Overview

The 2024 Marcum Manufacturing Forum is a two-part series event that brings together industry leaders and executives from the Connecticut manufacturing community. This forum is dedicated to raising awareness of the various sources and opportunities accessible to manufacturers through state and federal programs. Produced in collaboration with the State of Connecticut Office of Manufacturing, Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology (CCAT), and the Connecticut Business and Industry Association (CBIA), this event is the foundation for industry growth and innovation.

Join us for an informative session with Connecticut’s Chief Manufacturing Officer, Paul Lavoie, as he unveils “Make it Here 2030” – a strategic plan aiming for full employment in our manufacturing sector by 2030. Connecticut is deeply committed to advancing its workforce development initiatives and this session will share with you solutions being developed and implemented across the state to achieve this goal.

During the event we will also be hosting an interactive and collaborative workshop, providing a platform for industry leaders to discuss actionable strategies to resolve the workforce challenges facing the manufacturing sector. This workshop is designed to amplify the voice of the industry, ensuring that your insights and experiences directly impact the solutions and policies that will shape our workforce development.

Don’t miss this opportunity to become a key player in the workforce revolution with “Make it Here 2030.” Mark your calendar for a must-attend event and be part of the transformative “Make it Here 2030” initiative.

Agenda

7:30 AM
Breakfast & Networking
8:10 AM
Welcoming Remarks

Jeff Rossi, New England Consumer & Industrial Products Leader, Marcum LLP

8:15 AM
Make it Here 2030: The Manufacturing Workforce of Tomorrow

Governor Ned Lamont, State of Connecticut
Daniel O’Keefe, Commissioner-designate, Department of Economic and Community Development Chief Innovation Officer, State of CT
Paul Lavoie, Chief Manufacturing Officer, State of Connecticut  
Senator Richard Blumenthal, State of Connecticut     

9:30 AM
Interactive Workshop and Live Polling

Let your voice be heard! The audience will participate in an interactive Q&A designed to amplify the voice of the industry, ensuring that your insights and experiences directly impact the solutions and policies that will shape our workforce development.

10:00 AM
Closing Remarks

Speakers

Featured Speaker

Paul S. Lavoie

Chief Manufacturing Officer, State of Connecticut

Paul S. Lavoie was appointed by Governor Ned Lamont as the Chief Manufacturing Officer for Connecticut in February 2022.  The Chief Manufacturing Officer position was created to coordinate efforts from the state and private sector to expand manufacturing in Connecticut.

FULL BIO

Paul S. Lavoie

Chief Manufacturing Officer, State of Connecticut

Paul S. Lavoie was appointed by Governor Ned Lamont as the Chief Manufacturing Officer for Connecticut in February 2022.  The Chief Manufacturing Officer position was created to coordinate efforts from the state and private sector to expand manufacturing in Connecticut.

Paul has extensive industry experience, most recently as General Manager at Carey Manufacturing in Cromwell, CT.  Carey is known for their reshoring efforts, bringing jobs back from China to Connecticut.  Prior to Carey, Paul has owned two businesses and served at senior level positions at publicly traded and privately owned businesses.

Paul serves as the Board Chair of the Central CT Chambers of Commerce, Advisory Board Member of the Connecticut Technical Education and Career System, and Advisory Board Member of the University of Connecticut Engineering School. In 2022, Paul was named as one of the Greater Hartford’s Top 50 Power Players by Hartford Business Journal.    

Speakers

Richard Blumenthal

Senator, State of Connecticut

Originally sworn in on January 5, 2011, Richard Blumenthal is serving his third term as a United States Senator from the State of Connecticut. 

In the Senate, Senator Blumenthal has built on his longtime advocacy for consumers by holding companies accountable for the safety of their products. He has pushed GM to fix its cars’ fatal defects, fought to keep dangerous nicotine products out of the hands of children, and worked to make communities safe from hazardous chemicals. As chair of the Commerce Consumer Protection subcommittee, he led hearings and legislation to hold tech platforms like Facebook, Google, Twitter, and TikTok accountable for privacy failings, toxic and illegal content, and other serious harms.  

FULL BIO

Richard Blumenthal

Senator, State of Connecticut

Originally sworn in on January 5, 2011, Richard Blumenthal is serving his third term as a United States Senator from the State of Connecticut.

