The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Aetna moving HQ to NYC
Nearly 6,000 workers to remain here
Aetna chose New York City as its new headquarters, with plans to move 250 executives and managers from its longtime base in Hartford next year, 18 months after calling into question Connecticut’s management of its budget and the resulting impact on taxes.
Starting in late 2018, Aetna will move into a building 61 Ninth Ave. in Manhattan. In a written statement Thursday, Aetna indicated it “remains committed to its Hartford campus and the thousands of associates based there” and that the move will have “minimal impact” on its Connecticut workforce.
“While Aetna has decided to move 250 jobs to New York City, the vast majority of their nearly 6,000 employees in Connecticut will stay here. At the same time, this is an important reminder that to be competitive, Connecticut state government must immediately take the necessary steps to produce a balanced biennial budget with recurring measures to reduce spending and structural solutions to our long-term problems,” Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said in a statement.
But even that is not a given, with Aetna warning its long-term commitment to Connecticut is pegged to the state’s “economic health” in its words and the vibrancy of Hartford as a city.
“New York City is a knowledge economy hub, and a driver of the innovations that will play a significant part in our ongoing trans-
formation,” said Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini, in a written statement. “Many of the roles in our new office will be filled by innovators from the area’s deep talent pool, which will be an invaluable resource as we consider additional investments in the city going forward.”
If expected after earlier warnings from Aetna about its dissatisfaction with Connecticut has a headquarters locale, it nevertheless comes as a blow for a state still absorbing the implications of General Electric’s August 2016 move to Boston. Aetna did not indicate whether it considered the latter city as a possible destination, with the insurance giant having its consumer health and services operations in Wellesley, Mass.
Aetna’s history goes back to 1819 with the creation in Hartford of the Aetna Fire Insurance Co., with a life insurance annuity fund created in 1850 and incorporated separately in 1853.
“New York City is where talent and technology come together,” said New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio in a statement issued by Aetna. “We’ve never been stronger, and that’s why companies like Aetna and their workers want to be here.”
A spokesperson for Malloy told Hearst Connecticut Media that “Connecticut remains the insurance capital of the world” despite Aetna’s defection. That has been a matter of dispute since November 2003 when Travelers chose Minnesota over Hartford as its headquarters in merging with St. Paul based there, with former Aetna CEO Richard Huber quoted by the New York Times saying “The insurance capital? I don’t even think it’s an insurance capital anymore.”
Connecticut remains the home of the national insurer Cigna in Bloomfield, as well as a significant pocket of specialty carriers in southwestern Connecticut to include the General Reinsurance subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway and a sibling division in Stamford, which combined are among the larger reinsurance carriers in the world. And Travelers remains a major employer in the Hartford area — and is fresh off a great week with its sponsorship of the Travelers Championship in Cromwell.
“Connecticut has a long history with Aetna and we appreciate that thousands of their employees will continue to work and live here in the state,” stated Meg Green, a spokesperson for Malloy, in an email response to a Hearst Connecticut Media query. “While Hartford may not be New York City, we are proud of the city’s revitalization. Hartford provides a strong foundation for any company in the insurance sector, large or small.”
This June, Connecticut’s budget negotiations have gone into overtime between Malloy and the Connecticut General Assembly, as the state attempts to fill a gap blamed in part on lower-than-anticipated income tax revenue and ballooning retirement commitments made over decades.
“As lawmakers, this should be a motivating factor as we work to solve this looming financial disaster,” stated state Rep. and House Minority Leader Themis Karides (RDerby). “Aetna was not the first corporation to vote with its feet and choose to leave Connecticut, and I fear it will not be the last unless we finally address the root causes at the heart of these corporate decisions. We must get our fiscal house in order.”