B.E.S.T. Summit Brings Public, Private Sectors Together

Leaders from business and government will take part in a brainstorming session on improving the state’s economic future at the end of this month.
The B.E.S.T. summit—Bringing Every Stakeholder Together—takes place Nov. 28 during the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities annual convention at Foxwoods Resort in Mashantucket.
Brian Flaherty, CBIA’s senior vice president for public policy, will join several other leaders in the conversation on the best ways to improve Connecticut’s economy.
He will focus on the fiscal and regulatory environment from the revenue side of the picture.
Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin will discuss the effective and efficient delivery of services from the appropriations side.
Other panelists include Alex Johnson, CEO of Capital Workforce Partners, who’ll discuss workforce development, and Gian-Carl Casa, CEO of The Alliance (Voice of Community Nonprofits), who will talk about quality of life issues.
The first Project B.E.S.T. summit was held in 2015 and featured a select group of policy leaders and stakeholders from business, labor, education, government and social services.
A follow-up session was held in 2016.
From those discussions, participants devised a list of five priority areas: taxes and regulations, education and workforce development, transportation and infrastructure, regional solutions, and quality of life.
The summit is designed to identify areas of policy agreement among diverse groups for growing Connecticut’s economy and stabilizing the state’s fiscal situation.