Ulysses B. Hammond, Interim Executive Director
Ulysses B. Hammond has an unwavering passion for and a commitment to public service.
He has decades of executive experience managing and leading public and private institutions in Michigan, Washington, DC, and the State of Connecticut.
Hammond served for fifteen years as Vice President for Administration and Legal Affairs at Connecticut College where he oversaw all campus administration and general business operations at the New London based college that boasts 1,600 students. During his tenure, Hammond led the college’s $100 million capital project, which included the construction of the Science Center (with geothermal heating & cooling system), Library, Fitness Center, Power House and Hillel Center.
Building bridges and getting people to work together for a common cause, has been a key differentiator and a guiding principle for Ulysses B. Hammond during his distinguished career.
“I’m a collaborative leader and very 360 oriented when it comes to project management,” Hammond says. “I try to touch as many bases as possible.
Raised in Washington, D.C. as the oldest son in a family of nine, Hammond credits his mother, an evangelical minister, with inspiring him to put others before himself and his father for his work ethic and board service.
“Ulysses is one of the most gifted leaders I have ever known. First, his personal values put transparency and ethics above all else,” said B.Michael Rauh, Jr., President & CEO, Chelsea Groton Bank. “Second, he believes deeply in inclusion. He routinely makes sure to draw out the thoughts and opinions of everyone around the table, even if they are hesitant to speak up. He understands that none of us is as smart as all of us. And lastly, he is humble, kind and genuine. Ulysses is at ease with whomever he is engaging with, has a self-deprecating manner, and truly wants to make the world a better place. We are very lucky to have a person of Ulysses’ talents, skills and experience in our community.”
Ulysses B. Hammond does not run away from a challenge, instead he meets those challenges head on. In 1990, Hammond became the first African-American to serve as Chief Executive Officer for the District of Columbia Courts, a $120 million operation. In a bold effort to establish fairness in the court’s hiring and promotions system, Hammond instituted a more equitable and transparent managerial process.
Ulysses B. Hammond has brought his transformative and collaborative leadership style to several Connecticut based organizations including Chelsea Groton Bank, where as a board member, he currently chairs both the Audit Committee and the Investment Committee. Hammond also sits on the Governance Committee and the Strategic Planning Committee for the bank. And recently, Hammond chaired the board of the Connecticut Mirror. He is also the co-chair of the Innovation Center of the Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut.
“Ulysses Hammond established himself in his leadership of the federal judiciary system decades ago as a person of impeccable integrity,” said Dr. Stephen M. Coan, President and Chief Executive Officer, Mystic Aquarium. “In Eastern Connecticut, he has led Connecticut College as a senior executive, as well as the Eastern Connecticut Chamber of Commerce and Lawrence and Memorial Hospital as a Board Chair. He has exceptional leadership skills combined with an attention to managerial detail and, always, a clear moral compass for doing what is right.”
Ulysses B. Hammond Achievements & Accolades also include:
- Associate State Court Administrator for the Michigan Supreme Court
- Court Executive for the Third Judicial Circuit Court in Detroit
- Served as President of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Scholarship Trust Fund
- Past Board Chair of Lawrence + Memorial Healthcare System
- Chair of the Connecticut Mirror Board of Directors
- Dominion Power Strong Men and Women Excellence in Leadership Award
- Mitchell College President’s Council
- Town of Waterford Elections Moderator
- Liberty Bell Award (New London County Bar Association)
- William Crawford Distinguished Service Award (Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut)
- Honorary Doctor of Laws from Kenyon College
- Connecticut College Power House Building Renamed in His Honor
Ulysses B. Hammond earned a Bachelor of Arts from Kenyon College, a Master of Public Administration from Wayne State University, and a Juris Doctorate from Wayne State University Law School. He lives with his wife Christine in Waterford, Connecticut.
Board of Directors
David Kooris, Chair
David Kooris became Acting Chair of the Board of the Connecticut Port Authority in July 2019 and was elected Chair by his peers in January 2020.
Mr. Kooris has nearly twenty-years of experience in urban and regional planning, economic development, sustainability, resilience, and urban design in the public, private and civic sectors. He is currently President of Stamford Downtown, a business improvement district representing the major property owners, companies, and residents of that neighborhood. There he manages a phenomenal team of professionals responsible for maintaining and activating the public realm of the core of the city. Stamford Downtown produces concerts, parades, public art exhibits, and a multitude of smaller events and is responsible for cleaning and greening downtown’s streetscape. It is the primary voice for responsible development policy, ensuring that public infrastructure and private investment work together to continue to make Stamford Downtown the most vibrant urban neighborhood in the state and the region.
