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Steve Loff, “Looking Back on the Featherweight”, Nov 12, 2024

The Making of The Featherweight: The Willie Pep Movie
Steve Loff, writer and producer, will discuss the long road to making The Featherweight, the feature film based on the true story of Hartford legend and boxing great, Willie Pep. The movie was filmed in Hartford in November 2021 and premiered at the 80th Venice International Film Festival in September 2023. It is set for a wide digital release in early 2025.
 
The Featherweight
Set in 1964, a camera crew follows Willie Pep, retired featherweight boxing champion. Down and out in Hartford CT, married to a woman half his age and with a drug-addled son and mounting debts, Pep decides to make a return to the ring.

Steve is a film & TV industry veteran who has worked in all facets of physical production. He has managed and line produced a number of independent film and TV projects over the last 20+ years. His producing work for Al Gore’s Current TV gained him a 2008 Silver Telly Award. He was the lead production accountant for Season 2 of HBO’s The Gilded Age. He has worked as an accountant for a bevy of studios, including NetflixA24, and Apple TV+.

Steve’s first feature script, Lester, placed top 10% at the 2008 Austin Film Festival Screenwriting Competition. His writing/directing debut Desert Rain premiered at the 2011 Cinequest Film Festival. The film was nominated for Best New Filmmaker and won Audience Choice Best Feature at the 2011 Staten Island Film Festival.

Steve wrote and produced the critically acclaimed The Featherweight, which premiered at the prestigious Venice International Film Festival in 2023 and is set for a theatrical release in September of 2024.

 

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Darren Hobbs, CT Dept of Administrative Services, Nov 5, 2024

    • Leading the regulatory, construction management, facilities, property, legal and fleet operations teams of the Real Estate and Construction Services Division in the Department of Administrative Services

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    Hobbs Old Guard West Hartford

Dr. Jenna Bartley PhD., UConn Health, “Nutrition, Exercise & Muscle Quality with Aging”,Oct-29-2024

Dr. Bartley studies translational research into human aging with a focus on how immune responses and physical function decline as we get older. Her multidisciplinary research aims to uncover common pathways among the aging process and to develop potential interventions to prevent age-related declines in immune responses and help older adults maintain their independence into late life.

 

Dr. Bartley has as BS in Kinesiology, a MS in Exercise Science and a Ph.D. in Exercise Science all from U Conn.  She has numerous publications and is a sought out speaker.

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Dr. Mike Magee, Medical Historian, Oct-22-2024

Medical Historian, Presidents College, University of Hartford
President, Positive Medicine Inc.
Executive Director and Co-Founder, Rocking Chair Project
Editor, Health Commentary (www.healthcommentary.org)

EMPLOYMENT
Medical Historian, Presidents College, University of Hartford (2019-present)
President, Positive Medicine Inc. (2007 – present)
Vice President, Global Medical and Scientific Affairs, Pfizer Inc. (1997 – 2007)
Director, Pfizer Medical Humanities Initiative, Pfizer Inc. (1997 – 2007)
Senior Vice President, Pennsylvania Hospital, Philadelphia, PA (1991 – 1997)
Affiliate Liaison to the Dean, Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, PA (1993 -1997)
Vice President, Baystate Medical Center, Springfield, MA (1986 – 1991)
Medical Editor, WWLP-NBC Channel 22, Springfield, MA (1987 – 1991)
Surgeon, Urology, Franklin Medical Center, Greenfield, MA (1978 – 1986)

 

Dr. Magee has published a book – Code Blue.

“Code Blue” is the phrase customarily announced over hospital public address systems to alert staff to an urgent medical emergency requiring immediate attention. How has the United States, with more resources than any nation, developed a healthcare system that delivers much poorer results, at near double the cost of any other developed country–such that legendary seer Warren Buffett calls the Medical Industrial Complex “the tapeworm of American economic competitiveness”? Mike Magee, M.D., who worked for years inside the Medical Industrial Complex administering a hospital and then as a senior executive at the giant pharmaceutical company Pfizer, has spent the last decade deconstructing the complex, often shocking rise of, and connectivity between, the pillars of our health system–Big Pharma, insurance companies, hospitals, the American Medical Association, and anyone affiliated with them. With an eye first and foremost on the bottom line rather than on the nation’s health, each sector has for decades embraced cure over care, aiming to conquer disease rather than concentrate on the cultural and social factors that determine health. This decision Magee calls the “original sin” of our health system.

