A letter from the Board President,
Dena Castricone

Happy summer to all! CABO is thrilled to announce many new and exciting things in this edition of our newsletter: Foxwoods joins us as Cornerstone Partner, Comcast signs on as a Corporate Partner and we started monthly breakfast meetings in the Hartford area on the first Thursday of every month!

As the summer heats up, CABO has a number of great new ways for you to network and promote your business through our events, newsletter, and member to member e-mail marketing. Summer events include our annual Pilot Pen event coming in August along with a Connecticut Sun basketball game!

If you have questions about how CABO can help your business, feel free to email me at dcastricone@thecabo.org. Helping your business is CABO’s business. Enjoy the summer!

In this newsletter

From the President
Welcome Foxwoods
NGLCC Women Leaders
Two Special Events
CABO in Hartford
AETNA Procurement
Comcast Business Class

Membership Opportunities
Member Discounts
Membership Drive
2010 Member Directory
Raffle Sponsor

Reach 1,000 people through CABO

Are you on Linked In, Facebook or Twitter? Are you looking to promote an event? If so, send us an e-mail with the event you are promoting and we will send it out on the CABO Linked In group, Facebook Group and Tweet it on your behalf.

Foxwoods Resort Casino “comes out”; and
Becomes newest CABO Cornerstone Partner

The Power of CABO: Thanks to the incredible networking of the CABO executive board, one of the world’s largest resort casinos is now out ‘in the woods’ and CABO’s newest Cornerstone Partner.

In May of 2009, CABO member Chip Green, President of the nationally-respected marketing communications company Green Ink and a longtime Foxwoods vendor, connected Foxwoods’ Director of Communications Dan Weaver with CABO Founder and President Dena Castricone. Thanks to their initial steps, and what Weaver calls “the heroic efforts” of CABO Executive Director Jenn Tracz, Foxwoods joined CABO and began making significant changes in their Human Resource and Procurement policies, as well as its LGBT community outreach.

“In our first meeting with Chief Marketing Officer Robert Victoria and Vice President of Human Resources Steve Heise, we immediately felt their warmth and sincerity,” notes Castricone. “But it was key that they understood that to gain respect and success in the LGBT’s $800 billion market that their own housekeeping needed to be in order before reaching out to patrons.”

Enter Tracz: For the next several months, Tracz worked with Weaver, who was charged with overseeing the Foxwoods LGBT Initiative, on the numerous details and learning curve needs to change those “housekeeping duties” of the casino’s 10,000 employees. “I am proud to have helped Foxwoods and their owners, the Mashantucket Pequots, change policies, like adding LGBT wording to their Employment Policy and including LGBT in their minority vendor listings,” notes Tracz. “It’s also a thrill to be working with them during Gay Pride Month as they launched their marketing campaign at events like Outfest (the Connecticut Gay and Lesbian Film Festival) and the International Festival of Arts and Ideas in New Haven.”

Weaver, now a CABO board member, points out that Tracz has been the driving force in leveraging the powerful relationship of CABO and Foxwoods, which culminated in Victoria deciding to commit time and resources, and become the exclusive Cornerstone Casino Partner of CABO. “Foxwoods has long been committed to diversity and inclusion,” he said. “We are proud to join hands with CABO in reaching out to the LGBT community and celebrate the wonder of us all.”

CABO in the NGLCC news
Women Leaders to Offer Insights in WBI Teleconference Call

What makes a woman an effective LGBT leader?

This and many other questions will be answered in the next National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce® (NGLCC) Women's Business Initiative (WBI) teleconference call focusing on women and leadership.

The call, which is scheduled for June 29 from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. ET, will feature a panel of women who are leading the LGBT business movement in their communities and across the country. The panelists will discuss their leadership styles, the challenges they've faced and the lessons they've learned as LGBT leaders.

"LBT women can take advantage of this unique opportunity to learn from some of the LGBT business community's most influential women leaders," said Victoria Fulkerson, director of supplier diversity and corporate relations at the NGLCC.

