So tell us about Hubbard Hall, the company in which you serve as President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors. And I think CFO also! I've gotten more titles than I I should have right now. So we are 107 year old company based here in Waterbury, started as Apothecary's Hall. So a little drugstore in downtown Waterbury. We sold fertilizers and paints and headache powders. And as the Connecticut economy changed in Waterbury. Economy change, brass capital of the world. We morphed from fertilizers, industrial chemicals and that's, and that's where we stayed today. So still headquartered here manufacturer probably 60% of our products here. Um, yeah. It's our home, When did you become the chief executive? Five years ago. So I'm sixth generation in the business. Um, my, I remember working with my grandfather. He worked here literally until the day he died. Um, worked very closely with my father. My cousin, Andrew was a interim CEO between the generations, but I took over as CEO. Um, Five years ago and chairman just in the fall. And it was one of these transitions is my father was, um, getting older and sicker and frailer. He said, okay, you should be chairman now. Which one would think that's the pinnacle. And to me it was, Oh, gosh. Yeah. That's oh, that was, that was really hard moment because it was him finally saying I'm kind of done here, and just had enough. Yeah. So with all those titles and all those responsibilities, what do you see yourself as having in terms of a main responsibility? I think it's the livelihood of people here. Um, and, and I remember the day that I pulled in here, the, my first day as CEO and I was thinking about my secret fridge and maybe I'll get an iced coffee maker and all these sort of things that were, I thought were part of being a CEO. And I pulled in the parking lot and I was like, holy - holy cow. I am now responsible for all these people and not just for, um, giving them a paycheck, but, I believe it's my responsibility to build a company that makes them better and, and, you know, work as holistic these days. It's not just about coming here eight to five, but this has gotta be a place if you work here that you're better for working here than somewhere else. You're learning all the time. Um, I was, I spent my first year with my thumb firmly press on a scale of culture, you know, what does it mean to, how do we communicate with one another? Um, so I think it's all about my responsibility to the people here. And it's, it's a big responsibility um, and that's, uh, something I take pretty seriously. You already mentioned both your father and your cousin ran the business for years. What was their influence on you or what were their imparting comments to you as you took over that role? With my cousin, Andrew, it was, um, he mentored me a lot and I think his ending, uh, precept was start with why, like really seek first understand, right. That, that, uh, Stephen Covey thing under, before you leap in and make a decision, understand, make sure you got people talking. So a lot about, um, Uh, understanding how your people are interacting. And with my father, it was much more the basics of the business, the ABCs, and I, and I think at the lessons that he gave me at times, I wasn't ready to hear them and understand them. And probably 10 years ago, I'd be saying, why do we have all this cash on our balance sheet? We should take on debt. We should do this and that we hit this pandemic. I say that my father had built a really good, strong business and he built a solid business that then afforded me the opportunity to say, okay, we're going to talk about culture. We're gonna talk about strategy. We're gonna invest in marketing. So we had a really stable company that can then build on. But he was known as does Andrew I mean, we start with integrity. Um, so your word is everything you're honest. And if you have to ask yourself, it's the right thing to do, you know, it's probably not. Um, so you lean in on that. And I think that's the reputation of the company, which I'm really, really proud of. Um, and then we were talking about United way earlier, give back to your community and man they, my grandmother was one of the founding members of, um, I guess the predecessor agency at United way. And so it's all about giving back. So, um, Yeah, I learned a lot. You mentioned culture was one thing that you put your thumbprint on when you started as CEO. You're in the role now, how are you looking at the company? Are you trying to embark on new ideas? Are you trying to keep a status quo? And for that matter, if it's culture, what does that mean? We're looking at culture of a company. What does that actually mean? That's a lot of questions. I might, I lose track of that. I mean, culture, I think is how do we, how do we interact and how do, how do we behave? And my belief is that for us to be the best company that we can be, we have to be a high trust organization. And so. The culture should be one of, we have our behavior pyramid. So be candid, be curious, be courageous. So start with those, uh, behaviors. And that will build trust when things go sideways, right. Or when you've got conflict so we can get through things quickly. And then, and then off we go. So I think that having an extremely strong culture, I mean, we've been voted, it's a little bit gimmicky, but you know, top place to work in Connecticut four years