Prior to January of 2020, Mr. Kooris was Deputy Commissioner at the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development. He was responsible for orchestrating the placed-based components of the state’s economic development strategy including transit-oriented development, brownfields, capital projects, waterfront, historic preservation, the arts, tourism, and opportunity zones. He focused there on coordinating public sector infrastructure investment to best prepare communities for private sector growth while enhancing environmental sustainability and quality of life for all. Before DECD, Mr. Kooris was Director of Resilience for Connecticut’s Department of Housing. There, he managed two federal grants totaling nearly $65 million for coastal resilience planning across Fairfield and New Haven Counties and the design and construction of several pilot projects for green infrastructure, raised mobility corridors, distributed energy generation, and 21st century flood protection in the City of Bridgeport.
Before state service, Mr. Kooris was the Director of the Office of Planning and Economic Development and Executive Director of the Redevelopment Agency for the City of Bridgeport. There, he oversaw ten departments in the creation of the city’s revitalization strategy and its execution in tangible public and private investments. Mr. Kooris began his career at Regional Plan Association where he held several positions, most notably Vice President and Connecticut Director. His work there focused on helping individuals, communities, and agencies better understand the link between social, economic, and environmental factors and better position the tri-state region and its neighborhoods for a sustainable future through coordinated land use and transportation planning.
Grant W. Westerson, Vice-Chair
Yacht Safety, LLC
Grant Westerson has been on the Connecticut waterfront and active in the Recreational Marine Industry since his family started a premium yacht dealership in the late 1950’s. Working full time when the business relocated to Old Saybrook he also served with the Connecticut National Guard as a Recruiter. He earned a Coast Guard Master’s License and later his pilot’s license. His company eventually purchased and renovated a local boatyard and café until the property was used for a new I-95 bridge. He returned to and graduated from the University of Connecticut while continuing to oversee client’s vessels. He also worked with a Marine Surveying business throughout New England, inspecting vessels for prepurchase and investigating insurance claims for many leading underwriters.
Elected in 1983, Grant served on the Board of Directors of the Connecticut Marine Trades Association, being voted in as Chairman and then President. For the next 33 years he served on numerous state, regional, and national organizations affiliated with the recreational boating industry, many as Chairman. Eventually hired as CMTA’s Executive Director he served there for the next 18 years, managing staff, membership, organizing and producing the Annual Hartford Boat and Fishing Shows and worked on many legislative issues in Hartford. During his tenure, the Association grew in membership and recognition as a leading marine trade association. He now works part time for himself as an Accredited Marine Surveyor.
Active in Old Saybrook, he has operated the town Marine Patrol vessel for over 40 years, served on the Board of Finance, Harbor Management and as an Election Moderator. He was appointed by three Connecticut Governors as Old Saybrook’s Harbormaster, to the Long Island Sound LPG Terminal Task Force, and as a Commissioner on the Connecticut Maritime Commission. He was appointed to the Connecticut Port Authority Board of Directors by Senate Republican President Pro Tempore Len Fasano. Grant is licensed on land, sea and air.
Treasurer Erick Russell
The Office of the Treasurer
Jeffrey R. Beckham, Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management (OPM)
Jeffrey Beckham was appointed by Governor Ned Lamont to serve as the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management (OPM), effective March 11, 2022. He is stepping up from his role as Undersecretary for Legislative Affairs, a position to which he was appointed in April 2019.
Beckham has over thirty years’ experience in state policy development and administration, including service in all three branches of the state government. He previously served in the Department of Administrative Services as a staff counsel and director of communications (2011-2019), and in the former Department of Public Works as managing attorney (2005-2007). He is currently serving his second stint at OPM, having served before as Undersecretary for Legislative Affairs in the Rell Administration (2007-2010).
Prior to service in the Executive Branch, Beckham was an attorney in the Legislative Commissioners’ Office, the General Assembly’s nonpartisan staff for bill-drafting and legal counsel, for fourteen years (1991-2005). He worked on legislation for the legislative committees on the environment, energy, commerce, and later, finance, revenue, and bonding. His first job in Connecticut state government was as temporary assistant clerk in the Superior Court.
Beckham holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Florida State University (FSU) and a law degree from the FSU College of Law. He is admitted to practice law in the states of Connecticut and California.
Commissioner Daniel H. O’Keefe
Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD)
Commissioner Katie S. Dykes
Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP)
Katie Dykes is the Commissioner of Connecticut’s Department of Energy & Environmental Protection (DEEP). She has served since 2019, when she was first nominated by Governor Ned Lamont, and was re-confirmed in February 2023 to serve in Governor Lamont’s second term. Katie previously served as Chair of the Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) from 2015-2018, and as Deputy Commissioner for Energy at Connecticut DEEP from 2012-2015. Katie also serves as the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, Inc. (RGGI). Katie joined CT DEEP in March 2012 after prior service in the White House Council on Environmental Quality and the U.S. Department of Energy. She is a graduate of Yale College and the Yale Law School.
