03/15/2007
Business Hall of Fame to induct 1st honorees
Cara Baruzzi , Register Staff
-HARTFORD — Greater New Haven will be well represented when the Connecticut Business Hall of Fame welcomes its first class of inductees Friday, with four of the five honorees hailing from the region.
The business leaders being inducted are Herb Barker, chairman of Barker Specialty Co. in Cheshire; President Barry Berman and Executive Vice President S. Richard Kalt of CRN International in Hamden; and John B. Farnham, executive director of Associated General Contractors in Wethersfield.
Milford-based Subway is the sole company being inducted into the hall.
The "Class of 2006" induction ceremony will take place at 7:30 a.m. Friday at the New Park Office and Conference Center in Hartford.
Inductees were chosen from nearly 40 nominees, based on their business success and community involvement, said Ron Dresner, executive director of the Connecticut Business Hall of Fame, which was established in December 2005.
Berman, 56, is founder and president of CRN International, a Hamden-based radio marketing and promotions firm with offices in Seattle and Minneapolis. He has designed marketing strategies for Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, General Motors and other Fortune 500 companies, and has produced more than 600 radio program series heard throughout the United States and Canada.
"What has made us successful in our business is really the passion of everybody here at CRN," Berman said, referring to the company’s more than 70 employees. "They’re very innovative; they’re passionate about what they do. We have fun at what we do."
He co-founded the company as Connecticut Radio Network in 1973.
Kalt joined CRN as a partner and executive vice president in 1981 and, since then, has created many of the company’s award-winning broadcast marketing campaigns for Fortune 500 clients.
Leading another company with a creative focus, Barker, 79, is the founder of Barker Specialty Co. in Cheshire, which distributes promotional and entertainment products. He lives in Florida and will not attend Friday’s ceremony.
"My father, Herb, is a true entrepreneur," said his son, Gerry Barker, president of Barker Specialty Co., who will attend Friday’s event on his father’s behalf. "He is a pioneer in the promotional products industry, recognizing over 60 years ago the power of promotional advertising."
Herb Barker also is founder of Barker Animated Art Galleries, a separate business that sells animation cells, and previously owned Upham’s Department Store in Meriden until a fire destroyed it in 1965, according to his son.
Farnham runs Associated General Contractors of Connecticut, which is the state chapter of The Associated General Contractors of America, an Arlington, Va.-based construction contractors’ trade group.
The lone business being inducted Friday is Subway, the international restaurant chain that started as a single Bridgeport sandwich shop opened by Fred DeLuca in 1965 with a $1,000 loan from family friend Dr. Peter Buck. Since then, the Subway chain has grown to 27,320 restaurants in 85 countries.
"We’re very honored to be recognized, especially in the first class inducted," said spokesman Kevin Kane. "We’re glad that it’s a story that keeps resonating with people."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cara Baruzzi can be reached at cbaruzzi@nhregister.com or 789-5748
|