in a row, just cause we, people, I think felt all of a sudden empowered to speak and that we are a good place to work. Um, so that helped us going to the pandemic cause we transitioned, right? It's like, uh, you gotta have a strong marriage if you're going to be far apart. So that, um, has helped us transition really seamlessly. I, I worry long term. What happens if we're not all together? I would, I go back to my sort of marriage model, right? You can't be apart forever and have a good marriage. So figuring out, particularly if we want to collaborate and build something bigger, um, we got to figure out ways to come back together. Um, but where do I want to go with the business? I think, um, I mean, I want to grow it. I want to, my goal is to get it onto the next generation. So generation number seven, and that means I sometimes take a very conservative approach. I'm not going to burn through our cash or take great risks. It means that I'm thoughtful about the type of business we're building and the impact we have in our community. So we can save sustainability, which is, kind of another gross word, but I have responsibility to dealing with chemicals, um, handle those very safely. I have responsibility to give back to the community and I want to build a business that my children, hopefully one of them is proud to take over. Um, so we need to expand to do that. We're looking at acquisitions. We're looking at reinvesting here in Waterbury. We're looking at investing in South Carolina. Well, we'll always be here Within part of your plan, it seems about a third of your entire workforce is in tech support and sales. What's the strategy there? I roll it back up. I think, um, we add value to our customers and we can go into their plants and give them technical advice and technical expertise. So, um, If we looked over the last five years, we've actually had fewer salespeople and more technical people. So we're adding chemical engineers. We're adding tech support staff, which were highly training on that. So that where the resource you don't, you need to figure out your wastewater treatment issue, call Hubbard hall. We'll be there tomorrow. We're going to be there faster than anybody. We understand entire process and we'll fix it for you. Um, and along the way. So I'll say this on camera. I hadn't thought about it, but if I think about building a longterm business and what I think it means is ultimately I want to be the chemical company that sells less chemicals or sells our customers fewer chemicals. How do we, um, help our customers use less chemistry, right? It's it's the right thing to do. It's not a value add for them necessarily. Um, so we look at product development that may help that. We've got a brand new product we've launched this year, that takes one of our biggest product lines and potentially cuts its usage by 30 to 60%. It's all scary. So that's an interesting comment to make the company's been through Wars through recessions, through pandemics, through outbreaks. If you reduce your chemistry companies, reducing chemistry, what's the long term view for Hubbard Hall? Well, we find different ways to help our customers make what they need to make. Right? So we're heavily into manufacturing. You know, we've got a little metal piece and that's what our customers want to make. So we'll help them do it in a different way. And maybe we will, um, make more of our revenue on, I don't want to say consulting, but that expertise play is something that could be different. Um, we could find new markets, I think about additive manufacturing and where we're going to play there. So. That the pool is limitless. I'm not worried about running out of market or things to sell, but I do think, um, it's our job to help our customers be more efficient every year. And it's very self serving, right? If my customer makes more money, then that customer can hire more people, can reinvest in his or her business. So that's what we need to do. And so with what you have now, in terms of your labor and your workforce, what you're anticipating needing in the future. What are the qualities that you have here or looking for to further bolster the Hubbard Hall culture? The culture. Um, we need more than anything we need. I'd go back to our founding behavior. We need people who are curious. We need people who no matter their experience or their degree, that they've got an initiative. We present a problem, and they're curious enough to go find the solution. They're courageous enough to go try it, fail and come back. We have a young woman, she's a ChemE out of UCONN. She came to me a year ago and said with our wastewater treatment product, how about we give a dollar for every gallon of chemistry we sell and donate it to LifeStraw? You know what LifeStraw right? So it's providing clean drinking water in Africa. And I did the math on that. I said, no, I don't think so. She went away and she came back three months later and said, here's how here's a different proposal. And I was like, sure, we'll do that. So it changed the scope a little bit. She'd outlined it. So it's that sort of curiosity that drive to that resilience go back view. If you fail, solve the problem again and, and keep moving forward. And that's really hard to interview for. I mean, my goodness. Yeah, it's not a, it's impossible. So let's switch gears. Let's talk a little bit about your upbringing. You're born