Hartford, CT (1888PressRelease)
May 29, 2008 - President and Chief Executive Officer Paulette Hotton is celebrating her 30th year at the Connecticut Better Business Bureau, having built it into one of the most successful bureaus in the nation.
With a degree in communications, Hotton was manager of the retail division for the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce in 1978 when she accepted an offer as Executive Director of what was then called BBB of Greater New Haven. Hotton re-structured the organization and almost quadrupled its membership base.
When she inherited the Greater New Haven BBB, it had fewer than 280 accredited businesses. With Hotton’s guidance, the number blossomed to more than 800 within the first year.
Hotton realized that the southeastern part of Connecticut wasn’t being served, so she brought Middlesex and New London counties into what became the new BBB of South-East Connecticut, which reached all the way to the border of Rhode Island. But the growth still continued, according to Hotton.
“We had two mergers in the 1990s which resulted in the creation of one Connecticut Better Business Bureau. The first, in 1991, involved the Hartford Bureau. Then in 1995 we extended our coverage to Fairfield and Litchfield counties by acquiring the Western Connecticut Better Business Bureau.” Today, Connecticut BBB has more than 3,700 accredited business members.
Paulette Hotton’s leadership in serving all consumers in Connecticut has not gone unnoticed at the national level, according to Steve Cox, the Vice President of Communications, Council of Better Business Bureaus.
"The breadth, depth and quality of work at BBB Connecticut has been showcased many times by national media organizations, most recently in a story on fraudulent business loan operators taking advantage of small business owners nationwide," said Steve Cox, Vice President of Communications, Council of Better Business Bureaus.
"Paulette's leadership and media savvy have consistently made a difference for communities in Connecticut, and also positively impacted consumers and businesses across the U.S., by delivering information people needed, when they needed it most."
Under Paulette Hotton’s stewardship, Connecticut BBB has grown to become an important resource for both consumers and business owners alike.
According to Hotton, “I think our most important goal is education. A fair and equitable marketplace grows out of consumer education, and is supported by BBB accredited businesses that work hard to maintain high marketplace standards and practices in which buyers and sellers can do commerce with trust.”
The Chairperson of Connecticut Better Business Bureau Board of Directors, Susan Forrest, says she has worked closely with Hotton for years and always admired her drive for results and tireless passion for BBB and its accredited businesses.
“Paulette's success is not only based on her business acumen,” according to Forrest, “but also her compassion for helping others, which is clear in every facet of her involvement with BBB. Paulette is a strong business leader, a champion of BBB values and an inspiration to those who know her and have had the opportunity to work with her.”
Reflecting on her work with Better Business Bureau, Hotton says “It has been an exciting and challenging thirty years, and changes are always in the works for our accredited business members and to make our services available to consumers and businesses in new and more efficient ways.”
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