[ad_1]
The head of a growing Manchester company with roots at the University of Connecticut and clients around the globe has been named the federal Small Business Administration’s business person of the year in Connecticut.
An SBA news release Tuesday described Control Station President and CEO Dennis Nash as “a forward-thinking strategist who has positioned (the company) as an emerging leader in industrial process analytics and optimization.”
Based in historic Hilliard Mills, Control Station supports business operations in about 70 countries, the news release said. Nash said in an interview that the company provides software designed to maximize efficiency for businesses with “continuous or batch manufacturing processes,” such as oil and gas providers, pulp and paper mills, mining companies and chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturers. The business employs 17 people, including three in Ireland, he said.
Control Station is based in Manchester, Nash said, because of the manufacturing history of Hilliard Mills, which dates to 1672, and the central location among the talent pool of Greater Hartford.
UConn professor Douglas Cooper launched the company in 1988, and Control Station was among the first to introduce software simulations in chemical engineering lessons, according to the company. Nash, who received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame and his MBA from UConn, said he and his team have moved the business beyond its initial focus on academia to a global operation that licenses tools to half the manufacturers in the Fortune 500.
“The company in the last several years has been on a significant upward trajectory,” he said, “and all along I have had a strong team of collaborators, people who have believed in the mission and enjoyed the opportunity to build a company that was at one point just a university training tool to one that is now contributing to the growth and success of leading manufacturers worldwide.”
The SBA’s person of the year honor recognizes leaders who show “staying power, innovativeness of product, responsiveness to adversity, contributions to community and growth in employees,” SBA Connecticut Director Catherine Marx said. “This criteria is deeply rooted in Control Station since its founding on UConn’s campus.”
A Greenwich native who lives in West Hartford, Nash, 54, is the married father of three children. He will compete for the National Small Business Person Award at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., set for April 30. Nash also is to attend a Small Business Resource Expo and award ceremony set for May 4 at Rentschler Field in East Hartford. SBA Connecticut’s Small Business Week event is being planned in concert with the Connecticut Business and Industry Association (CBIA).
[ad_2]
Source link