Code Blue is a riveting, character-driven narrative that draws back the curtain on the giant industry that consumes one out of every five American dollars. Making clear for the first time the mechanisms, greed, and collusion by which our medical system was built over the last eight decades–and arguing persuasively and urgently for the necessity of a single-payer, multi-plan insurance arena of the kind enjoyed by every other major developed nation–Mike Magee gives us invaluable perspective and inspiration by which we can, indeed, reshape the future.

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Josiah Brown, CASA, Oct-15-2024

Josiah H. Brown is a nonprofit professional with experience in university administration, public schools, philanthropy, government, and community partnership. He is (effective July 1, 2021) executive director of Connecticut CASA–after having in 2019 launched CASA of Southern Connecticut, part of the national CASA network for children facing abuse and/or neglect and in need of court-appointed special advocates. Before, he was the first associate director of the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute. He worked with New Leaders for a summer during its start-up, responsible for researching prospective partner cities. Previously, he was chief of staff to the president of the New School (then Jonathan F. Fanton). In earlier roles, Brown was an aide to U.S. Representative Rosa DeLauro and to the director of a foundation-sponsored center at Columbia University. He worked for UConn Upward Bound and ConnPIRG and has volunteered with various urban youth organizations and public schools–including as a member of the New Haven Public Schools’ Community Engagement Team.

As a volunteer, he is a former president of Domestic Violence Services of Greater New Haven. He is a founding board member of, and now chairs, the Literacy Coalition of Greater New Haven. He coaches youth basketball during winter. At Yale, since 2008 he has been an associate fellow of Saybrook College and adviser to students there. He is an occasional contributor to the Good Men Project, New Haven Independent, and Times of India, and to a blog at www.josiahbrown.org.

He has a B.A. with distinction in history, magna cum laude, from Yale and a master’s in public policy from Harvard.

He and his wife, Sahar Usmani-Brown, live in New Haven with their two children.

 

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Bryan Cafferelli, CT Dept of Consumer Protection, Oct 8,2024

Bryan T. Cafferelli was appointed Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection (DCP) in March 2023. From January 2019 to his appointment as commissioner, Mr. Cafferelli served as legal counsel of the Connecticut Senate Republican Office where he was responsible for providing counsel to senators and caucus staff with legal and legislative matters, including drafting processes, procedures, and policy.

Previously, he served as a drug control attorney for DCP from April of 2017 to January of 2019. In this position, he was responsible for managing the agency’s prescription drug enforcement cases, including all aspects of administrative action, rulemaking processes, and statutory and regulatory development. He has also previously worked as special deputy assistant state’s attorney for the Office of the State’s Attorney in the Judicial District of Stamford, and as chief of staff and legal counsel for former Lt. Governor Michael Fedele.

Cafferelli earned a Bachelor of Arts in political science from the University of South Carolina and a Juris Doctor from the University of Connecticut School of Law.

 

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Kristin Sullivan, Dir. Elections, CT Secretary of State, “Safety and Security of CT’s Voting Systems, Oct-1-2024

Kristin Sullivan is an election law expert who joined the Office of the Secretary of the State in July 2023 as Connecticut’s Director of Elections. With a public policy career that spans more than 20 years and includes time in both the public and nonprofit sectors, she has worked with a diverse group of legislators, election officials, advocates, and nonprofit leaders.  As Director of Elections, she works with the Secretary of the State and local election officials across the state’s 169 municipalities to ensure secure, fair, and accessible elections for all Connecticut voters.
 
Prior to joining the Secretary of the State’s Office, Kristin served as Research Director at the Center for Election Innovation & Research. While at CEIR, she collaborated with a broad coalition of stakeholders—including advocates, academia, state and local officials, and the media—to drive evidence-based policy aimed at restoring trust in elections and promoting innovative solutions around voter engagement and election integrity.  Previously, Kristin was Chief Legislative Analyst at the Connecticut General Assembly’s Office of Legislative Research focusing primarily on federal, state, and local election administration, voting rights, and campaign finance laws. She guided a diverse team in providing comprehensive support to the legislature across multiple disciplines through in-depth policy research and legislative analysis.


Kristin holds a Master of Public Administration from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and a Bachelor of Science in Education from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. As Director of Elections for Connecticut, she is a member of the National Association of State Election Directors (NASED) and a board member of the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC).  

