🔒Yale’s Sonnenfeld makes a CT sales pitch, leads efforts to woo companies to Nutmeg State

Whether you call him the state’s “convener in chief” or “schmoozer in chief,” Jeffrey Sonnenfeld is known nationwide for his access to some of the business world’s top executives.

Senior associate dean and the Lester Crown Professor of Management Practice at the Yale School of Management, Sonnenfeld put those skills on display in September. He personally brought together an unprecedented collection of Connecticut CEOs, nonprofit leaders and economic experts to discuss the state’s business climate at the second Connecticut Economic Development Forum.

Sonnenfeld is not only known locally: he started making national news on a regular basis this year soon after the start of the war in Ukraine, when he and his team at the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute compiled a list of companies doing business in Russia. The list soon went viral and Sonnenfeld has been credited with strengthening the impact of economic sanctions on the rogue nation.

Even as he devotes time to expanding the impact of the Russia list, Sonnenfeld is closing deals on behalf of the state at AdvanceCT, where he serves as co-chair of the board of directors. The New Haven-based organization has tapped Sonnenfeld’s contacts and communications skills since September as it works to convince major employers to move to or expand in the state.

Sonnenfeld discussed Connecticut’s economic strengths and challenges with New Haven Biz. Here’s what he had to say:

What are some economic indicators you are watching in recent months related to the state's economy?

The unemployment numbers are still pretty good and I think that is remarkable. Finding workers is difficult in some targeted areas and that is a problem – that’s a good problem to have, of course.

I think one of the big surprises is how well the state does in retaining younger workers. And I think the quality-of-life indicators, of course, we know are really strong, but doubling the number of STEM graduates in the last decade is something that the people in the workforce area and the universities were pretty surprised about.

We’re also No. 8 in R&D spending. I mean, there’s always more that can be done. And I think also the transportation issues are still pretty vexing.

Yale New Haven Health has announced some recent layoffs, along with Stanley Black & Decker. Do you think those are danger signs for the state's economy?

Well, I hope that there’s a way that the state Labor Department can help. Ideally, there would be some sort of a matching system because we do know that manufacturers like Electric Boat need workers, and there’s got to be some transferable skills from working at Stanley Black & Decker.

There are other companies in advanced manufacturing looking for workers as well. I think that there’s an opportunity to absorb that. The idea of moving into other areas of advanced manufacturing I think, would be terrific.

It’d be nice if the state could take a look at how we can redeploy some of the talent.

What was your perception of the mood at the Connecticut Economic Development Forum this year compared to the first event in 2018?

In 2018, there was a hand-wringing angst in the room. It wasn’t just transportation and the constant lament about taxes or the unfunded pensions and the deficits. It had to do with the lack of political will to deal with it, that within parties it was somewhat fractious.

People couldn’t seem to agree on anything of consequence and the things they were fighting over were so inconsequential relative to these issues. So that’s what had companies despairing.

It’s just the opposite now. At this year’s event, you had the president of Sikorsky telling us that this is the best state in the country he’s ever worked in. Businesses have said that state officials have been so collaborative — that’s a win-win-win.

So, I think the biggest takeaway of all beyond the numbers was the sense of enthusiasm and spirit. I would say infectious spirit, but that’s the wrong analogy to use these days. I guess.

The New Haven area has seen a lot of recent growth in the biotech sector. Do you think this is a winning strategy for the state as a whole?

It makes sense because there’s a lot of strategic growth, new opportunities that are created. Even when the companies don’t succeed, they wind up evolving into a different version of that company or the workers find a new opportunity.

If companies get purchased, as we saw with Alexion, people don’t want to leave. So the purchasers are fortifying their investment in New Haven instead of just buying the company and leaving town.

It’s also the younger workforce that we’re attracting and retaining that wants to get into some of those newer industries. We’re doing better than New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont and other competitors in the region in terms of attracting and retaining younger people.

So many of our state colleges and universities have been pivoting into the biotech and life sciences arena — we’re putting out almost 2,400 graduates a year in that space.

It’s great if we have the jobs to hold on to them, because that’s where a lot of the value-add is in the state’s educational system.

What is the specific role of you and your co-chair in recruiting businesses at AdvanceCT?

We might hear of leads through our own friendships, relationships or being in public discourse. The professional staff at AdvanceCT then goes to work and takes a look at what the company needs.

Our role has a lot to do with helping to funnel in leads and help be closers with key ones.

[Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner] David Lehman is otherworldly in the collaboration between the state agency and this nonprofit, which is like an enthusiastic chamber of commerce for the state. There’s no sense of competition but a good deal of analytic collaboration, so you never have to worry about who’s going to get the credit.

And that’s unusual.

What sectors do you see growing in importance in the state?

Biotech and fintech but increasingly advanced manufacturing. On the manufacturing front, we’re getting some opportunities for some very significant operations of national companies that I’ve been interested in. That’s pretty exciting.

With the way things are going on it was a shame that the old Alexion building out in Cheshire got demolished when the company moved to New Haven. Now we have people who would love that facility.

[Former AdvanceCT co-chair] Indra Nooyi was amazing in terms of being a magnet and a business generator, whether it was helping to fortify a big presence for national companies or actually relocating some international operations here. She’s terrific. So we’re all in the shadows of what she accomplished as our predecessor.

You have done a lot of work on issues around environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing. Do you think Connecticut's social policies are an asset in attracting business?

Reginald H. Jones of General Electric, who was chairman of the Business Roundtable, coined the term “corporate social responsibility” and he really encouraged me to do this work.

Back then, only the Yale School of Management was looking at business and society — we’ve actually held that ground as a mission before any business school. Others now are trying to get into the space — some of them perhaps with a genuine interest, and others it’s sometimes a little bit of a public relations smokescreen.

You can’t really divide our leading business people ideologically on their state development issues — there’s a sense of enthusiasm that’s bipartisan.

Every company here brags about what they do in the community. You know, we always hope it’s legitimate and real, but there isn’t anybody that brags about how many people they’ve laid off and how they’re consolidating and pulling out.

Despite recent gains, negative perceptions about Connecticut seem to be lingering in the national business community. What can groups like AdvanceCT do about that? 

It’s small to mid-sized company CEOs who are filled with all kinds of ideological misinformation, or else a time lag. There’s a lag factor here.

When people see these numbers that I’ve sent them about Connecticut outside of the state, they’re shocked. The best way of addressing it, in addition to supplying them with these numbers, is that we have CEOs who can endorse the state like Paul Lemmo of Sikorsky, who is one of the best state salespeople.

Look at Electric Boat: They had the option of putting a few billion dollars into a comparable deepwater port in Newport News, (Virginia), but because of the workforce issues and the climate they chose to put it here. It wasn’t that they didn’t have options. It gives us decades of commitment for jobs and technology and other things that come along with it.

It was also a big eye-opener that we’re not only spending in R&D, at a mix of traditional old-line companies and new startups, but we’re generating new intellectual property that’s being commercialized here in the state. That’s pretty exciting.

Also important for business people is the very critical eye of the financial community. I’m not sure that there is a state that has gotten an upgrade from every major independent ratings agency including Standard and Poor’s, Fitch and Moody’s. The good part about that is that it’s much cheaper for us to borrow than it was a few years ago.

Much of what companies hear is just self-promotional from many states, but this is really substantive. Those upgrades and downgrades are really valuable — that’s a great endorsement.