December 17, 2018 EditionEdition

We're now well into the fourth industrial revolution. The first was about steam and railroads, the second about electricity, and the third brought about by the internet. Artificial intelligence, the basis of the fourth industrial revolution, will completely change the way business is done and companies are run in the next five to 10 years, just as the internet has done. The transformation will be bigger than what any previous revolution has brought about.

KBE Building Corp. has provided 368 turkey dinners for families in Connecticut and Maryland as part of its 10th annual Gift of Gobble event. Over the last 10 years, KBE has provided Thanksgiving meals for more than 2,000 families, feeding an estimated 12,000 people. The meal boxes contained turkey, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, corn, beans, potatoes, yams, rolls, apple pie, pumpkin pie and a roasting pan.

Think of the meetings you attended last week. What percentage did you really need to attend? What percentage accomplished their goals? Based upon recent surveys, those percentages are all below 40 percent — which means that over 60 percent of meetings waste time.

Here is a look back at the five business, nonprofit and higher-education leaders we watched in 2018.

Nearly 40 blumshapiro employees and their families recently spent time preparing hundreds of bags of food to...

For Department of Transportation Commissioner James Redeker, 2018 marked the culmination of a nearly decade-long effort to reestablish rail service between Hartford and Springfield, Mass.

Thirty years after he co-founded Hartford PR firm Sullivan & LeShane Public Relations Inc., Gene Sheehan is stepping down from overseeing day-to-day operations.

Amid the state's pay-for-presence incentives, Hartford's Insurtech Hub is testing a different economic-development model.

In her third year on the job, University of St. Joseph President Rhona Free oversaw the transformation of the private Catholic college into a co-ed institution.

MicroCare employees recently donated 211 pounds of non-perishable food items to the New Britain Food and Resource Center. To meet the needs of those who require special low-salt or low-sugar diets, MicroCare employees donated healthier versions of traditional holiday foods.

Several Connecticut economists, a lawmaker and the current Department of Economic and Community Development commissioner offered up suggestions to the incoming governor for leveraging state assets and resources to attract and retain jobs.

While most insurtech startups come to Hartford seeking connections and later learn of potential funding opportunities from the state, Dream Payments took the opposite tack.

Jay Williams' first full year as president of the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving proved to be a busy one.

Headed into 2018, one of UConn Health CEO Andrew Agwunobi's biggest priorities was to find the right partner to strengthen the health system's future financial and clinical profile.

The Malloy administration has transformed the state's jobs strategy, aggressively ramping up corporate incentives to compete for companies. But eight years later, the economy has barely budged.

With more than 6 million unfilled positions and companies reporting that they are challenged to find skilled workers, job training and continuing education is more important than ever.

With votes still being counted, Democrats and Republicans come out of 2018 with no certainty on how the 2020 presidential election will play out.