Commissioner Garrett T. Eucalitto
Department of Transportation (DOT)
Garrett T. Eucalitto was nominated by Governor Ned Lamont and confirmed by the legislature as Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) in January 2023. From January 2020 until January 2023, Eucalitto served as the Deputy Commissioner of CTDOT. In this role, he oversaw CTDOT’s Bureaus of Finance & Administration, Policy & Planning, and Public Transportation.
Prior to joining CTDOT, Eucalitto was the Transportation Program Director for the National Governors Association (NGA) in Washington, DC. In this capacity, he was responsible for assisting the nation’s 55 governors in advancing their policy objectives in transportation, including combating impaired driving and improving safety on the roadways, the implementation of innovative financing tools, transit-oriented development, and accelerating electrification of the transportation sector.
Before joining the NGA, Eucalitto was the Undersecretary for Comprehensive Planning and Intergovernmental Policy for the Connecticut Office of Policy and Management during the administration of Governor Dannel P. Malloy. In this position, he researched, evaluated, and developed transportation, environmental, and regional planning initiatives.
Eucalitto began his career working in Washington, DC, for six years on the staff of former Senator Joe Lieberman as his legislative assistant, covering appropriations, transportation, and infrastructure. In this role, Eucalitto advocated for Connecticut’s transportation needs at the federal level and led efforts to protect Long Island Sound and improve the state’s air quality and environmental assets. He also secured federal protections to allow continued dredging of the state’s ports and harbors, worked to secure the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” and collaborated with CTDOT to secure annual appropriations and discretionary funding and in the consideration and passage of MAP-21.
Eucalitto earned a bachelor’s degree from the College of the Holy Cross and a master’s degree from Boston University. He is a native of Torrington and currently lives in New Haven.
Mayor Justin Elicker
City of New Haven
Mayor Joe Ganim
City of Bridgeport
Mayor Michael Passero
City of New London
Gaffney J. Feskoe, Halifax Associates, LLC
Gaffney Feskoe is a graduate of the Rye Country Day School, Boston College, with a degree in economics and finance, and holds an MBA from Fordham University.
For many years he was engaged in international corporate banking, trade finance and foreign exchange capital markets in New York with such banks as Manufacturers Hanover Trust Co., European-American Banking Corp., Citibank and The Bank of New York.
Further, he was an assistant corporate treasurer of United States Filter Corp., then a Fortune 500 corporation, and as such was the assistant treasurer of the Maine Central Railroad.
He then became a management consultant with Arthur D. Little before forming his own management consulting and executive search firm Halifax Associates LLC, based in Connecticut, which was engaged in the financial services and the maritime industries. With respect to the maritime industry, the company was appointed a representative of Halifax Shipyards of Nova Scotia (a J.D.Irving enterprise) to the international shipping companies located in Fairfield County, Connecticut. Additionally the company was appointed an agent of the Port of St. John, New Brunswick to advise on increasing cargo throughput at that facility.
Apart from his business activities, he was a Trustee of the Yale Library Associates and was a member of the steering committee of The Friends of The Yale Center for British Art. He is a Proprietor of the Boston Athenaeum and is a member of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Mr. Feskoe resides in Woodbury, CT where he is a Trustee of the Woodbury Public Library and is the founder and president of the Woodbury Library Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation.
Mr. Feskoe was appointed to the Connecticut Port Authority Board of Directors by Governor Ned Lamont.
John S. Johnson, Thames River Properties, LLC
John has spent his spent his lifetime on or near the sea. A native of Mamaroneck, New York, John has lived in Connecticut for over 45 years. A graduate of Tufts University with a B.A. in Economics, he started his professional life in the international banking world. Johnson soon gravitated to his family’s marine hardware business and ultimately became a founding partner in Brewer Yacht Yards based out of Mamaroneck. A born entrepreneur, John’s long list of companies has a common underlying theme: the coastal waters. His most recent businesses include the Thames River Gallery, a maritime art gallery located in New London, Thames River Properties, the Allen Spool Mill Building in Mystic, and JBG Ventures in Stonington. Former businesses include Newport Marine Products based in Guilford, Sono Square based in Norwalk, CT, Woodworker’s Store at South Norwalk, and Machine Works at Essex.