in Waterbury and you grew up in Watertown. What was your childhood like? Huh? What was my childhood like?? My childhood was great. I mean, I, um, lived right on the green. You talked about the green in Guilford, so it could walk out the door and at the risk of making it sound like leave it to Beaver. It was a neighborhood where all the kids would come out and play on the green. We play pickup football, baseball, ride the bikes. A really wonderful community, um, where I grew up and, um, yeah. And I don't know how to describe it beyond that. I was given everything I needed. Right. I went to public school at the beginning and I went to Saint Margaret's and then on to Taft. Um, but I found I had a great upbringing What were your recollections of your youth time spent in Waterbury? I think of my time in Waterbury. Um, well, some stuff I probably shouldn't talk about, but in my. When I was a little bit older, one of my first in-depth connections with Waterbury came with working with my father. And this was when I was probably in high school and through college, he was a big runner and he started the Waterbury track club at the YMCA. And so he'd go out every lunch hour and go to the Y and I'd go along with him and it was so fun to see. And even now you look at these fancy sports clubs, the Y was where everybody in Waterbury, wanted to exercise. CEO's, everybody was there in the locker room. Um, and so we'd go run around Waterbury. We'd go to the Tower Grille afterwards and get back, uh, probably two hours later. So I don't take a two hour lunch anymore, but, um, I got to know everybody in Waterbury that way. Tell me about your siblings. So I have a older sister she's she works in the hotel business. She's in Boston. You met my brother Charlie whose development developmentally disabled, and has worked for Hubbard Hall as long as I have. Um, and he, uh, he files and shreds and, uh, so he's, he's the only other sibling I've got in the business and then a brother younger than him who's also in Boston. So, but I'm the only one in my generation from an ownership point of view or a leadership point of view. And that's, if you look at the one reason, the business has succeeded for better, for worse. Um, it's been one person in every generation, in my grandfather's generation, he lost a brother to the Spanish flu. So you think about the pandemic, um. You also spent some time at chase school? Yes. Waterbury? Was that a good experience? It was great. It was great. I went there in sixth grade and, uh, it was one of my first exposures also to if I'd call it women's live. So it was probably in the seventies. And at that time, girls had to wear green blazers and boys who were blue and you had to wear a skirt and my mother was going through her. Um, self-awareness, uh, Journey that point. It's like, no, you should go tell them you want to wear a blue blazer. So I went and told them I was gonna wear a blue blazer and I wear blue blazer. And, um, so it was great loved it, um, learned a lot, taught me the value of hard work and a great place. And I think I, you know, you're asking about my accomplishments, so I really can't think of, but I think I might've peaked in eighth grade. I'm going through those old pictures. Like I got a bunch of academic prizes and the headmaster's prize and ever since then has been downhill. I've had quite as much success. Well, that said you kept on going. I kept on going off the Taft School in Watertown. Any recollection of those experiences? Yeah, Taft was interesting. I was a day student there, affectionately known as the day bat, um, and different, harder to integrate when you're a day student or a day bat. Uh, but living so close to the school, I could, I could walk there and, um, Great place. Um, talk about a great education. Got me, my love of ice hockey, um, sort of by accident. Um, and I still go back to Taft every Tuesday night. There's a faculty alumni sort of townie pickup game, um, called the senile six. So during the winter I'm, I'm out there skating, still with one of the guys who was my teachers at Taft. So. It's kind of amazing. And then some kids I used to babysit for. So I've got the whole range of people. Where'd you go to college? What was your intended career path when you did? It was probably advertising. I loved advertising and marketing. And so I went to Princeton and where my father had gone and both my grandfathers. So naturally I did not want to go there because that's where I was supposed to go. But majored in comparative literature, played hockey through Princeton, which was a fantastic experience, but I've love writing. I love language and it was always sort of communication and advertising that interested me. Um, and then. But who knows what they want to do at 21. Came out of Princeton, my roommate in college was Andrea Dukakis and it happened to be the year, I don't know how young you are old, you are, but, you know, there were seven candidates for the democratic nomination and they all blew up and there was Mike Dukakis who got the nomination. Um, you know, a guy had seen in his boxer shorts, making pancakes in Brookline and all of a sudden there he is in the motorcades and the secret service, but I, um, I didn't have anything else to do. So I jumped into politics and advance and that, um, so did that. The Dukakis campaign had a lot of losing campaigns, some local campaigns in California then, um, worked