Category: Members (Page 3 of 27)

Paul Tregurtha was born in 1935 in Orange, N.J. He received a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Cornell University and an M.B.A. from Harvard in 1963. He served as a first lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force from 1958 to 1961 and worked for Brown & Sharpe Manufacturing Company from 1969-1971.

He then started his career in the water transportation field by joining Moore-McCormack Resources, Inc. in Stamford, for which he worked until 1987, eventually rising to CEO and chairman. Since 1988, he has been chairman and co-owner of Mormac Marine Group, Inc. in Stamford and co-owner of The Interlake Steamship Company, Moran Towing Corporation, which operates 95 tugboats in the United States and Mexico, and Seastreak Ferry, LLC, a private ferry company operating in the Port of New York and New Jersey and in New England. Paul describes his current role at these firms as “giving advice and not caring if anyone listens.” He had been co-owner and vice chairman of Interlake Steamship Company in 1990 when its flagship vessel was rechristened the MV Paul R. Tregurtha and is now the longest active vessel operating on the Great Lakes.

Paul served on Cornell’s board of trustees in the 1980s and 1990s and rose to become vice chairman of the board. He continues to serve as trustee emeritus. His wife Lee, now deceased, also graduated from Cornell, as did his four children (one born in each of Oregon, Massachusetts, Michigan and England) and 11 of his 14 grandchildren.

He resides part time in Darien, although his permanent address is in Florida. His hobbies, now limited, are golf, boating, skiing, hiking and rowing, and his interests include keeping up with his expanding family, learning to use AI and Chat GPT and learning to play bridge.

Bruce Failing received a B.A. from Tufts University in 1971. He received his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School in 1973, after which Bruce and his father started ActMedia, the first in-store advertising and promotions company in the United States and took it public in 1983. In 1989, ActMedia was sold to Heritage Media, which in turn was sold to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation in 1997. ActMedia exists today as News America Marketing.

Bruce was a principal in Lamaze Publishing Company, a for-profit company that licensed the “Lamaze” name to create a series of baby and parenting media vehicles, which was sold to a subsidiary of NBCUniversal in 2006. He was also a principal in the 2000 purchase from GE Capital of Productivity Solutions, a leader in automated self-checkout solutions for retailers, and its turnaround and subsequent sale to IBM in 2003.

In 2004, Bruce was a founding partner of Alerion Partners and continues in that role. Alerion Partners invests in and provides managerial assistance to companies, focusing on start-ups and turnaround situations. He teaches a course on entrepreneurial development in the M.B.A. program of Palm Beach Atlantic University’s Marshall E. Rinker Sr. College of Business.

Bruce is an active sailor and skier. He has five grandchildren who reside in Darien and Greenwich.

A lifelong learner, Ron D’Andrea built a strong educational foundation, having attended Greenwich public schools before earning a bachelor’s degree from the University of Connecticut and a master’s degree from Columbia University.

He began his professional life teaching in the Greenwich public schools, then transitioned to lead two prominent sales skills improvement firms as president. In 2013, Ron co-founded his own venture, Global Performance Group, and currently works with large sales organizations and senior executive teams to help individuals gain the skills, confidence and tools to make better business decisions faster.

Ron moved to Darien in 1989 with his wife Emily, where they raised three children: Kathryn, Rebecca and Matthew. In Darien, he was an RTM representative and a Land Trust Board member, as well as involved in Y Guides and youth sports. Ron recently moved to Norwalk, from where he enjoys being involved in the Darien, Rowayton and Norwalk communities. Beyond his professional life, Ron enjoys boating, paddle tennis, pickleball, a monthly men’s book group and traveling extensively for business and pleasure throughout the United States, Europe and Asia.

Neil Duncan was born in Huddersfield in Yorkshire, England. He grew up in Hemel Hempstead, a suburb of London, and went to Berkhamsted School. In 1980, he went to Nottingham University to study economics. In 1983, he joined Price Waterhouse. In 1987, he qualified as a chartered accountant and moved with Price Waterhouse to New York City.

NeilI joined J.P. Morgan (1989-1999) in the Controller’s Department and in 1993 moved to real estate investment banking. In 2000, he joined MetroNexus (a Morgan Stanley real estate fund company). In 2003, he partnered with Alex Twining to start Twining Properties, which develops high-rise urban apartments from Boston to New York City. He recently retired from Twining Properties but remains an equity owner.

In 1985, his parents bought a house in Darien and since then have split their time between the United States and England. His two brothers live in Westport and Stamford. Neil met his wife Kara (from Chicago) in Barbados in 1985, and after a year she moved to live with him in England. In 1987, Neil and Kara moved to New York City, married in Chicago in 1989 and moved to Darien in 1992. They have four grown children.

