Processing Your Payment

Please do not leave this page until complete. This can take a few moments.

February 3, 2022

Lamont picks Carey Manufacturing’s Lavoie as CT’s next manufacturing czar 

HBJ PHOTO | STEVE LASCHEVER Carey Manufacturing Inc. CEO Paul Lavoie has been named the state's new chief manufacturing officer.
By Skyler Frazer

There’s a new chief manufacturing officer in town.

Gov. Ned Lamont has named Paul Lavoie as Connecticut’s chief manufacturing czar, taking over the post from Colin Cooper who announced in December his plans to retire. 

In his new role, that’s based within the state Department of Economic and Community Development, Lavoie will be responsible for coordinating state and private-sector efforts that promote growth in Connecticut’s manufacturing industry. Lavoie will begin his post Monday, Feb. 7.

Lavoie said he looked forward to continuing Cooper’s efforts to grow manufacturing in the state.

“We will continue to engage, educate and enable our manufacturers to take advantage of the market opportunities, grow their businesses and solidify Connecticut’s reputation as the Silicon Valley of Advanced Manufacturing,” Lavoie said.

Lavoie currently serves as general manager of Carey Manufacturing in Cromwell, where he’s been since 2017. In that role he oversees the sales, marketing, production, quality, engineering, financial, and human resource teams. Carey Manufacturing builds catches, latches, and handles, as well as electronic hardware. He will be stepping down from Carey Manufacturing to be the state's manufacturing czar, which is a full-time role.

Prior to his job at Carey, Lavoie was vice president of sales, marketing and human resources at Bristol-based ETTEREngineering Co. from 2013 to 2017. There he managed sales, marketing and human resources, while also implementing a series of strategic, sales, and marketing plans that helped the firm grow 234% over just three years, according to information from the state.

ETTEREngineering is a third-generation, family-owned engineering and manufacturing business.

In addition, Lavoie is a member of Connecticut’s Industry 4.0 Working Group and the Governor’s Workforce Council, as well as some other manufacturing-related state boards.

“Paul is a friendly face in Connecticut’s manufacturing community, and I’m confident that he will be able to hit the ground running,” Lamont said.

Cooper became the state’s first chief manufacturing officer in 2019. His final day of state service will be Feb. 25, according to Lamont.

“I’ve been most impressed with the passion and engagement of our manufacturing stakeholders throughout the state and I’m optimistic that Paul will continue to advance the communication, cooperation, and collaboration that has developed to the benefit of our companies and world-class workforce,” Cooper said in a statement.


 

Sign up for Enews

Most Recent

Most Recent

0 Comments

Order a PDF