on the Clinton campaign in 92. And as my father said, I got the guy elected and then I left the country. So 92, I went to business school over in France. Um, and could have at that point, you know, you don't know when you're the paths diverge. I could have gone to Washington. I could have worked in the White House but, um, was just ready for something else. When did you meet your husband? So I traveled the world, lived all over the place and I ended up marrying the boy next door. And he's from Middlebury. Um, John Francis, they own Quassy Amusement Park. His mother was actually my nursery school teacher and she, um, claims to have sort of whispered in my ear as a young woman, that I had to marry her, marry her son, but he's a, there's a 10 year age difference. So I didn't really know him. Uh, when I moved to Boston, he was there. I called up anybody I knew. And so I ended up marrying him, yeah. So after working on those presidential campaigns, you felt the draw to come to the family business? No, I, that was a long, long process. Um, I wanted to go to business school. So I went to the school in France called NCI the one year MBA program. Um, and my father really encouraged me to go to business school. He also was a gas that a business school, they didn't teach you how to play golf. Cause he thought that that was a really necessary skill, but finished that. And then didn't know what I wanted to do. I was trying to stay in Europe. Do I want to come back and be in Waterbury. Do I want to come back in and run the business? I spent a year thinking about that as my friends went to work for Morgan Stanley and McKinsey, I've guided bike trips for a year in France, and then had the opportunity to come back into the business when we made an acquisition. Um, and so that was up in Boston, but I've been working here in Waterbury for 25 years and couldn't be any happier. I never, if you'd asked me when I was 16, it was I going to be working in the business? Was I going to be invested in Waterbury? Was I going to be caring about what happened to the community? Absolutely not, but, um, I think a lot about that these days today. So what was your role when you start at Hubbard Hall? Well, I worked, I was, Oh gosh, communications manager. I had all sorts of different titles in and out. Um, but I eventually ended up running the branch up in Wilmington. So assistant general manager, general manager, I was an accidental sales person. Um, this line of products that no one else knew how to sell. So I just figured out how to do that. Um, then worked into always pretty involved in the marketing side, you know, all the titles, vice-president, EVP, CEO. Was there a moment when you thought I have some ideas that could lead this business? Yeah. And that was, I think one of the, it's one of the challenges of the family business. I've, I've, I've got different ideas and different thoughts about how to grow the business. For example, Um, our businesses, traditional commodity business. We also have a specialty business. I think that's our future, right? That's where we need to invest. That's where we need to hire ChemE's, 10 years ago, we didn't have any. So being able to execute on that vision has been great. I would think, I think being a CEO is, is the most creative job in the world. And so I tell my kids, it doesn't sound like it is, but you get to think, you know, have ideas. I wouldn't call it vision. Cause it's not that, that highfalutin and then go do it. And it's so fun. Let's call a spade, a spade here. Did you have to work a bit harder around your colleagues? Because now you're a young person in the family business? I think so. Um, I think so. Yeah. So I, I'm a highly competitive person, you know, play a lot of ice hockey without really wanting to go into the corners and, um, make a point. Um, yeah. And I always feel the need to, to work really hard. Even now it's important coming down here during the pandemic, for example, do I need to be here? No, but I can't ask my people to come in and if I'm not going to be here. Um, so I think that just, that's just how I'm wired and different being a woman in the business too. It's a very male dominated, um, business. It did never bother me too much. I never woke up thinking, Oh, I've got to have a statement here. I've gotta be different. Um, but I just sort of forget what you want to do. Then move forward. Has that climb up the company ladder impacted your business philosophy now? Um, I don't know about that. I think, uh, the way it's impacted my business philosophy is that the notion that there, uh, great ideas everywhere in the company, and we should be anti-hierarchical, we should be reaching out to our ChemE who just came here and she could have a great idea that could change the business. So, um, you know, when young people come in or new people are passionate and all sorts of ideas, so how do we, how do we get those ideas? Um, Flushed out quicker and decide what we're going to more quickly. And um, decide what we're going to act on. I've read that you've also described your process as own your mistakes, and then you can own your successes. It's a great phrase, but what does that really mean? Um, well, I, it goes back to. How you operate as a person, right? If I make a mistake, um, and I'm not honest about it, or if I'm not forthright about it, if I don't actually talk about it, then I think my integrity comes