With a father who fled Nazi Germany at age 18, and a mother who left Nebraska’s farmland to become a social worker, Richard Blumenthal was raised with a deep dedication to public service, a duty to give back by helping others, and a bedrock belief in hard work. 

Those values carried him through his childhood and his education at Harvard College (Editorial Chairman The Harvard Crimson, Phi Beta Kappa, Magna Cum Laude), and Yale Law School, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Yale Law Journal. To a year working as assistant to Daniel Patrick Moynihan when he was Assistant to the President of the United States. And to enlisting in the United States Marine Corps Reserves in 1970. He was honorably discharged with the rank of Sergeant in 1976.

After graduating law school in 1973, Senator Blumenthal clerked for then U.S. District Judge Jon Newman, and then for United States Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun. 

He then transitioned to lead U.S. Senator Abraham A. Ribicoff’s staff as an Administrative Assistant (now known as Chief of Staff). 

From 1977 to 1981, Senator Blumenthal served as a U.S. Attorney for Connecticut, prosecuting drug trafficking, organized and white-collar crime, civil rights violations, consumer fraud, and environmental pollution. He served in the Connecticut House of Representatives from 1984 to 1987, and the Connecticut State Senate from 1987 to 1990.  As a volunteer attorney for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Senator Blumenthal saved the life of an innocent, wrongly convicted death row inmate who came within hours of execution.

Senator Blumenthal served an unprecedented five terms, from 1991 to 2011, as Connecticut’s Attorney General, fighting for people against large and powerful special interests. His aggressive law enforcement for consumer protection, environmental stewardship, labor rights, and personal privacy helped to reshape the role of state attorneys general nationwide, and resulted in the recovery of hundreds of millions of dollars for Connecticut taxpayers and consumers each year. 

A key player in the national fight against Big Tobacco, he helped end deceptive marketing aimed at children—a victory significantly lowering youth smoking rates, and compelling a multi-billion dollar settlement for Connecticut taxpayers. He also helped lead a coalition of all 50 states that culminated in historic agreements with social networking sites to better protect children from internet predators.

Senator Blumenthal personally argued several major cases in court, including four before the U.S. Supreme Court—among them his successful effort to uphold the Connecticut sex offender registry in the Supreme Court. He fought and sued the federal government for failing to follow or enforce environmental laws and energy statues, as well as imposing multimillion dollar unfunded mandates on local taxpayers under the No Child Left Behind Act. 

In 2010, Senator Blumenthal was elected to represent Connecticut in the United States Senate. He was reelected in 2016 and 2022.  

In the Senate, Senator Blumenthal has built on his longtime advocacy for consumers by holding companies accountable for the safety of their products. He has pushed GM to fix its cars’ fatal defects, fought to keep dangerous nicotine products out of the hands of children, and worked to make communities safe from hazardous chemicals. As chair of the Commerce Consumer Protection subcommittee, he led hearings and legislation to hold tech platforms like Facebook, Google, Twitter, and TikTok accountable for privacy failings, toxic and illegal content, and other serious harms.  

Senator Blumenthal is also working to bring Connecticut’s transportation systems and infrastructure into the twenty-first century. Working with Connecticut’s Congressional Delegation, he has secured billions of dollars of federal funding to improve rail safety, promoted climate resiliency, and protected Long Island Sound and Connecticut’s rivers and streams.  

He has spearheaded legislation to support veterans by expanding employment opportunities, increasing housing access, holding the VA accountable, and providing health care for those exposed to toxic chemicals during their service including Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans and veterans working near burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan. Senator Blumenthal authored the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act, a bipartisan law to improve mental health care and suicide prevention resources.

Senator Blumenthal is a member of the Committee on the Judiciary, Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs, Committee on Armed Services, Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, and Special Committee on Aging.

Ned Lamont

Governor, State of Connecticut

Ned Lamont was sworn into office as the 89th governor of Connecticut on January 9, 2019. He began his second term on January 4, 2023.

Lamont got involved in public service shortly after college, founding a weekly newspaper in a town hit by the loss of its largest employer. Covering town meetings and the Board of Selectmen, he helped to bring voice and transparency to a community working to recover from job losses and reinvent itself. Later, as a member of both the Greenwich Board of Selectmen and the Board of Estimate and Taxation, Lamont worked in a bipartisan effort to safeguard a multimillion-dollar budget and deliver results for constituents. For four years, Lamont also served as Chairman of the State Investment Advisory Council, overseeing a multibillion-dollar state pension fund.

