Five Fairfield County Business Leaders Earn Recognition

Westfair Business Publications produces Business Journals for Westchester County in New York and adjacent Fairfield County in Connecticut.  Once each month the publications join forces, otherwise they are separate and distinct publications.  At year’s end Westfair sought to name a Person of the Year, but opted instead to name a top ten, five representing each county. 

“Selecting one business leader who stood out in this strange and remarkable year proved to be a thankless task. In both Westchester and Fairfield County, there were a surplus number of business professionals whose achievements helped to cauterize the chaos created in 2020’s pandemic and redirect the region back into a growth pattern,” the publication explained.

They opted to pay tribute to individual business leaders “who stand out in their respective industries for their intrepid and intelligent leadership skills and for an indefatigable spirit aimed at success. Our Persons of the Year have changed the region for the better, and as we head into 2022 we are grateful to have them working among us to secure a better and brighter tomorrow.”

The five Fairfield County leaders earning a place in the publication’s top 10 were Nicholas Coriano of 3DX Industries Inc.; Margaret Feeney, director of the UConn Stamford Technology Incubator Program; Howard Saffan, developer and principal of the Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater in Bridgeport; Bill Taibe, owner of For the Food Restaurant Group centered in Westport, Weston and Norwalk; and John Visentin, CEO of Norwalk-based Xerox.

Here’s how each selection was described by Westfair Business Publications:

Nicholas Coriano was running the Bridgeport-based business startup consultancy Cervitude before he was hired in April as vice president of East Coast operations at 3DX Industries Inc., a Ferndale, Washington, company focused on 3D printing applications that specializes in the additive metal manufacturing and plastic printing segments. In October, he was back in Bridgeport to open 3DX Industries’ first East Coast office at the University of Bridgeport’s Bauer Hall Innovation Center. He is in talks with the university for the creation of an additive manufacturing degree program, and he told the Business Journal that one of his 2022 goals is “recruit other companies to come and be a part of this ecosystem for additive manufacturing. We can create another manufacturing hub back in the United States.”

Margaret Feeney is in a unique position to see the future of the region’s high-tech sector. She is the director of the UConn Stamford Technology Incubator Program — more commonly known as TIP Digital — which launched earlier this year in collaboration with the nonprofit StamfordNext. The program offers startups in the data science space a variety of perks, including lab and office space, participation in educational and networking events, access to UConn’s research facilities, and input from industry mentors and UConn’s entrepreneurs-in-residence. Under Feeney’s direction, a new wave of data sciences startups is establishing their presence, with 23 companies in the program’s first year cohort. Rarely has one person like Feeney been in a position to help so many startups grow in such a short period of time.

Howard Saffan is one of the very few people who can take credit for changing a city’s skyline. As the developer and principal of the Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater, he spearheaded the effort to repurpose the former Bridgeport Bluefish baseball stadium into a 5,700-capacity venue that hosts major music acts. Working in a public-private partnership with the city of Bridgeport and LiveNation, Saffan persevered through an endeavor that hit more than a few potholes, including Covid-related construction delays that drove up the endeavor to a $30 million-plus budget. Nonetheless, the July 28 opening concert by REO Speedwagon and Styx was a sold-out hit, and he is looking to 2022 with plans to host “in excess of 75 events” next year, including some 40 concerts — with 13 already booked.

Bill Taibe is something of an icon in Fairfield County’s restaurant scene. As the owner of For the Food Restaurant Group, he is the driving force behind three of Westport’s most popular eateries: The Whelk, Don Memo and Kawa Ni. And while the pandemic created havoc across the restaurant industry, Taibe not only weathered the storm but came out of the Covid-induced chaos with a fourth restaurant, The Norwalk Art Space Café. In view of his ongoing achievements and a lifetime of culinary honors, as well as his extensive volunteer work within the Westport and Weston communities, Taibe was honored as the Connecticut Restaurant Association’s 2021 Restaurateur of the Year.

John Visentin took the leadership reins as CEO and vice chairman at Norwalk-headquartered Xerox Holdings Corp. in May 2018 when the company was unwinding from an aborted merger with Japan’s Fujifilm Holdings. This year, Visentin reinvented Xerox with an innovative restructuring that created three businesses focused on software, financing and innovation. He also secured a new partnership with the U.S. Navy to focus on 3D printing research to create metal parts and equipment for the Navy and Marine Corps, and he wrapped up a trio of acquisitions that expanded Xerox’s operations across North America. Visentin is rarely visible in the media, but in his quiet way he has steered Xerox into what promises to be an exciting future.