Movers & Shakers

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Barbara Kreitner has joined the West Hartford Chamber of Commerce as director of membership services and community relations. She is a certified human resources professional with many years of diverse, nonprofit experience and serves on the board of the Human Resources Association of Central Connecticut. Also, Maryellen Milio has been named associate director of communications/special events/administration. Prior to joining the chamber, she was the assistant director of school based programs/community outreach for the Bristol Boys & Girls Club

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Diane Allen has joined Del Conte Hyde Annello and Schuch P.C. as a marketing specialist for the independent accounting firm in Farmington. Allen’s background includes involvement with national integrated advertising and marketing campaigns for noted Fortune 500 companies such as Ameriprise, Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs. Most recently, she was an account executive for SourceMedia in New York City.

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Wendi Weber has been named regional director for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s 13-state Northeast Region. Weber, a 13-year career service employee, has served as deputy regional director for the region since 2007. Prior to coming to the Northeast Region, Weber served as assistant regional director for ecological services in the service’s Midwest region in Minneapolis.

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Co-Communications has hired Julia Baily as an account coordinator in the public relations and marketing firm’s Farmington office. Baily has previous internship experience in sales and marketing from Ebb Pod Productions LLC and The Warren Group. Most recently, she worked for Spurs Sports & Entertainment in Texas. Co-Communications has offices in Mount Kisco, New York, and Farmington.

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Patrick Riccards has been named CEO of ConnCAN, the New Haven-based state education reform advocacy group. He began his career working on staff and campaigns for U.S. senators and congressmen. He has worked for a wide array of issue-based organizations since then, focusing on political strategy and communications. In 2008, Patrick started his own strategic communications firm, Exemplar Strategic Communications Riccards has worked with the National Reading Panel, New Leaders for New Schools, the National Governors Association and the American Federation of Teachers. ConnCAN’s outgoing CEO, Alex Johnston, will remain with the organization in an advisory capacity through the end of the calendar year.

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Konowitz, Kahn & Co. P.C., a North Haven CPA firm, has hired Erasmo S. Bruno as director of its tax services group. For the past 14 years, Bruno operated a boutique international tax law practice. Prior to that, he was an International tax partner with a top ten global public accounting firm. He has lectured on international tax, business and family wealth topics to companies and organizations in the U.S., Italy, Mexico, Canada, Ireland and Germany including major international chambers of commerce.

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McCarter & English LLP has expanded its Connecticut practice with four new attorneys. Associates Sami Asaad, Susan Schlesinger and Ragi Elias have joined the firm’s Hartford office, and Sean MacDavitt has joined as an associate in the Stamford office. Asaad concentrates his practice in labor and employment law. Elias joined the intellectual property/information technology practice and focuses primarily on the preparation and prosecution of patent applications in the mechanical and medical arts. Prior to joining the firm, he was a patent examiner at the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Schlesinger brings her substantial trademark prosecution and litigation experience to the firm’s intellectual property/information technology practice. Prior to practicing law, she worked for several years in the entertainment industry. MacDavitt focuses on intellectual property case preparation and prosecution in infringement and non-infringement matters as an attorney in the firm’s Intellectual property/information technology practice. Prior to practicing law, he was an electrical engineer at a semiconductor company. The new attorneys increase the total number of attorneys in Connecticut to 54.

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Connecticut Ballet has named Samantha Parsons as its director of dance education and outreach. She brings experience in developing and marketing programs. She is a native South African and has worked as a ballet teacher, movement specialist, dance educator and researcher in the field of dance for over 10 years. Parsons is one of only a handful of registered Royal Academy of Dancing instructors in Connecticut.

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Thora Cowperthwaite joins Rockville Bank as assistant vice president and branch manager of the Ellington branch. She headed New Alliance Bank’s Vernon branch for the past 17 years, starting when it still was First Federal Savings & Loan; it was acquired by New Alliance Bank in 2004. Cowperthwaite is president of the Tolland County Chamber of Commerce and is the first person ever elected to serve a two-year term in that position.

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RozeLyn Beck has joined YWCA Hartford Region as director of development and marketing. She brings 25 years experience with a variety of insurance companies including The Hartford Insurance Group and CNA Insurance Co. She has a broad background in strategic planning, project management, curriculum development and product management, combined with recent training in the nonprofit sector through the Encore!Hartford program.