John’s civic responsibilities are also numerous. He has sat on the Planning and Zoning Commissions of both Wilton and Old Lyme for 35years, served as Chair of OPSAIL CT, founding board member National Coast Guard Museum Association, Vice President Coast Guard Foundation, and past Vice Chair New London Port Authority. He was also the founding Chairman of the CT Maritime Coalition.
John was appointed to the Connecticut Port Authority Board of Directors by Governor Dannel P. Malloy.
Thomas M. Patton, Vista Advisors, LLC
Thomas Patton is an experienced CEO and Board member with a record of applying good governance and professional management practices to private and public companies in the medical technology field. Tom was appointed as a member of the CPA Board in February 2021 after being nominated by Governor Lamont. Tom currently is an Advisor to SV Health Investors, a private equity group focused on investing in companies in the healthcare market. He also currently serves as an adjunct Professor at Holy Cross College teaching Entrepreneurship to undergraduates.
Mr. Patton also currently is a member of the Board of Directors of ElectroCore (NASD:ECOR) (non-invasive vagal nerve stimulation products) where he serves as the Chairman of the Audit Committee, of Robling Medical (contract medical products manufacturing), and of Packaging Compliance Labs (packaging solutions and testing for the medical products field.)
Mr. Patton has served previously as the CEO of Ximedica (contract R&D services), CAS Medical Systems (patient monitoring), and Wright Medical Technology (orthopedic implants), as the President of Novametrix (patient monitoring), and as the President and co-founder of QDx (hematology diagnostics.)
Mr. Patton was previously an advisor to Ferrer Freeman & Company, a healthcare focused private equity fund.
Mr. Patton has extensive Board experience having served on the Board of Directors of four public and eleven private companies. He has significant legal and practical expertise in Compliance, as Audit Chair, as Lead Director and as Chairman.
Mr. Patton started his career as a litigation attorney at the renowned law firm of Williams and Connolly in Washington, DC before joining Wright Medical as its General Counsel in 1993.
Mr. Patton graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center in 1989.
Mr. Patton grew up in Meriden, CT, and attended Xavier High School in Middletown, CT. He graduated from The College of the Holy Cross in 1986 with a major in Economics and Accounting. At Holy Cross he was a Captain of the Football Team his senior year and was recognized as a COSIDA Academic All-American, as the Walter Camp Connecticut Player of the Year, and one of 11 players nationally as a National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame Scholar-Athlete.
Mr. Patton and his family have been residents of Guilford and Branford, CT for the last 23 years and has been active in the local community.
David Pohorylo, New England Shipping Company, Inc.
David E. Pohorylo, a Connecticut native born and raised in Windsor Locks, has resided with his family in Monroe, Connecticut since 1985.
Mr. Pohorylo began his career in the Maritime Industry in 1974, when he joined the Swedish Brostrom Group in New York City, as a staff accountant. Mr. Pohorylo worked with several of the group’s companies in New York and Gothenburg, Sweden, and in 1978 Mr. Pohorylo moved to the position of Manager, Finance & M.I.S. of Brostrom Shipping Company North America, the newly expanded branch office for the Swedish parent overseeing liner, bulker, tanker, trading and pool operations in the Americas. The relocation of Brostrom’s AB Atlanttrafik headquarters to the United States in 1983 allowed Mr. Pohorylo the opportunity to assume the position of Chief Corporate Controller & M.I.S. Director. Mr. Pohorylo later transitioned to the position of Chief Financial Officer.
Mr. Pohorylo returned to Connecticut in 1986 to assume the position of Vice President of Tagship Inc., a major steamship agency with 14 offices on the U.S.East Coast and Gulf, and managed their representation of a container/general cargo liner service.
In 1991 Mr. Pohorylo founded New England Shipping Company, Inc., a ship agency and management company, based in New Haven, Connecticut. New England Shipping originally focused on vessels calling Connecticut’s Ports but has expanded over the years into a full-service shipping company handling all types of vessels and cargo, from bulk carriers to reefer ships, tankers to container and passenger vessels, to highly specialized vessels such as fiber optic cable laying vessels and semi-submersibles in all ports of the northeast United States along with Maryland, Virginia, Georgia and Florida. New England Shipping Company, the only Connecticut based ship agency, continues to maintain their headquarters in Milford, Connecticut and also has satellite offices in New London, Albany, and Port Newark.
Mr. Pohorylo is the current Chairman of the Connecticut Maritime Coalition, a Connecticut Cluster Organization, which has been the voice of the maritime to the State of Connecticut since its inception in 1999. He also serves the State of Connecticut as the longest sitting State Pilot Commissioner.
Mr. Pohorylo was appointed to the Connecticut Port Authority Board of Directors by House Minority Leader, Representative Themis Klaride.
Paul Whitescarver
