it to you if, if that's what he thought, but. What I learned, in Waterbury is the closeness of family and friendships. After you graduate from Holy Cross, you head to college where? Bentley up in the Waltham Mass. Accounting degree. You play sports about Bentley? I did. And we're going to leave it at that. My friend, we're not going to make this a Bentley thing. I, what I, what I, what I think is important. I don't care how book-smart somebody is. You need to be well rounded and well rounded doesn't mean you just play sports, be a musician, be an artist, do something. Cause you need an out, you need an out. And I learned this a long time ago and whether I was in school or out of school, you can't be so focused a hundred percent on being an athlete or being a musician, without having an offset to it. Cause you got to give your mind something to think, but it's also true from a business standpoint, you can't be so engulfed in business. And not having an out that lets you recharge the batteries. Now for some people it's spending time with their family, you have to build that in as well, which you need your own private time. Right. So I know you're an artist. Okay. And I've seen the work you've done is incredible. And you look at that and I'm saying to myself, what the heck is this guy doing? He can be, he can be probably one of the best artists I've ever seen. me my out today is golf. I might hack, I might be good. I might hit it 180 yards. I might hit a 280 yards. It all depends on the time of day and you know how good your shot is, but I think it is important for, for, youth today. If you want to use the word youth or millennials or whatever the heck word you, you choose to use, that you gotta have balance. And that balance has to involve doing something outside of your chosen career. That's key. That's what's important. It is. You mentioned golf as your outlet, many, many people would argue that your outlet is philanthropy. Talk to me about some of the community organizations that you support. Oh, which time we got now? I've been a big supporter of United way, I think United way is one stop shop because United way is very intertwined in the community. there are many outlets within United way. You want to support kids. You want to support the adults. You want to support the revenue growth for someone, or you just want to support basic needs for someone there's a lot of outs. I think the boys club is a phenomenal organization. I think pal is a phenomenal organization and, and my wife and I have supported in my family have supported those organizations for years. The campership fund. MS obviously I have a vested interest in that, the hospital, you know, st Mary's hospital. I've been a huge supporter of st. Mary's hospital for years on top of the ms center. we've sponsored some rooms, in the, I believe in education. You know, I, I look at education as an investment. You know, my father and mother made an investment in me, through four years at Holy cross, but then four years of Bentley, because when I graduated. You know, my father said, you got no loans, you got no debt. I've, I've made my investment in you. So, not a lot of people have that opportunity, you know? And, and it wasn't just out of that barbershop that he did, that they worked two jobs, you know, and they put money away and they, they mortgaged things to be able to do that. And, You know, to me it's like a payback or sometimes what I like to say is a, is a pay forward because if I can change someone else's life the same way and give them an opportunity, I'm happy to do that. I think, I think that's part of being who you are, you know, there's, there's a running joke. you, if you want to hear it or not, you got Frank Monteiro, who's a very philanthropic person and you have Frank's alter ego, who, depending on the time of day is the guy who's going to drive the business until, you know, the sled dogs can't run no more or the horses give out or he collapses himself at the end of the day. But that guy won't ask someone to do something that he wouldn't do himself. Who are your heroes? Oh, my father, is definitely one. You know, here's a guy whose dad passed away, when he was in high school and, you know, in something like that, a life event like that happens. And I never, I never said this to my dad, but a life event like that happens, you can go several ways. You can pull yourself up if, you know, make something yourself, or you can go into a spiral and, you know, ended up on the wrong side of the tracks. My, my dad by far, is my main hero. There's a, there's a handful of people that have, that have helped me along the way that every one of them is a, is a hero to me in one way, shape or form. But, him by far. You've mentioned some influential people, not necessarily on a personal level are several generals and presidents. Yes. Ulysses S. Grant, Omar Bradley, Ronald Reagan. What's the draw to that type of role general and our president? So I look at it, I look at it two ways. If you look at, if you look at heroes and mentors, there are those that, you live and see every day, to me, my dad is one of those, and they're ones that you've read about. What I love about Omar, Omar Bradley is the GI general. You know, some people like patents, some people like MacArthur, they were little too flamboyant. Sometimes people say I'm flamboyant. but I never forgot where I came from. And neither did Omar Bradley. And what I loved about, general Bradley and all the things I've read about him and documentaries and stuff I've seen. And, you know, for you, if you don't know, I have a minor in history and I love U.S. History and stuff on top of everything. I think what was great about him is, A. he never forgot where he came from, and B. he saw the field for what it can be, not for what it was. And he was in the trenches with you. You know, he, wasn't going to sit in the command post. He was going to be there, in the trenches with you. So at the end of the day, what do you value in others? Integrity, honesty. I have a handful of rules that I've, that I've always lived by. And I think it's, I think it's important. number one is no surprises. if you tell me a found a million dollars, that's like telling me a lost a million dollars. I want to know. Okay. I can, we didn't know about the million dollars. I'm brutal at Christmas. I'm brutal at birthdays. I give everybody their, their gifts early. rule number two