Neil loves to travel — he has been to 45 states and 44 countries and aims for 50 of each. His other interests are sports, mainly at The Country Club of Darien (golf, paddle, padel, tennis, biking and skiing), history (including art history) and reading.

Thomas A (Tam) Murray moved to Rowayton from Alexandria, Va., with Lauren, his wife of 43 years, in the spring of 2025.

Tam earned an undergraduate degree in history from Williams College in 1979 and an M.B.A. from the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business in 1985. Following business school, he worked in Northern Virginia’s commercial real estate market before founding Community Wireless Structures (CWS) in the late 1990s. CWS developed and owned the structures that enable wireless services. CWS’s business was focused geographically in Northern and Central Virginia and strategically on developing the difficult tower sites that caused perennial holes in carrier coverage. He served as the chair of the Wireless Infrastructure Association. Later, in 2022, he sold the majority of CWS’s tower portfolio.

In recent years, Tam has devoted professional time to a handful of business opportunities on the family farm outside of Charlottesville, Va. He and his six brothers have a goal of sustaining the 836-acre farm as open space.

As a newcomer, Tam finds coastal Connecticut to be a good fit for his active lifestyle. On any given morning, you may see Tam in a swim lane at the Darien YMCA, and he participated in the September Ladrigan Swim Races from Green’s Ledge Lighthouse to Bayley Beach. Tam frequently participates in road rides sponsored by the Sound Cyclists Bicycle Club. He enjoys playing nine (and an occasional 18) holes at Oak Hills, Sterling Farms and Longshore golf courses. Daily walks with his Australian shepherd Hank keep him on the trails of many local parks.

Periodically, Tam finds time for multiday biking and backpacking. He biked the Great Allegheny Passage trail in the summer of 2025, and hikes have included portions of the Appalachian Trail, the Colorado Trail and various national park trails in the West. When indoors, he is an avid reader who participates in a remote book group that hatched during the COVID pandemic.

Tam and Lauren have four adult children and two grandchildren. Moving to Rowayton has given Tam and Lauren the opportunity to be closer to family in Brooklyn and Providence, making possible the nearly weekly visits with the grandkids that are one of the great joys in this new chapter in life.

David Upson and his wife Carlyle have lived in Darien for 15 years. He grew up in Cincinnati and graduated from Walnut Hills High School in 1982. He went to Colgate University, where he graduated in 1987 with a degree in economics.

David discovered his passion for investing while at Colgate and was one of the founders of the Investment Club and a member of the fraternity Beta Theta Pi. Following graduation, he moved to New York City, where he started his career in the investment business. He was most recently director of hedge fund research for the family office investment advisory firm CTC | myCFO, a division of BMO Wealth Management.

David has also been involved in the community and his children’s activities. He was a board member from 2011-2015 at Person to Person and coached sports teams for both of his children throughout their childhood. He has been a lifelong enthusiast of tennis, squash and golf. In 2019, he became a founding member of the Ox Ridge Riding & Racquet Club (Ox Ridge) and is currently a member of its board. He continues to be an enthusiastic racquet sports player and plays singles and doubles squash at Ox Ridge and plays on the Wee Burn Country Club tennis and paddle teams. His favorite sport is golf, and he is a member of three golf societies: Junior Senior Golfing Society of Connecticut; Friars Golf Club; and Thousand Greens.

David and Carlyle like to socialize with family and friends, travel and experience new things together. They have two children and a 10-year-old terrier named Pepper. Their oldest child Stewart (18) is a senior at Greens Farms Academy, and Daphne (16) is in 10th grade at Cheshire Academy. Carlyle has been a professional artist since 2001 and is represented at Ceres Gallery in New York City, with a focus on landscapes and abstracts in oil and acrylic.

Donn Smith was raised in Hamden, Conn., and graduated from Yale University Phi Beta Kappa in 1967 with a B.A. in English.  His professional career was spent in publishing.  Following management positions at Time Inc., Newsweek, and Harvard Business Review, he joined a Greenwich-based multi-title newsletter publisher.  In 2001 he formed his own consulting business providing copy and creative services to a number of leading magazine and book publishers.

He has been a Darien resident for the past thirty-three years.  He served two terms on the Darien RTM and has volunteered at P2P and St. John Church. Current volunteer activities include serving as Archivist for The Mather Homestead Foundation and Genealogist for the Society of the Descendants of the Founders of Hartford.

Donn is married to Mary Ellen Quirk, who grew up in Darien and whom he was lucky enough to meet in New York City in 1978.   They have one daughter, Sarah, who followed her mother’s path through Darien schools, and her father’s through Yale and subsequently received her J.D. from Michigan Law.

