🔒CERC CEO Denious reflects on his ‘big pivot’ to economic development

After spending much of the past two decades raising money and investing it in private equity and venture capital funds around the world, Peter Denious’ recent hire as CEO of the not-for-profit Connecticut Economic Resource Center (CERC) may seem like an odd fit.

But in a recent interview in his new Rocky Hill office, the former investment executive said the new job, while it’s a “big pivot,” is just right for someone with his skill set.

He said his work at FLAG Capital Management and Aberdeen Standard Investments steeped him in business development, marketing, strategy and how corporate managers think. He helped to grow FLAG from 20 to 65 employees over a 15-year period, leading up to its sale to Aberdeen in 2015.

“I think it’s highly relevant,” Denious, a longtime Wilton resident, said of his background. “I wouldn’t be here if I weren’t convinced myself.”

Earlier this year, Gov. Ned Lamont’s team worked to restructure CERC’s board of directors and give it a larger role in business retention and recruitment on behalf of the state.

CERC has been doing contracted marketing and real estate services for the Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) for years, but the organization’s stature has grown under Lamont, who pledged during his campaign to outsource some of the state’s recruitment activity to private-sector experts.

Denious stayed on with Aberdeen until about a year ago. At 52, he said he wasn’t ready to retire.

“I was ready for a new challenge, a new way to channel my skills and interests,” he said.

He didn’t know at the time that a headhunter from Heidrick & Struggles would approach him months later, seeking out candidates for the CERC job. He was intrigued.

Since departing Abderdeen, he’d been working with the Connecticut chapter of a nonprofit called Social Venture Partners, acquiring more of a taste for civic work.

At CERC, he’ll be collaborating closely with a fellow expat from the financial world — former Goldman Sachs executive David Lehman, who is now DECD commissioner.

Denious said he hadn’t previously crossed paths with Lehman or Lamont, though all three are Fairfield County residents with ties to the investment industry.

Denious, who succeeds the recently retired Robert Santy at CERC, will also be working closely with the reshuffled CERC board, including high-profile co-chairs Indra Nooyi, the former CEO of PepsiCo, and retired Webster Bank CEO Jim Smith.

“When you have people at that level committed to this goal and to this mission, that’s a big reason I’m in the seat, and I told them that,” Denious said of the two co-chairs. “I think there’s a plan to really get behind this and to change the state of play.”

But Denious, interviewed just days into his new job, wasn’t quite ready to lay out that plan in detail, or what the key differences would be between CERC and DECD’s prior retention-recruitment work.

“We have a lot of things in the pipeline and it’s not quite ready for prime time,” he said.

In broader terms, he said CERC will seek to “supercharge” the work DECD has done in the past, open up additional lines of communication with businesses in the state, and focus on Connecticut’s biggest economic strengths like aerospace and defense.

“It’s laser-focused,” he said. “[DECD] has a lot of things they have to tackle, we’re going to have one of those and we’re going to really focus on that.”

He said his work schedule would not be heavy on travel, and that retention, rather than recruitment, will likely be “the tip of the spear” for CERC’s strategy.

However, he’s already on the hunt for outside firms.

On a recent morning Denious said he’d been on the phone with a company that’s location shopping, in part to be closer to a few key customers.

“This is a pretty substantial company and they’re talking about a pretty substantial commitment,” Denious said.

It’s still just a prospect, but Denious said there are plenty of companies out there that would have legitimate reasons to be in Connecticut.

Creating balance

Another aspect of CERC’s work that is likely to evolve is its research arm, which has become known for its consumer confidence surveys, but also does work on behalf of individual clients.

In mid-July, 47 percent of respondents to CERC’s InformCT survey claimed they will likely leave Connecticut within five years, tying a previous high from late 2018.

Whether you believe those residents will actually follow through or not, it’s a valuable insight into public sentiment for policymakers and businesses alike.

But is the survey at odds with CERC’s evolving role as a salesman for Connecticut?

While CERC’s research will focus more on business recruitment and retention moving forward, Denious said he doesn’t intend to put on a pair of rose-colored glasses.

“Tough news or discouraging news needs to be part of the conversation, because that’s the reality businesses out there are facing,” he said. ”On the flip side of the same coin … there’s a lot of negativity in our state. So we have to be balanced.”