into question and people aren't going to trust me. Um, So make the mistakes, talk about them, fail quickly, and then, then you can build your own path forward. So I made, I made plenty in my role and particularly being up in Massachusetts gave me opportunity to, to really fail and make my own mistakes. But then I had the confidence to, to grow from that. Talk about your philosophy particular to giving back to the community. The giving back the community. As I said, it was really, um, a lesson taught to me by my father and my grandparents and their heavy involvement back in the community. It's just, that's just what you do. And then I also think about, um, our Hubbard Hall. Why do we exist? So some people may call this vision, or I don't know what, but I, I believe we exist in, this is my little one page sheet to expand possibilities. So that means for the people that work here, they've got to, again, be better, um, than they were before they came and all our stakeholders in community. So we have, um, resources, we have privilege, we have ways that we can give back. Um, and it's absolutely our responsibility to do that. Who are some of your heroes? Oh, I don't know, I'm. That's a tough question. I would, I think I mentioned a Ophelia Dahl, who is the co-founder of Partners in Health. And what I admire about her is, and what they created is brand new idea of born a passion. And then they've built a sustainable NGO, sustainable model. That's going to last beyond the founders and it's very, um, know ethically based. It's very thoughtful. Um, but. She and her founders have been able to build something meaningful that will survive once they're not there. And I think a lot of times you see this culture of ego and it's all about building the brand of, you know, on Elon Musk. Right. And what happens when he's gone? I think you got to build something that, that, um, can last when you're not there. And that's a lesson I got in politics that really stayed with me. So advance. I don't know if it was Clinton or Dukakis worked for guys. Old time, political guy like drank, smokes, sweared, made pass at all the girls and everything, but he said on game day. So that's the day the candidates going to be there. He spent seven days getting ready. You've got to act as if you're not going to be there. Right. So build your team, have them know what you intend to do. Have them know everything so that you're completely superfluous. And that was very impactful to me. So if I'm doing my job in the corner office there in my little seat, if I don't show up, people know what to do, they know how we're going to do things. They know military, they call it commanders intent, how we're going to act. Um, so they, they should be able to be just fine without me. What is it about hockey for you? Oh, where do we start? I first stepped on the ice. I fell flat on my face because I was a failed figure skater and didn't know the difference between hockey skates and um and uh figure skates.I dont know, it's fun, it's fast. It was a relatively new sport for women. So it was different. I've always liked looking for things that were not, uh, particularly mainstream. Um, it, more than anything because I was really pretty bad when I started, um, I had to work harder at that almost in anything else in my life. And ended up being captain my senior year at Princeton. Um, and not, and sorry, cause I was the best player on the team, but I just loved, it. Went to every extra practice, just loved it. And it's also a sport that you can play for your whole life. And I play my bags in my car really smells bad. Um, but just love it. Is there any application to being on the ice versus running a company? Well, what I, one of the transitions I've thought about. So I coached, um, I coached my girls when they were growing up. And at some point you go from the ice, are you playing in it to being on the bench? And so then when you're a coach, you've got to look at things. You can't be on the ice. Right? And you gotta be looking at things strategically got to come up with a plan. You got to hope they're going to execute it. And then you adjust accordingly. And that's a complete parallel for being a CEO. You've got a great plan. Everyone has to go out and execute, and then you adjust as you go, as you go along and, you know, the game plan you start with is completely different by the end of the game. And same thing for us, we set our strategy at the beginning of the year and, you know, six months later it could be irrelevant or time it's time to change it. So I learned a lot from that. So is it true that you only read fiction books? Pretty much. I'm living nonfiction. That's how I look at it. So yeah. Read tons of fiction. Um, I was a comparative literature major. So dove into the big books and love to read the new Yorker and listen to the news on, on my way down. So I, uh, in the few few hours I have to myself, it's all fiction now. Favorite movies? And I have to tell you. I know one of them is the Godfather we've interviewed every, just about every person we've interviewed has mentioned either the Godfather, the Godfather part two. Um, but then you're on the other end of the spectrum with the Incredibles and Shrek. Where, where are we in the, in that fandom? You mean there, there's not That's a curiosity. Yeah. I think that, you know, the godfather movies they're so beautifully made and compelling, no matter