He is a member of the Roger Sherman Branch of the SAR, St. John Church, the Darien YMCA, the Tokeneke Club, and the Yale Club of New York City.

Glenn Ritch was raised in Greenwich, where his family has lived for more than eight generations. His great grandfather Heneri Ritch sold his farm in Stamford and moved to Greenwich in 1687. Glenn’s parents were both working people; while they helped with the cost of college, Glenn needed to work while attending school. He was fortunate to secure a position as caretaker on a large private estate in North Stamford, not far from his home. While his ambitions were to pursue a career in business, the experience of working on the estate would ultimately lead to his lifelong career in commercial real estate.

After graduating from Pace University with a B.B.A. and a major in marketing, he began working in sales. Glenn has worked for the estate owners for more than 30 years and still looks after one of their children in a minor way. After several successful years in sales, Glenn realized that he was not satisfied. He searched for a career that paralleled the work he did on the estate, which brought him to commercial property management. After returning to school, completing a certification in property management from New York University and securing a real estate broker license, he embarked on a 45-year career in commercial property management.

Glenn very much enjoyed his work, as it gave him a broad spectrum of skills and a variety of challenges to navigate. He managed multiple properties with responsibility for operations, budgeting, leasing and construction. He mastered the skills to help negotiate property sales and leases and other contracts, which sometimes led to him being accused of being a lawyer. He worked for CBRE Group, Hines Interests Limited Partnership, Galbreath, Lasalle Investment Management and, for the last 12 years of his career, The Ashforth Company. He retired in March 2025 and looks forward to pursuing his passions for travel and outdoor sports, including hunting, fishing and boating. He is also passionate about cooking and entertaining. Most important, he enjoys spending time with family and friends.

Glenn has lived in Darien for about 12 years. Influenced by his parents, He believes it is important to give back to the community. Toward that end, he serves as board president of Middlesex Commons and was just re-elected for a third term on the Darien Board of Assessment Appeals.

Stephen (Steve) Gruppo was born in East Orange, N.J. When he was five years old, his parents moved their family of six children to Buenos Aires, Argentina, then to Sao Paulo, Brazil. When he was a teenager, his family settled in Greenwich, where he met his future wife Allison. Steve and Alli have lived in Darien since 1990, where they raised their son Will and daughter Emy. They currently split their time between Darien and Edgartown, Mass.

Steve graduated from Greenwich High School in 1977 and received a B.A. in economics from Hobart College in 1981. He kicked off his career in the credit training program at Chase Manhattan Bank, which was his introduction to a career in risk management in banking, investment banking, capital markets and asset management. He was employed by Chase, Kidder Peabody, CS First Boston, Lehman Brothers and financial services firm TIAA. Steve retired from full time work in 2018, following 10 years as the chief risk officer and Executive Committee member at TIAA. He has remained engaged in board work, investments and advisory assignments.

Steve’s interests include travel, reading, cooking and spending quality time with family, including his toddler grandchild. He likes to stay active playing golf, tennis (really, any sport with a racquet or paddle), biking and skiing. He is a member of the Country Club of Darien and the Boathouse and Field Club in Edgartown.

Chris Trompeter was born in Rochester, N.Y., and grew up in the Rochester and Syracuse suburbs. He earned a B.A. degree from St. Lawrence University in 1978 with a double major in economics and government and a chartered financial analyst designation in 1985.

His career was in the asset management industry as an equity analyst and portfolio manager, beginning at Bankers Trust Company and then Citibank and Brundage, Story & Rose. In 2000, Chris and two colleagues founded Tradition Capital Management, a registered investment advisor focused on equity and fixed income separately managed accounts, which were merged into Cary Street Partners in 2019. He retired from Cary Street Partners in October 2025.

Chris moved to Darien from Manhattan with his wife Rosie and son Dan in 1997. Rosie is an active member of the Darien Community Association Greenhouse Group, avid pickleball player and yoga enthusiast. Their son Dan works for a private equity firm in Manhattan. Chris coached flag and tackle football, basketball, baseball and lacrosse in Darien. His personal athletic interests are currently centered on tennis and paddle.

Jay Baker grew up in Darien. He attended Darien High School (class of 1969) and returned to town later in his life. He graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University and received his M.B.A. from Pace University.

He has worked for more than 40 years in the financial services sector, with a specialty in exchange traded funds (ETF). He was involved in the development and marketing of the first ETF, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust. He continued his ETF career at Spear, Leeds & Kellogg and Goldman Sachs. In 2011, he co-founded Exchange Traded Concepts, a white label ETF provider that helps clients create, launch and manage ETFs.

Jay lives in Darien with his wife Robin. They are parents of two adult children. He is an active follower of financial markets and enjoys playing pickleball and golf in his free time.