As president and CEO of the state’s largest business organization, Chris DiPentima continues to fight on behalf of members of the Connecticut Business & Industry Association (CBIA).
Unable to get the state legislature to approve bipartisan legislation to address the shrinking options in the fully-insured small group insurance market last year, CBIA in September launched a program to provide small and midsize businesses access to more affordable healthcare coverage.
Offered through CBIA’s Health Connections, the program is for businesses with between 10 and 200 employees. It offers three preferred provider organization plans and three health savings account compatible plans.
Also in September, CBIA published its latest public policy pledge, called Reimagine Connecticut, a 12-point package of policy solutions intended to “unlock and reimagine” the state’s economy.
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Seventy-two legislators now serving in the 2025 session pledged to support the solutions.
DiPentima says CBIA’s goal for this year’s session is to convince lawmakers the state needs to be a less expensive place to live and do business. Whether talking about the high cost of energy or health insurance, or the need to fill 73,000 job openings statewide, affordability would help solve many of Connecticut’s woes, he said.
Before he became CBIA’s leader, DiPentima was division president of Leggett & Platt Aerospace, a unit of S&P 500 company Leggett & Platt. He led operations at the company’s Middletown-based Pegasus Manufacturing facility, and locations in Washington, California and France.
He joined Pegasus in 2002 as general counsel, and was named president in 2006.
Prior to joining Pegasus, DiPentima spent eight years as an attorney representing corporations and individuals in a broad range of issues, including labor and employment, contracts, workers’ compensation, and mergers and acquisitions.