FULL BIO

Ned Lamont

Governor, State of Connecticut

Ned Lamont was sworn into office as the 89th governor of Connecticut on January 9, 2019. He began his second term on January 4, 2023.

Lamont got involved in public service shortly after college, founding a weekly newspaper in a town hit by the loss of its largest employer. Covering town meetings and the Board of Selectmen, he helped to bring voice and transparency to a community working to recover from job losses and reinvent itself. Later, as a member of both the Greenwich Board of Selectmen and the Board of Estimate and Taxation, Lamont worked in a bipartisan effort to safeguard a multimillion-dollar budget and deliver results for constituents. For four years, Lamont also served as Chairman of the State Investment Advisory Council, overseeing a multibillion-dollar state pension fund.

Lamont started his own company, taking on the large and established giants of the telecom industry. Under his vision and stewardship, the company grew to serve over 400 of America’s largest college campuses and 1 million college students across the nation.

As a volunteer teacher, Lamont sought to give back to his community by volunteering at Harding High School in Bridgeport. In an effort to spark entrepreneurship, Lamont taught students about the inner-workings of small businesses, bringing in local businesspeople to share their own experiences, and helping to place students in local internships. Lamont is on the faculty of Central Connecticut State University as an adjunct professor of political science and philosophy, where he also helped to found a popular business start-up competition. In early 2009, he helped lead an initiative to bring together Connecticut leaders from across the business, nonprofit, and labor sectors to unite in a strategy to create new jobs in the state.

As a candidate for United States Senate in 2006, he stood up for his convictions and challenged the political establishment. Taking on long-time incumbent Joe Lieberman for the Democratic nomination for United States Senate, Lamont campaigned on the platform that wars in the Middle East were draining resources and attention that could be better focused on pressing domestic issues like the economy, education, and healthcare. As a private citizen, he fought for the issues in which he believes, serving on the boards of Mercy Corps and the Conservation Services Group, non-profits which seek to make a difference in the humanitarian and renewable energy fields, respectively.

Lamont was born on January 3, 1954, in Washington, D.C. to Camille Helene and Edward Miner Lamont. The eldest of three children, he attended Phillips Exeter Academy, and served as president of the student newspaper, The Exonian. After graduating Phillips Exeter in 1972, he earned a Bachelor of Arts in sociology from Harvard College in 1976 and a Master of Business Administration from the Yale School of Management in 1980.

Lamont married his wife Annie on September 10, 1983. They have three children: Emily, Lindsay, and Teddy.

Daniel H. O'Keefe

Commissioner-designate, Department of Economic and Community Development Chief Innovation Officer, State of CT

Dan was nominated by Governor Ned Lamont as the next Commissioner of the DECD in November 2023, and will serve as Commissioner-designate until confirmed by the Congressional Assembly. He has served as the State’s of Connecticut’s first Chief Innovation Officer since July 2023, and will continue in this additional role until a successor is found. Dan serves as a passionate advocate for the economy and communities throughout Connecticut, focusing on economic growth, workforce development, vibrant communities and job creation. 

FULL BIO

Daniel H. O'Keefe

Commissioner-designate, Department of Economic and Community Development Chief Innovation Officer, State of CT

Dan was nominated by Governor Ned Lamont as the next Commissioner of the DECD in November 2023, and will serve as Commissioner-designate until confirmed by the Congressional Assembly. He has served as the State’s of Connecticut’s first Chief Innovation Officer since July 2023, and will continue in this additional role until a successor is found. Dan serves as a passionate advocate for the economy and communities throughout Connecticut, focusing on economic growth, workforce development, vibrant communities and job creation. 

Prior to entering public service, Dan was a technology investor for 25 years, investing in high growth, innovative companies in the software, consumer and fintech markets, companies that went on to create tens of thousands of jobs. 

Dan also serves as a Board Member and Chairperson Emeritus of The Opportunity Network, an education and career-skills focused non-profit reaching over 40,000 high-potential students from historically marginalized communities.

