The CONNSTEP Team

Your business will benefit from the expertise and knowledge that the experienced team at CONNSTEP brings to your organization and its employees. We’re dedicated to helping Connecticut’s manufacturing and business community successfully thrive in a competitive environment.

Leadership

  • Beatriz Gutierrez

    Beatriz Gutierrez

    President & CEO
    Beatriz leads the development and execution of CONNSTEP’s strategic plan, supporting Connecticut manufacturers in process improvement and technology advancement.
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  • Matt Howe

    Matt Howe

    Director, Sales & Marketing
    Matt leads CONNSTEP’s sales and marketing teams, working across market segments to ensure our business consulting services deliver the expected outcomes for customers.
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  • Jeff Orszak

    Jeff Orszak

    Director, Strategic Growth & Technology
    Jeff assists Connecticut companies with innovation and product development. He is responsible for coaching companies to originate new ideas, innovative concepts and best practices that contribute to organizational improvement and problem solving.
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  • Mike Stimson

    Mike Stimson

    Director, Strategic Engagement & Process
    Mike manages the continuous improvement and quality delivery teams to ensure the delivery of impactful projects that meet or exceed expectations.
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  • Robert Blakey

    Robert Blakey

    Controller
    Robert manages all areas of accounting at CONNSTEP and is responsible for financial planning, compliance, and reporting.
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Regional Managers

  • Bob Allard

    Bob Allard

    Regional Manager
    Bob Allard is responsible for account management and business development for the Southern Connecticut region.
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  • Burr Brown

    Burr Brown

    Regional Manager
    Burr Brown is responsible for account management and business development for the Southwest Region of Connecticut.
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  • Carol Grosso

    Carol Grosso

    Regional Manager
    Carol is responsible for account management and business development for the Northwest region of Connecticut covering all of Litchfield county, the Waterbury area, and the towns along the northwestern edge of Hartford county.
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  • EJ Howard

    EJ Howard

    Regional Manager
    EJ Howard is responsible for the account management and business development for the Eastern region of Connecticut.
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  • Kathleen Milazzo Swahn

    Kathleen Milazzo Swahn

    Regional Manager
    Kathleen is responsible for account management and business development for the greater Hartford region of Connecticut.
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Consultants

  • Jack Crane

    Jack Crane

    Senior Advisor
    Jack provides manufacturers with guidance and mentoring in strategic planning, marketing, new product development, and linking strategy deployment with Lean activities.
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  • Terry Collins

    Terry Collins

    Continuous Improvement
    Terry provides consulting, training, facilitation, and mentoring to manufacturers, healthcare institutions, and government agencies in pursuit of enterprise-wide excellence.
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  • Franl Murphy

    Matin Karbassioon

    Continuous Improvement
    Matin provides consulting, training, facilitation, and mentoring to manufacturers, healthcare institutions, and government agencies in pursuit of enterprise-wide excellence.
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  • Frank Murphy

    Frank Murphy

    Continuous Improvement
    Frank provides consulting, training, facilitation, and mentoring to Connecticut manufacturers and service providers – focusing on utilization of Lean tools for efficiency improvement, increases in throughput, quality improvement, and top-line growth.
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  • Carissa Roman

    Carissa Roman

    Continuous Improvement
    Carissa provides consulting, training, facilitation, and mentoring to Connecticut manufacturers and service providers – focusing on utilization of Lean tools for efficiency improvement, increases in throughput, quality improvement, and top-line growth.
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  • John Granatelli

    John Granatelli

    Cybersecurity
    John provides support both internally and externally, helping CONNSTEP and its clients identify, understand, design and implement IT solutions to improve our businesses.
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  • Anna Mumford

    Anna Mumford

    Cybersecurity
    Anna provides cybersecurity assessments, conducts risk analyses and performs compliance reviews with small and midsize Connecticut manufacturers.
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  • Jim Habecker

    James Habecker

    Quality Management
    Jim manages CONNSTEP’s Quality Management Services.
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  • Mike Varney

    Mike Varney

    Quality Management
    Mike offers CONNSTEP’s Quality Management Services to small- to mid-sized manufacturers.
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  • Erik Fogleman

    Erik Fogleman

    Technology
    Erik provides a broad technical and market understanding of automation and Industry 4.0 products and applications.
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