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Stephine Abrams, President and CEO, New England Air Museum, Sep 24,2024

Stephanie oversees all operations at the New
staff and over 150 volunteers in providing an exceptional experience to all visitors. Throughout my career, Stephanie has played a key role in developing new and powerful ways of attracting audiences and building brand value for non-profits, entertainment venues, and major content companies through digital marketing campaigns, creative content, and leveraging new technologies, including augmented reality.

Stephanie’s career has long been at the intersection of digital communications and the aerospace industry. I have created countless marketing, training, and technical materials for the aerospace industry including companies such as Pratt & Whitney, Sikorsky, Engine Alliance, Barnes Aerospace, among others. The opportunity to transform our somewhat hidden gem into the world-class
destination it deserves to be makes this a dream job!

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Jeff Mainville, Executive Director: Noah Webster House, Sep 17,2024

The new executive director of the Noah Webster House and West Hartford Historical Society brings with him a variety of experiences in Connecticut museums and cultural institutions.

With career stops at the Mark Twain House, the Old New-Gate Prison Museum, the Hartford Public Library and the New Britain Museum of American Art, Jeffrey Mainville is ready to bring his expertise of over 20 years to West Hartford.

“I’m proud of all the places I’ve been associated with,” said Mainville, who lives in Manchester. “I really caught the bug when I started working at the Mark Twain House. Very early on I really enjoyed working with visitors and teaching folks and learning myself about why people are fascinated with historical sites. The Mark Twain House is an iconic location. I was very fortunate to have a broad range of experiences there.”

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Norma Martinez HoSang, Director: CT For All, Sep 10,2024

Norma Martinez HoSang
Director

Norma has been a labor and community organizer for over 20 years in California, Oregon and Connecticut. She has organized and bargained in public sector unions with membership in higher education, health care and other Public State Services. As a community organizer she has led campaigns on issues affecting immigrants, youth and other communities that have been left behind. 

She is a CIWO fellow and believes that the only way to win the kind of structural change we need is by uniting labor and community members in building people power to win and developing Common Good Campaigns.

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Bill Malitsky, Focus Government Affairs, Sep 3,2024

Bill began his government affairs career by working directly for two Democratic Speakers of the House of Representatives, learning the intricacies of the legislative process from inside this key leadership office. Following service on behalf of the Speaker, Bill entered the private sector and served as the Director of Government Relations for the Connecticut State Dental Society, one of Connecticut’s largest health related associations, and thereafter became associated with a large Hartford lobbying group. During his extensive career as a lobbyist Bill established a strong reputation for being able to accomplish the legislative and administrative goals of his clients. He believes in a bipartisan, leave no stone unturned approach to advocacy in Hartford.

Bill has a wealth of experience within state government and brings these talents to the team at FOCUS Government Affairs. During his five years on the staff of the Speaker, Bill developed strong ties to both parties and learned how to navigate the legislative process in order to achieve the goals of adopting legislation. He served on the staff of Speaker Richard. J Balducci during the fiscal crisis of the early 90’s providing him with a keen understanding of how government can best operate in challenging times.

Mr. Malitsky brings his drive for success and commitment to excellence to the forefront of any challenge. He has a great deal of experience and expertise in crisis management for the clients he represents. Bill has worked on a variety of complex issues such as: insurance, health care, environmental and tax issues, as well as, energy, pharmaceutical, business, education and construction and development issues. Knowledge of the people involved in decision making is a vital role in any lobbying activity. Bill is uniquely able to combine his knowledge of the people involved in State Government with his understanding of the legislative process and provide his clients with a seamless approach to achieving results. He is also a frequent speaker before client groups, providing them insight into the lawmaking process and best preparing them to advocate for their positions.

College

Southern Connecticut State University, BS, 1989

 

Video of the meeting

Mike Cabrey – Grand Marshal of West Hartford’s Memorial Day Parade

This year’s Grand Marshal and keynote speaker at the ceremony is Mike Cabrey, a retired US Army Colonel with 30 years of Active Duty service. Commissioned in May 1986 from the United States Military Academy at West Point, he served in various Artillery positions, leading and commanding from the platoon through brigade level. From 2003-2004, he commanded and led over 750 soldiers in direct combat operations in Ramadi, Iraq.

While serving in the Army, he earned the Bronze Star, Combat Action Badge, Parachutist Badge, Air Assault Badge, and the Ranger Tab. He holds two Masters Degrees in Advanced Military Studies and International Relations.

Mike leads another army for the Old Guard – the Salvation Army.   His daughter is a nurse practitioner in Hartford?

 

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