Press Releases
05/11/2023
Secretary Thomas Addresses Northwest Chamber of Commerce, Highlights Office's New CEO Business Pledge and the Role of Small Businesses in Their Communities
(Hartford, CT) – Secretary of the State Stephanie Thomas spoke this morning with members of the Northwest Chamber of Commerce’s Government Relations Committee, highlighting her office’s new CEO (Civically Engaged Organization) business pledge, the role of small businesses in their communities, and the helpful innovations her office has implemented to make interactions with businesses more seamless and user-friendly.
“Community is so important. It's critical for individuals to be involved in their communities, but even more important that our businesses, both big and small, recognize the role they play in their communities,” Thomas said. “That’s why I’ve launched our CEO program for businesses to take a simple pledge.”
Businesses that pledge to be CEOs are encouraged to take small, but meaningful actions like sharing information about how to vote in upcoming elections with employees and customers, making sure staff has the opportunity to vote on Election Day, and creating opportunities for employees to get involved in the community at least one day each year.
“These actions are more than just a marketing opportunity for your business,” Thomas said. “They’re small efforts you and your business can make to show your community that you’re an invested partner.”
Thomas went on to outline some of the improvements made by the Office of the Secretary of the State’s Business Services Division in making interactions with state government easier and quicker for businesses around the state, including her office’s one-stop business portal, business.ct.gov.
“Many of you have interacted with my wonderful staff when you opened your business, or when you file your annual reports and we want to make this process as seamless and burdenless as possible,” Thomas said. “Over the past couple of years, the office created the one-stop shop for your interactions at business.ct.gov. We’re working now to move more and more processes online to save you time and effort.”
Secretary Thomas also highlighted innovations that have been implemented to streamline customer service inquiries and reduce wait times to receive responses from staff.
“We’ve hired additional staff to answer the phones, but more importantly, we have streamlined our online ticketing program so your business receives a response within minutes,” Thomas said. “I am proud to say that because of these innovations, our office was able to respond to and resolve over 23,000 customer service inquiries in just the first three months I’ve been in office.”
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