The panelists confirmed for the call include:

• Louise Chernin, executive director of the Greater Seattle Business Association and former national chair of the NGLCC Council of Chambers and Business Organizations (CCBO);

• Sam McClure, executive director of the Twin Cities Quorum GLBTA Chamber of Commerce and active national chair of the CCBO;

• Christina Pinson, executive director of the Chicago Area Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce and active Midwest regional chair of the CCBO; and

• Jenn Tracz, executive director of the Connecticut Alliance for Business Opportunities—one of the fastest growing chambers in the NGLCC's affiliate network.

"It is extremely important for LBT women to embrace the unique positions they are in and utilize that source of power to further advance the LBT business movement as a whole," Tracz said.

"If you have ever wondered how you can make a difference in your community then participating in this teleconference is the first step," Tracz continued. "You will be able to learn from just a few of the leaders in the LBT community across the nation who have years of experience in making a difference and can share their tips and insights on what you can do in your own community."

For more information about the teleconference and to RSVP, please email wbi@nglcc.org. Dial-in information for the call will be sent up receipt of RSVP.

Join CABO for a special event this August!

On Friday August 13th, CABO will be hosting an event at the Mohegan Sun Arena to watch the Connecticut Sun take on the Seattle Storm. The Sun is a member of CABO and the Storm is a member of CABO's sister chamber, The Greater Seattle Business Association. Join us in an evening of friendly competition for a pre-game cocktail reception and then tickets to the game, all for $20! If you prefer better seating to the game, you can purchase upgraded tickets for $35, which also includes the pre-game cocktail reception.

CABO is now hosting monthly events in Hartford

CABO is proud to announce we will be holding monthly breakfast meetings in Hartford! Every 1st Thursday of the month join CABO at the Pond House Cafe in Elizabeth Park (a new CABO member) from 8:00-9:30am!

Learn more about CABO and network with other members in the area! Each member will have 60 seconds at the beginning of each meeting to tell us who you are, what you do and how CABO can be a resource to your business!

NGLCC: The BIZ Procurement Series
With Aetna's Kristen Hickey

Making a connection with Fortune 500 companies is challenging, and sometimes even a bit mysterious, and the BIZ Procurement Series is the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce's® (NGLCC) latest effort to demystify this critical process.

In this periodic feature, we talk to the corporate supplier diversity representatives who participate on the NGLCC's Procurement Council, and tap into their insights about the process of developing a business relationship with corporate America.

In the latest installment of the Procurement Series, BIZ talked to Kristen Hickey, supplier diversity manager at Aetna, who explained how small businesses should go about working with large corporations, why small businesses should develop a targeted approach when presenting their case for contracting opportunities, and why first impressions are so important in the procurement process. (Read more here...)

Download additional AETNA info here.

Member Opportunities:

2010-2011 Printed Member Directory

We are pleased to announce that we will be producing
a 2010-2011 printed member directory to be distributed
in October at our 3rd anniversary celebration.

All of those interested in advertising contact Jenn
at JTracz@TheCABO.org or (203) 687-7233
for more information.

Member Discounts

Download our current member discounts here.

CABO is always looking for members who have a discount to offer fellow CABO members. If you have a discount to share, send your information to info@TheCABO.org.

Membership Drive

We want you to refer colleagues and friends to CABO. You will help us increase our membership, help increase member benefits to each other and earn a FREE membership! For every new member that you refer you will receive a free month's membership added to your renewal date - easy as that! Many of our members are already taking advantage - you should too! This is available for referrals of small business members and above.

Raffle Sponsors

We are looking for any small business member or above who would like to be a monthly Raffle Sponsor at our Business OUTReaches.

E-mail info@TheCABO.org or Call (203) 687-7233 for information on anything mentioned above!

Comcast
Business Services:
Transforming Connecticut’s Small and Medium-Sized Businesses

If you own your own small or medium-sized company, your priority is running your business, not running an IT department. Still, someone has to make sure everything works. Luckily, today Comcast is making it easier than ever for business owners to stay focused on the big picture, with its Business Class suite of communications, information and entertainment services. Comcast provides Business Class Internet, Business Class Voice and Business Class TV in a variety of packages designed to boost efficiency and productivity for any size business.

Until now, many of the features that Comcast offers its Business Class customers were reserved only for big companies. With Comcast’s offering, local companies can now leverage the power of our fully converged nationwide fiber-optic communications network, while enjoying the convenience of one provider for all three services, one bill and one number for dedicated, round-the-clock support.