AREA PEOPLE OF NOTE

Despite Valley United Way not being able to hold its planned public Annual Meeting on April 30, its board recently elected new officers to serve until its next Annual Meeting and thanked a number of longtime directors whose terms ended April 30. Members whose terms have ended include Jimmy Tickey, who served as Board Vice Chair; Jennifer Bull, CPA, (PKF O’Connor Davies, LLP); Peter Dagostine (First Group America); Michael Duncan (Edgewell Personal Care); Fred Ortoli (Ortoli Photography); Ramon Peralta (Peralta Design); and Janice Sheehy (Webster Bank). At its April 22 board meeting, directors elected the following officers for terms ending at the next annual meeting: Chairman, Michael Gnibus (Armstrong Teasdale); Vice Chair, Karen Stockla (Prudential Financial); Secretary, Dominick Thomas, Esq. (Cohen & Thomas); Treasurer, Gregory DeStefano, CPA (Cherubino & Company, PC).

Frank B. Cochran and Stephanie Fitzgerald of New Haven recently provided a helping hand to Wallingford-based Capital for Change Inc., Connecticut’s largest full-service community development financial institution. The nonprofit organization receives charitable contributions and allows people to invest in its mission. The couple stepped forward in response to a recent message Arcand shared with investors in Capital for Change’s Social Impact Fund, describing efforts undertaken by the organization to ensure the nonprofit organization’s long-term stability in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. Cochran and Fitzgerald, who have invested in the nonprofit’s work since 2016, responded to Arcand’s message that — to help alleviate the virus-imposed crisis — they would donate their earned interest for the current year, plus renew their investment for another year with no expectation of a return on the investment.

Gnibus