The first time I met Oz Griebel was in the fall of 2008, just as the global financial crisis was tightening its grip on the Greater Hartford and Connecticut economies.
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The first time I met Oz Griebel was in the fall of 2008, just as the global financial crisis was tightening its grip on the Greater Hartford and Connecticut economies.
I was a cub reporter, fresh out of UConn, covering the financial services sector with little to no background in the industry. I sat down with Oz, who was CEO of the MetroHartford Alliance at the time, to discuss the impact the housing crash and subsequent financial meltdown would have on the insurers and other financial institutions in Hartford.
The outlook was bleak but Oz gave an even-handed assessment. To be honest I don’t remember a whole lot about the conversation but I do recall how nervous I was to sit down with Oz at the time. He was right out of chief-executive-officer central casting, well-dressed with a deep and authoritative voice and great command of the issues facing his organization and the region.
Nearly four decades separated us in age, so I worried he wouldn’t take me seriously. He did that day, and I got to know him well over the last 12 years.
Put simply, Oz was the most important and influential business leader I’ve known in Hartford during my time at HBJ.
His sudden and senseless death last month leaves a major void in the city and state, as well as the absence of a treasured resource for journalists like me, who sought out Oz’s decades worth of institutional knowledge.
Even though he left his influential MetroHartford Alliance post a few years ago, his presence and influence have endured. He lived downtown and wanted to remain part of the action, taking on side projects and advising anyone seeking out his counsel.
I got to know him even better in the last few years, and we’d meet every six months or so to catch up and talk about the issues of the day. He loved to roll up his sleeves and discuss policy and politics.
What I appreciated most about Oz is that he wasn’t just a Hartford booster. He never shied away from pointing out the city’s, region’s or state’s weaknesses and problems.
More importantly he offered solutions and policy ideas to fix them.
Blind boosterism does a city like Hartford no good. While we all need to promote the region’s strengths, we can’t shy away from honest conversations about its problems and ways to address them.
That’s how we get better.
Oz understood that. It’s what prompted him to run for governor twice, once as a Republican in 2010 and an independent 2018. He didn’t come close to winning either time, but he was certainly the most qualified and informed candidate in the most recent election.
Few who knew him well would argue differently. A centrist candidate who is a fiscal conservative and moderate on social issues is the type of leader this state needed and needs.
Last year, as HBJ was embarking on an in-depth reporting project on the city of Hartford’s broken property tax system, my first call was to Oz. He was in my office a day later with a binder full of reform proposals he pitched during his tenure at the Alliance. We talked for two hours that day. That series has won both local and national awards. Oz’s insights were invaluable to that effort.
I also sat with him earlier this year to discuss his work as chair of the SAM CT Task Force, a group trying to reform the state’s electoral process to give unaffiliated and more moderate candidates in Connecticut a better chance of winning elections.
It’s noble work that probably won’t move the needle in upending a two-party political system that has increasingly been shown to be broken.
But long odds never deterred Oz. In fact, he was rarely on the winning end of public policy or political battles, but he kept fighting for what he believed in.
His love for the city was also evident. He didn’t view Hartford as a stepping stone, but a landing spot from which to build something better.
We need more leaders who view the city in a similar light if Hartford is going to continue the forward progress Oz poured his heart into.
And the challenges the city faces have never been greater, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
That just means we need to roll up our sleeves and work harder.
That’s what Oz would do.