how many times you've seen them. Um, and then I love the whimsy and humor of um, Shrek and the Incredibles, you know, there's the, there's the story that we think we're hearing or the children think they're hearing. And there's the one that goes underneath that. So I definitely have a, um, I think a sly sense of humor and appreciate that. It makes me, it makes me giggle. Um, the godfather may make me cry or feel bad, but I like, uh, I like the movies to make me laugh and are in a, in a subtle way, but I'm a big Mel Brooks fan too. So I could go un-subtle if you want. You mentioned a little bit earlier that you gained some notoriety, let's say about asking the governor of Connecticut, why you should expand your business here in Connecticut. What's been the outgrowth of that? Is there any movement on a very important topic? Yeah, it did generate, yes. I've been able to talk to people in state government. Um, so we need. We need help making Connecticut competitive. And you know, we've talked about Waterbury. It's great to see some manufacturing coming back into Waterbury. I think about King industries, I think about, um, Neil being so pro-business and doing everything he can to make Waterbury a place where people want to come and build their business. There's long, been an expertise in the specialized manufacturing in the Waterbury region. Do you see that continuing? Yeah. And I think we should double down on it. Let's figure out how to bring additive manufacturing. Let's think about robotics. Let's think about even AI. So it's not necessarily manufacturing, but um, more high tech approaches cause that'll help drive manufacturing. If it's not incentives and tax breaks that make it attractive to be here. What else is it? Well, it's everything that, that Waterbury and the surrounding areas have to offer. Right? So you've got a downtown that's been completely transformed. And, and the culture is so important. So I live in Boston, the got great culture here, there, and then you come to the Mattatuck Museum, the work that they're doing there to not only build a better museum, but make it more accessible to the community, I think is really important. And when they came and asked for money, it's like a museum like, Oh, is that where, where we should be investing? But their vision is to make it accessible to the young people in Waterbury can walk off the street. All of a sudden you've got glass windows and make it something that, uh, teaches anybody. And, you know, you have the Palace Theater, so there's all these great cultural institutions. And then you've got the surrounding areas that are just beautiful. I mean, the, I was driving through Middlebury last night and the rolling Hills and the Lake it's it's you said Norman Rockwell. It's just stunningly beautiful, um, yeah. Are there any partnerships that Hubbard Hall has either in thought or in construction, uh, related to job training with other organizations in Waterbury? No! And it's, it's something I've been, no, we don't. Um, but we need to figure out, I think, how to get involved so that as we're looking to hire higher skilled people, whether it's the chemist, whether it's people who can help us with analytics and telling us how do we find, um, and work with the community here to get, to get our people. So what do you see happening in the Waterbury region overall? Is it making strides? Oh, absolutely. I mean the Waterbury even five years ago, and I pulled into the parking lot that day, the Waterbury today is, is very different. And unlike a lot of other traditional industrial cities, we're moving forward. Um, and we've got city government that's committed to that. We've got institutions that support it, we've got business leaders that are incredibly invested in their community. Um, so. I see nothing but up from Waterbury, if we keep moving this way and it's not going to be easy. Um, but I think it's really exciting and it makes me think back to the question Ned Lamont, why should I invest, um, back in Waterbury? Well, I think Waterbury is going to be continue to grow and, um, given even given its location, strategic distribution location, um. So I see for us longterm, it being a great place to keep doing business. With all that being said, we're at the 4th of July picnic and you've got a moment to pitch me on Waterbury, either moving my family and, or my business to the area. What is that pitch? Well, I think if you want to move to a, from a business point of view, you want to move to a community where you can engage with accomplished, thoughtful, passionate executives. Waterbury has got all of them and for a small city, it's remarkable. The diversity of experience people have, the level of accomplishment people have. So from a business point of view, I can now reach out to. I don't know, 30 different CEOs that I've been able to meet and they are all willing to talk to me. They're willing to help. Um, and they bring a perspective that I might not get elsewhere. Um, and then from quality of life, point of view, as I said, you go, go drive the hills around here. Um, look at the lakes. When I drive from my parents' house in Watertown to here, I see the sunrise coming up over Waterbury every morning and it's spectacular. It's spectacular as a woman who works here too, and will say, Oh, did you see the sunrise? And it comes right over Waterbury right there. Um, then it makes me happy to be here.