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November 5, 2019

Q Chamber fetes Gaylord’s LaBarbera

PHOTOS | New Haven Biz L-r: Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce President Garrett Sheehan, Mollie Medico, IT manager of BYK, Woman of the Year honoree Sonja LaBarbera, and Dee Prior-Nesti, executive director of the Quinnipiac Chamber of Commerce.
By Michael C. Bingham

Sonja LaBarbera hasn’t been on the job as president and CEO of Gaylord Specialty Healthcare in Wallingford for even a year (she began last January), but she’s already been celebrated as the Quinnipiac Chamber of Commerce’s “Woman of the Year.”

LaBarbera was joined by five other female business leaders who were feted as part of the Q Chamber’s 2019 Women’s Achievement Awards Luncheon last Friday (Nov. 1) at the Hilton Garden Inn in Wallingford.

Some 200 honorees and celebrants attended the 20th edition of the annual event.

LaBarbera joined Gaylord in 2005 and has occupied positions of increasing responsibility, including director of inpatient therapy services, senior director of therapy and outpatient services, vice president of operations and strategy and, most recently, chief operating officer.

LaBarbera was joined in the winner’s circle by:

• Kristie Dammling, vice president/relation manager of TD Bank, winner for “Excellence in Business”

• Tracy Guyette, HR supervisor for Nucor Steel Connecticut, cited for “Excellence in Manufacturing”

• Tammie Ulbrich, president of the board of directors of the Ulbrich Boys & Girls Club, for “Community Impact”

• Hilton Garden Inn General Manager Linzi Bell, “Emerging Leader”

• Heather LaTorra, president and CEO of Marrakech Inc., for “Excellence in Advocacy.”

 The luncheon awards event was keynoted by Quinnipiac University President Judy D. Olian.

Olian, who arrived in Mount Carmel in July 2018 as the school’s ninth chief executive, discussed her school’s continuing evolution from one-time commuter business college to comprehensive national university, its role as a molder of the workforce of the future and its sometimes uneasy coexistence with its Hamden neighbors.

“Quinnipiac aspires to become the university of the future,” Olian said, “not remain in an ivory tower that’s insulated from markets.”

Quinnipiac University President Judy D. Olian keynoted the Q Chamber’s awards luncheon on Friday.

Among other things, that means “We must embrace diversity in every form,” Olian said. That includes diversity in its student body, faculty and workforce, of course, but also “We must be more diverse in how we teach and deliver” education, including outside the classroom. “The way students learn is changing into a more active and participatory model,” she said, “and that’s where I think Quinnipiac will excel.”

Already, she added, 97.5 percent of QU seniors land a job within six months of graduation. 

“We must cater to the growing needs of businesses to re-skill and up-skill their workforces,” Olian added.

An affiliate of the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce, the Quinnipiac Chamber of Commerce services companies in North Haven and Wallingford.

 

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