Reviews in the technology community of the performance of Frank A. Dinucci, outgoing president of Connecticut Innovations, have been almost universally positive.
He was a nice guy. He did lots of deals. He got things done.
Except one thing: He left after only five months.
Now a committee of the organization’s board is forced to make its third search for a president since Victor Budnick announced his resignation in February of 2005.
And although board chair Elaine A. Pullen isn’t alone in her belief that the early departures of both Dinucci and Chandler J. Howard from the post amount to a string of bad luck, there have been suggestions that a change in hiring strategy could prevent the next president from bolting so soon.
“I wonder that, and I’m sure a lot of other people are too,” said Michael Roer, president of the Connecticut Venture Group. At the start of the last two searches, CI asked Roer to suggest candidates for the post. He said he was glad to see the interim appointment of John A. Mengacci, an undersecretary at the state’s Office of Personnel and Management and a member of the CI Board until he was named interim director. A state employee to begin with, meant Mengacci –- who is being considered as a permanent replacement — might lend the organization some stability, Roer said.
“He’s not going to walk in and have a culture shock,” Roer said.
Tough Post
Roer said the job has proven difficult for private sector executives to get used to because running CI means handling “more boards, more committees and more regulations.”
“I think that part of this has to be the sort of culture shock of having to step over to the public side, and not being used to things being done differently,” he said.
That sentiment was reiterated by a key consultant in the last two searches, Larry Brown, managing partner of Horton International.
“I think the challenge is, with these quasi-public organizations, I think they are a little challenging to work for,” Brown said.
He explained the varied skills that a good candidate ought to posses: financial knowledge and instincts to make good investments; management ability; and the political background to handle relationships with the General Assembly and the governor’s office.
Because the CI president reports to a board, just as many executives do, the job might like seem only a small step away from the private sector. The additional oversight and scrutiny that comes with spending the public’s money might not be immediately clear.
Not only that, but many of the candidates come from jobs where they are “making quite a bit more than the quasi-public organizations are prepared or able to pay,” Brown said.
New Eyes
An executive search firm with offices in downtown Hartford, Horton International was hired by CI in the search that resulted in Howard and was obligated to re-search for no cost to get Dinucci. Pullen said she is unsure whether Horton will be retained for the upcoming search.
She believes, as she did with the last two searches, that the type of employment –- private or public — a candidate comes from shouldn’t be the determining factor in hiring someone.
“I don’t think that’s ever been the primary criteria. We look for a person with the right skills and background,” she said.
Motivation for the job, and a clear understanding of its requirements, might need to be more heavily considered, according to Sean Murphy, general manager of Management Search of Hartford, an executive placement firm.
“Obviously something is not being clearly conveyed to the candidates,” Murphy said.
Murphy, who places executives mostly with manufacturing, finance and life sciences companies, said that even though CI lies in a gray area between government and the private sector, it still needed a president with a passion and understanding for its missio