Dan holds an MBA with High Distinction (Baker Scholar) from Harvard Business School, where he served as President of its Alumni Board, and an AB from Brown University, where he serves on its President’s Leadership Council.

Sponsorships

To secure your sponsorship or inquire about other sponsorship opportunities, please contact:
Kristin Bodner, Senior Marketing Manager, Marcum LLP
[email protected] or 860.760.0714

DOWNLOAD SPONSORSHIP FORM

Presenting Sponsor $8,000
(SOLD)

  • Company logo prominently displayed on the cover of all promotional and event materials as the “Presenting Sponsor” (website, invitation, social media, conference tables, conference book)
  • Opportunity to give opening remarks
  • Company logo displayed on the podium in front of audience at the event
  • Individual Sponsorship signage with logo prominently displayed during event
  • Tabletop display at event
  • Verbal acknowledgment of company
  • Receipt of registration and attendee list post event
  • Opportunity to insert company brochure and promotional item in goody bags
  • Full page advertisement in program book

Breakfast Sponsor $6,000

  • Company logo prominently displayed on all promotional and event materials as the “Breakfast Sponsor” (website, invitation, social media, conference tables, conference book)
  • Sponsorship signage with logo displayed during breakfast networking opportunity
  • Verbal acknowledgment of company during opening remarks
  • Tabletop display at event
  • Full page advertisement in program book
  • Receipt of attendee list post conference
  • Company logo displayed on promotional mints at breakfast station and event tables
  • Opportunity to insert company brochure and promotional item in goody bags

Gold Sponsor $4,000

  • Company name or logo prominently displayed on all promotional and event materials (website, invitation, social media, conference tables, conference book)
  • Tabletop display at event
  • Receipt of attendee list post-conference
  • Full page advertisement in conference book

Centerpiece Sponsor $3,500

  • Company logo prominently displayed on all promotional and event materials as the “Centerpiece Sponsor” (website, invitation, social media, conference tables, conference book)
  • Company logo and contact information displayed at all tables in centerpieces
  • Verbal acknowledgment of company during opening remarks

Silver Sponsor $3,000

  • Company name or logo prominently displayed on all promotional and event materials (website, invitation, social media, conference tables, conference book)
  • Opportunity to insert company brochure and promotional item in goody bags
  • Half page advertisement in conference book

Coffee Sponsor $3,000

  • Company name or logo prominently displayed on all promotional and event materials (website, invitation, social media, conference tables, conference book)
  • Company logo on coffee napkins
  • Verbal acknowledgment of company during opening remarks

Lanyard Sponsor $3,000
(SOLD)

  • Company name or logo prominently displayed on all promotional and event materials (website, invitation, social media, conference tables, conference book)
  • Company logo displayed on all attendee lanyards
  • Verbal acknowledgment of company during opening remarks

Bronze Sponsor $2,000

  • Company name or logo prominently displayed on all promotional and event materials (website, invitation, social media, conference tables, conference book)
  • Quarter page advertisement in conference book

Other Advertising Options

ADS DUE DATE: Please submit all ads by March 4, 2024 to Kristin Bodner.

Quarter Page Ad $300
2.375″W x 3.875″H

Half Page Ad $500
5″W x 3.875″H

Full Page Ad $700
5″W x 8″H

Sponsors

CPE Credits

Program Description Make It Here 2030: The Manufacturing Workforce of Tomorrow
Important Notice Regarding CPE:
Learning Objectives
  • Summarize “Make it Here 2030” strategic plan and its goal of achieving full employment in Connecticut’s manufacturing sector by 2030 
  • Identify current and future workforce challenges in the manufacturing sector, and explore actionable strategies to address these challenges
  • Illustrate actionable takeaways that can be implemented in participants’ own organizations or practices to align with the state’s workforce development goals 
Instruction Delivery Method Live In-Person
Recommended CPE Credit 1 credit
Recommended Field of Study Specialized Knowledge
Prerequisites None
Program Level Update
Advance Preparation None
Cancellation Policy You may cancel your registration at any time prior to the event.
Complaint Resolution Policy For more information regarding refund, concerns and program cancellation policies, please contact our offices at [email protected].

Marcum LLP is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State boards of accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit. Complaints regarding registered sponsors may be submitted to the National Registry of CPE Sponsors through its website: www.NASBARegistry.org.