is don't lie to me. I, I don't want you to lie to me. if you don't know to answer, just tell me you don't know the answer. number three is don't lie to yourself. If you don't know the answer, tell me you don't know the answer. Don't try to fake your way through it. rule number four is kind of a joke. It's like you can't fix stupid and no one really understands what that means. But what it means is if, if we're going to debate something, have your facts, cause I'm going to have my facts. don't just start pulling things out of the air because now you're being stupid and you have to be able to support your point of view, and I'm gonna respect your point of view, right wrong or different at the end of the day. But I also want you to hear, you know, the counter piece to it. there's a, There's a fifth one. That's I, I laugh when I say it is a stay away from crazy people, because they'll eventually turn you crazy and one, and that's an open ended thing. but you know, that's kind of what I look for as crazy as that sounds. You've said in the past. And I quote, "On a bad day, you might only get a hundred percent from me". So what will I get from you on a good day? What's what's infinite. It all depends. If I'm, if I'm committed to it, you'll get everything out of me. You'll get, you'll get from sunup to sundown. Plus you'll get every ounce of energy. you'll get everything I have to offer because I have to believe in what I'm doing and I, I need, I need the game. Okay. It's hard. It's hard to explain it, but I need the game, whether it's sports, whether it's reading a book, whether it's business, it doesn't matter. It's the game. It's the piece that goes along with it. It keeps you engaged from the start to the end. you don't want to jump ahead. It's that journey. One of the greatest quotes I love is of Gene Krantz. When he says, "failure's not an option", right. And everyone looks at this and they say, well, you know, couldn't fail. They had to get them back. I believe you need to fail. Okay. Cause when you fail, you learn, or else it just becomes too easy and then you don't have the joy and you don't have the excitement about doing it anymore. But it all ties back to the game. That game keeps you going. Keeps you challenged keeps you pressing and yeah, on a bad day, you're going to get a hundred percent out of me. A hundred percent from me is, you know, you'll see me at seven in the morning and you'll see me leaving at five where any other day, it's three 30 in the morning until God knows when the cows go home. With this unbelievable drive that you have at the end of the day, when your career is over. What are you ultimately looking to have accomplished? Would it be bad to say I've accomplished everything I've wanted to accomplish up to this point? Because I have. I set, I set daily goals. I set yearly goals. I set three and five year goals. I believe it's important to write them down and I look at them and I, I judge myself. and I'm the worst critic in the world. To, to be truthful, as to how much leaving them. And, and am I making the progress that I wanted to make towards them? it'd be stupid for me to say, I want to leave the world in a better place. Okay. I think that is a cop out answer and no disrespect to anyone, but I, I, I do what I want to when I, when I check out when my numbers finally called and all of a sudden done at the end of the day. I want people to say, you know what? He did it his way. He made a difference to a lot of people. but more importantly, a lot of people made a difference to him and that collaborative and that partnership is what made him, who he was. That's all I want. I'm going to switch gears quickly cause I need to find out some facts here. Is it true that you have a serious wine collecting habit? I have a wine addiction. I have a book education and a street education, and one of the individuals who gave me my street education was a phenomenal cook. everybody knows him as a Big Moe, Allegrini. His brother, Little Moe, Allegrini, use to run a restaurant and he spent some time he would, he would talk to me about wines, just in casual conversation. And what started as a, hobby, has turned into. what I like to call, a frenzy, arrogantly. I probably have the best Washington state wine collection on the East coast, but what good is having, if you can't share it with people. So I have a, a group of friends, some are very close friends, some are business colleagues and associates, and we get together. We have a monthly dinner. we collect, We collect two pots, actually one pot pays for the, the dinner. One pot goes to charity. We pick a charity that we want to give the money to, and we get the sample two cases of wine out of my ridiculous seller, at any given point. So, I try to mix and match it. It's not all about expensive wines. It's about what you like and what you enjoy. And the best thing to do is to be able to share it with someone. Why, why have it, if you can't share it with people? All right. Is it true that you're a record holder of sorts for steak eating in Greece? Yes. Well, not just Greece, several places. I hold a record for, for eating a big steak in Greece. I hold, I, I don't think I hold the one anymore at a restaurant in, in Tennessee. I like these 72 ounces. They're they're like appetizers, you know, so. Yes, I love, I love steak, my friend. Is it true that many people call you Keyser Sze? Yes, that's my alter ego. That's how you get Frank or you get Keyser. And is it true that you once played poker with Bruce Willis and 50 Cent? Yup. And I lost my mind at the table and I got beat with a, a Royal flush compared to my straight flush. And I had a few choice words for a, for some individuals, at that table, one of them being that his last couple movies were for lack of a better word horrendous, but I use the colorful metaphor to go along with it. Let's play some favorites for a moment. What are your favorite things to do in the Waterbury area? Oh, that's a loaded question, my friend. Eat, I love the, whether it's D'Amelio's or Diorio's or Frankie's hot dogs. I love a good Frankie's hot dog. I love sushi. You know, one of the greatest things about the Waterbury is, you're never going to have a bad meal and more importantly, you're never going to have a bad pizza. It was always good pizzas whether it was Dominic and Pia. Pia has known me. since I was born, she used to teach my mother Italian, as a tutor, when