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February 7, 2025

A known quantity: Waterbury rehires past Waterbury Development Corp. head

contributed James F. Nardozzi
By Michael Puffer

A little more than a month after former Waterbury Development Corp. Executive Director Thomas Hyde stepped down, the quasi-public agency’s board has hired a familiar face to fill the role.

James F. Nardozzi, who led the agency from 2017 to 2019, will return to the executive director’s chair as of Feb. 14, following a Friday morning vote of the Waterbury Development Corp.’s Board of Directors.

“I’m glad he was interested in coming back and it will make for a near seamless transition since he was there already, he kind of knows the lay of the land,” WDC Board Chair Catherine Awwad said.

Nardozzi, 56, is a lifelong Waterbury resident who has held several high-tier jobs with area institutions. He will earn $180,000 yearly in his role. He was among 21 applicants and five finalists for the job. Nardozzi, on Friday, said he is honored and grateful for the opportunity to serve his city.

“Waterbury is my home, and I have a great interest in making the city the best it can possibly be,” Nardozzi said. “When I saw this position advertised, it was something I believe in deeply. I live here. I shop here. I’ve worked here. It’s really a work of love for me.”

Nardozzi – who holds a bachelor’s degree from Northeastern University and a doctorate in public administration from Nova Southeastern University – served on Waterbury’s police force for 17 years, rising to the level of deputy chief before his retirement from the force in 2007. 

Nardozzi next spent five years as a dean at Waterbury-based Post University, then three years as an assistant police chief in Bridgeport, before being appointed interim director of WDC in early 2017.

Nardozzi left the WDC in 2019 for a job as vice president of global business services for Drew Marine, a global provider of specialty chemicals and services for marine applications. Nardozzi was hired as the New Jersey-based company was launching a manufacturing facility in Waterbury’s East End.

Nardozzi left that position just about the time Hyde resigned to take a job as chief of staff with AdvanceCT, a nonprofit handling Connecticut’s business retention and recruitment efforts.

As WDC head, Nardozzi will lead a staff of 12 for an organization with a $1.65 million annual budget that oversees economic development and infrastructure projects with budgets that can easily reach tens of millions of dollars in any given year. Half of the agency’s staff previously worked under Nardozzi.

Many of the longer-range and more ambitious projects on the agency’s docket were either launched or fostered during Nardozzi’s previous tenure. These include an ongoing cleanup of an abandoned 16-acre manufacturing complex in the city’s South End; a massive program of underground utility and streetscape upgrades in downtown; and an effort to bring a 3 million-square-foot Amazon warehouse to a site on the Waterbury-Naugatuck line.

Mayor Paul Pernerewski, on Friday, expressed confidence in Nardozzi’s ability to keep the WDC a “vital engine for economic growth and project management.

“His extensive experience with the agency will provide continuity and a near-seamless transition,” Pernerewski said. “His extensive experience in both the public and private sectors and his deep understanding of Waterbury’s unique opportunities and challenges make him the ideal choice to lead the organization forward.”

That sentiment was echoed by former mayor Neil O’Leary, who acted as interim WDC director in the few weeks since Hyde stepped down and worked closely with Nardozzi during his time in office. O’Leary, a former chief of police, also served on the Waterbury force with Nardozzi.

“We are thrilled to have him back,” O’Leary said Friday. “That place (WDC) has a lot of talented people. When Jimmy was there for a couple years when I was the mayor, he did a really amazing job reorganizing it. I was very glad he was interested in coming back and doing it permanently.”  
 

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