Corporate CEOs in Connecticut aren’t always involved in the local community. Stanley Black & Decker CEO and President James Loree has turned that notion on its head in recent years.
Since taking over the New Britain hand- and power-tools maker’s top job in 2016, Loree has inserted himself directly into state government’s affairs, becoming a leading corporate voice on the need to reverse Connecticut’s economic and fiscal decline and create a friendlier business environment.
In 2017, he joined the CEO-led Commission on Fiscal Stability and Economic Growth, which proposed major reforms aimed at jumpstarting Connecticut’s economy, including an overhaul of the state tax code.
He’s also on the board of AdvanceCT, a nonprofit organization focused on recruiting and keeping businesses in the state. Most recently he was appointed to Gov. Ned Lamont’s Governor’s Workforce Council, which is trying to ensure Connecticut has a highly educated workforce that employers need and want.
It’s safe to say he has the ear of Lamont, or his top deputies, anytime he needs it.
Loree’s civic engagement isn’t wholly altruistic. He needs to make sure his global company, which employs 59,438 people worldwide and recorded $14.4 billion in revenue in 2019, has access in Connecticut to the talent and competitive environment it needs, especially as his company faces challenges from tariffs, currency fluctuations and, more recently, the coronavirus.
Stanley earlier this month announced it would be suspending any M&A activity and cutting costs, including through pay cuts and layoffs, as fears over COVID-19 have hit the company’s stock hard.
Still, Loree has shown he’s committed to keeping Stanley in the region. The company made a splash in 2018 when it opened a technology and research center in downtown Hartford and helped launch the Stanley+Techstars Additive Manufacturing Accelerator on-site to groom global startups.