my mother was in, I was in high school at we'll be back in the day. And, I, I probably got standing reservations, open reservations at a bunch of different restaurants, but I love it. It's well worth it. It's the greatest hobby in the world. Here's a question that hasn't been asked. But you're the perfect guy to ask because it's very, very loaded. Favorite businesses in the Waterbury region? It is loaded. well Anthony's Barber and Style Shop 500 bank street. My dad's barbershop. you know, it's, it's, it's hard because there's, there's a, there's a lot of great restaurants and, I don't know if you would consider hospitals and some of the education places as businesses, but I view them as staples, you know, as that make the community. And I view them as pillars in the community. I mean, I can, I can rattle a ton off. I love going to the palace theater. I love going to the museum. If you want a, a thriving community. Okay. And if you're a business owner or, or you want to bring a business here, I think you need the well-rounded aspect of what Waterbury brings. Okay. You can, you can have inner city living, you can have suburb living. you have two very, very good municipal golf courses. You have a country club, right? you have, high end restaurants. You have restaurants that are fast food and quick take and so forth. you have entertainment with, the palace and you have entertainment with seven angels theater, if you like community theater and you're still a Stone's throw away. If you want to go up route 8 and you want to go to some of the, call it entertainment centers that are up there, or even down to New Haven. If you prefer the other end of the spectrum or even Hartford. So you're, you're situated perfectly here and like I said, you don't have to live in Waterbury. And you know, when we first started talking, I don't make. Business decisions on sentimental value. No way. I don't care how much I love it. I wouldn't do it. If it didn't make economic sense, I'm not going to risk my entity at the end of the day, by just saying, I want to put something in Waterbury. It's not about that. That would be arrogant. I'm not going to do that. I think I have an opportunity um here with Drew Marine personally, to accomplish something that I want to do again. I really am blessed with the people I work with. and I don't say they work for me. They, they work with me because this, this is a team effort. I'm really blessed to be able to, you know, walk around and know my way around Waterbury and have the memories of growing up here where, you know, that's where this used to be. And that's where this used to be. And this is this now. I think it is, No, I noticed it was a hot topic in a lot of ways, but I think we have a great police force. I think, I think they have a great fire department here. I think there's a lot of stuff that people take for granted that you have in Waterbury and the greater Waterbury area. Cause you don't have it anywhere else, you know, and as crazy as it sounds redoing that highway, that was huge because now it's easy access and easy access out it's perfect for businesses. It's perfect for day trips. It's perfect. If you want to get in or you want to get out and there's, there's several different sections. One of the things that I love is whether it's Bucks Hill, Bunker Hill, North end, South end, East end, you know, the town plot, you know, growing up, you had everybody had their, their ethnic, you know, areas and so forth, but now it's one big, melting pot. I think that's great. I do. Happy to be here. Waterbury has been called the center of the universe. What does that mean? It's my Mecca. you can take it different ways. What it means to me. I think how Waterbury goes, the surrounding area is going to go. I just. No disrespect to anyone. I believe that because everything is an offshoot or is tied to Waterbury in one way, shape or form, whether it's their water supply or whether it's sewage treatment or whether it's just pure economic development, we're all, we're all tied together and to have, competition. I don't think, I don't think that's needed. You know, people call me nuts, you know, you're putting a manufacturing facility in the state of Connecticut. Oh, you should get this. You should get that. Put a gun to their head, tell them you want these incentives there, you're not going to come there. That's it. It's not about, it's not about just the incentives. It's about having the drive and having, people who share in your vision of where you want to go and what you want that next level to be. Last question. So you're so involved in the fabric of, of Waterbury now and for decades. Give me the pitch. If I'm looking to bring my family or my business to this area. Come spend the day with me. That's my pitch. Because for me to just talk about it, doesn't give it justice. You have to see it firsthand. You have to see what we have to offer. You have to see the easy and the easy out you have to see the good, but you also have to see the bad because if I'm only going to show you the good, I'm only going to talk about the good I'm lying to you. And we can't have that. You have to know what you're getting into. what I think is important and, I think it's, I think it's critical is. Business will come to business and I've always believed in this ambassador program for years, you can't have an economic development department of one, and you can't have just the chamber of commerce and, or a development Corp. That's not all intertwined in one way, shape or form. So there's gotta be. Some kind of funding and there's gotta be some kind of workforce and there's gotta be some kind of investment that's going to be made. And for me to just try to explain it, doesn't do it justice. I, I believe in giving you a package to get you interested, but come spend the day with me. Let me take you around. Let me show you, where I grew up. Let me show you through my eyes. What I, what I've seen. And what I see happening as the future. Have a slice of pizza with me, have a hotdog with me, have some, of Joey D'Amelio's cheese wheel, you know. Have a steak with me or a pork chop with me, down at Diorios. Come play a round of golf at the country club. Just drive around, see what we have to offer. Then make your decision. Because by just telling you, would never do it justice. That's great. That's my take. Thank you so much for the time, Frank. Thank you, my friend.