Around Town

Q&A: Fortune Magazine Journalist Carol Loomis Speaking May 31 at New Canaan Library

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New Canaan library next month for its popular, annual Conversations with Business Leaders lecture series will host one of the most prominent and influential business journalists of our time. Carol Loomis, the longest-tenured employee in the history of Fortune magazine, retiring last summer after more than 60 years with the company, will speak May 31 at the library. The free event will be held at 4 p.m. and registration is required, here. Organizers say Loomis, in interviewing many modern business leaders in the course of her career, likely has had more “Conversations with Business Leaders” herself than any other journalist, forging a unique perspective on the economy by recording their challenges and successes. We had an opportunity ahead of the talk to put some questions to Loomis.

Around Town

Q&A: Talking to New Canaan Library about Sunday’s Talk with David Jaffe

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New Canaan Library’s “Conversations with Business Leaders” series connects New Canaanites who lead large companies, with fellow residents, for a talk, question-and-answer session and gathering. New Canaan’s Hazel Hobbs, who chairs a committee that finds speakers for the series, said the general idea is for these prominent community members to talk about their business experiences. Past speakers include Chase Carey (News Corporation) Jeffrey Immedlt (GE) and guest speakers George Bodenheimer (Disney Media Networks and ESPN) and David Calhoun (The Nielsen Company). At 5 p.m. on Sunday, the library is presenting New Canaan resident David Jaffe, whose rise in retail from within Dress Barn 22 years ago (he became CEO 10 years in) to his current position as president and CEO of parent company Ascena Retail Group Inc.—a specialty retailer of apparel for women and tween girls that does $5 billion annual in sales and has nearly 4,000 stores in the United States and Canada—is an inspirational story, said library Director Lisa Oldham. A father of four in town who serves as a trustee on the Connecticut Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, among other interests, Jaffe’s background includes business degrees from Wharton (go Quakers) and Stanford, Chemical Venture Partners and Merrrill Lynch.