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Vi R. Smalley has been named managing director and general counsel of Conning, a global provider of asset management solutions based in Hartford. She also will join the company’s management committee. Smalley is a corporate, securities and finance attorney with more than 16 years experience in public and private companies and law firms. For the past five months, she has served as interim general counsel and chief investment counsel. Before joining Conning in 2006 as deputy general counsel, she held executive positions at Citigroup Insurance Investments, most recently serving as general counsel and senior vice president. Previously she practiced law at Bingham McCutchen LLP in London and in Hartford. Conning manages assets for the insurance industry, with almost $77 billion under management through its Hartford and Dublin investment centers as of March 31.
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Aid to Artisans, an international nonprofit organization based in West Hartford, has named Alfredo Espinosa as its new president. Espinosa, former senior director for global business development at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, will take over the position later in May. He formerly was chief executive officer of the Mexican Rural Development Foundation and worked as an international management consultant for corporations as well as non-profit entities. Aid to Artisans is active in economic development within the global crafts sector. More than 30,000 artisans a year participate in ATA programs.
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Carrie Hammond has been named interim CEO of the The Hartford Symphony Orchestra. She has spent the majority of her 25-year business career working in a variety of management, marketing and strategy positions at United Technologies. From 2007-2010, she was manager of corporate responsibility for United Technologies. Hammond has worked on growth and development initiatives for the HSO since 1987 when she first moved to Hartford. She was active in the HSO Association of Volunteers and a co-founder of Capitol Arts. She is an officer and 17-year member of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus (resident chorus for the Boston Symphony), and sings locally with the Hartford Chorale. The symphony’s Board of Directors has begun a formal search process for a new president and CEO to replace Kristen Phillips, who aaccepted a position as senior vice president with Lincoln Financial Group at its Greater Philadelphia headquarters. She joined the HSO as executive director in April of 2008 from Lincoln Financial Group, where she held the position of vice president in the Hartford office. The Hartford Symphony Orchestra, in its 67th year, is the second largest orchestra in New England.
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Leo Pellerin has joined United Way of Connecticut in Rocky Hill as the chief information officer. In his new position, Leo supports the work of an agency that administers statewide information, referral and advocacy services and maintains comprehensive databases of health and human services resources. Leo previously served as an IT Director at Nerac Inc., a research and advisory firm for companies developing innovative products and technologies, and is cofounder of Digiwize, an interactive design, marketing and technology company.
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Susan Butler Janelli has joined Simsbury Bank’s mortgage and home equity lending team. She will serve customers in the Greater Waterbury area including Bristol, Cheshire, Southington and Wolcott. Janelli brings over 20 years of mortgage lending and financial experience. Previous to joining Simsbury Bank, she was with Patriot Lending Group and Northeast Mortgage Corp.
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Mintz & Hoke in Avon has promoted Paulina Borkowski to assistant media planner/buyer responsible for researching, developing and recommending media plans and broadcast buys for both the communication firm’s Media Only division and its full service clients. She started at Mintz & Hoke in 2007 as a media assistant and previously was a claims processor at The Hartford Insurance Group in Hartford.
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Priscilla Kowal has joined the Eastern Connecticut Health Network’s Rehabilitation Services team as a staff physical therapist at the Rehab Center at Court House Fitness and Wellness in Vernon. In addition to her master’s degree in physical therapy from the American International College, she is a certified occupational therapy assistant.
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Jerome Home in New Britain has added exercise physiologist Susan Dawiczyk to the Good Life Fitness program. She comes with experience as a lecturer on fitness and wellness at Central Connecticut State University. She previously was a Marine Corps combat instructor of water survival. She will work primarily at Mulberry Gardens Adult Day Center at Marian Heights.
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Romana Zar of Newington, a geriatrician, has joined the medical staff of St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center. Dr. Zar received her medical degree from Khyber Medical College, Peshawar, Pakistan. She served as a house staff member in the departments of pediatrics, surgery, and obstetrics/gynecology at Khyber Teaching Hospital, Peshawar; a medical officer at Al-Shifa Health Center, Peshawar; and as a fellow in internal medicine at Khyber Teaching Hospital, Peshawar, Pakistan. She completed a residency in primary care/internal medicine at the University of Connecticut Health Center and is board certified in internal medicine. Dr. Zar completed a fellowship in geriatrics at the Yale School of Medicine. At St. Francis, Dr. Zar is practicing as a member of the St. Francis Medical Group.
