Episode #135: Feeney Talks with Michael Cantor

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
All right, all right.
Feeney Talks with friends.
Episode 135.
This is great. I'm here with my friendMichael.
Hello. Hello.
How are. You doing? I'm doing great.
Good. This is great.
Again, my name is Eric Feeney, founderand president of Friends of Feeney.
Our mission is to helpchildren and families
that need assistanceafter heartbreak or tragedy.
And I use this podcast.
Feeney talks with friends,

(00:20):
and I talk to wonderful peoplethat do great things in the community.
And Michael,you do great things in this community.
Hartford, Washington, DC.
Lana.
Detroit. Houston, Japan.
Do I go on? Did I miss any?
A few, a few.
Amazing stuff, amazing stuff.
I'm very excited to talk to you.

(00:40):
Looking forward to it.
So, you know, I. What grade do I teach?
You remember? Third grade.I teach third grade.
Very good.
So pretend you're talking to a thirdgrader.
You got it. Please explain. What?
Intellectual property.
What's intellectual property?
So I'm an IP lawyer, and intellectual
property is property that's intangible.

(01:03):
So we know what tangible property is.
That's a car.
That's a house. That's a piece of land.
An intangible property is propertythat's really created within the mind.
And those, our patents and trademarksand copyrights and trade secrets.
And that's what I focusmy legal practice on.
Okay. Well done. You down?

(01:25):
Yeah.
Now, so you took a businessfrom two lawyers to close to 100 lawyers.
How did that happen?
Hard work and smarts and and good looks.
Yeah. Mostly good looks. No.
No, I was, First of all, I wasin the right place at the right time.
You know, our our economy,our global economy, used to be

(01:48):
just about factories and manufacturingand all that, and it still is.
But starting in the 80sand in throughout the 90s,
there was a transformationglobally where, where IP
intellectual property becamea real big driver of the global economy.
And I went to UConn law school.
I got out in 1983, joined a very smallpatent and trademark law firm, an IP firm.

(02:12):
And, eventually the couple of guysI worked for retired
and, myself and, another guy,Phil Colburn.
We said, hey, let's let's take this firmand let's really grow it.
And, we wanted to create a global powerhouse IP
firm, whichwhich at the time seemed like a pipe dream
a little bit, but we had our heart seton, on on growing something big.

(02:36):
And we we thought we could do itout of Hartford, Connecticut, at the time,
the biggest IP firmswhen large cities like New York or Boston
or San Francisco or Chicago.
And we had a new business model.
We we understood that, companies aroundthe world
needed to hire people like us,but they also had limited budgets.
So we said, if we stay here in Hartford,the cost of doing business in Hartford is

(02:59):
while some people think it's highcompared to Boston, New York,
San Francisco, it's a lot lower.
So we focused here in Hartfordand we ended up growing our firm.
There was about a thousand patent firmsin the United States.
So in the 90swe were probably the 700th largest firm.
And now over the last 10 or 15 years,we're consistently

(03:19):
in the top ten of the largestpatent trademark firms in the country.
That's amazing.
Amazing stuff.
Now, when you said tangibles,can you give some examples
to, something that is like an intangiblethat needed the IP?
Sure.
So almost any company who makes products,whether it's software

(03:41):
or whether it's a car with a jet engine,whether they do oil drilling.
Right, they they, all those productsand the processes,
they develop themand they need to protect them
so that their competitorswill not copy them.
And the way you protect themis through the patent system.
So a lot of our job is to workwith scientists, technologists, engineers.

(04:05):
And they can be at universities.
They can be at early stage startupsor the biggest companies in the world.
We workwith all those engineers and scientists,
and we draft literallyright up their inventions.
We send them to the patent office.
And then there's all this back and forth
and eventually we getpatents issued to them.
So hypothetically, saya teacher taught this wonderful lesson.

(04:29):
Is that something that the IPor is that totally off?
So so that's an, there's there's an.
Exciting. Area.
There's a gray area that's,that the Supreme Court is wrestling
with is whether, like, businessmethods can be patentable, or,
those kinds of esoteric thingscan be patentable.
And it's hard to patentsome of that stuff.

(04:51):
It needs to be more, in something more physical, typically.
Because I teach great lessonsand I want to make sure,
you know, I get the credit,maybe I can get that.
But, you know, toolssometimes that an a teacher
will come up with an interesting toolthat they use to help their,
their, their students.
And those kinds of teaching toolscan all be okay.
Yeah.
So when I do small group instruction,say kids, I get the whole group

(05:14):
and then some kids needa little extra support.
I'll bring them to the it'sa half moon table,
so I can sit in the middleand work on all the kids.
Someone created a cloud table.
So each kid gets not just a circle,but their own little area. Yep.
And they tried to patent that.
Yeah, but that's a tangible item.That's a tangible item.
That's a table. Piece.
Not your deal, not your.

(05:34):
Don't we do all that?Oh, you do that too. No.
We patent anything.
Yeah. Yeah.
We patent anything and everythingfrom software to.
Chemicals to jet engines.
And rumor has it that you,Michael Kanter, created you.
Intellectual property litigation.
True or false? No, that is not true.
No, no, I I've been, actively

(05:56):
involved in intellectual propertylitigation.
I, I didn't create it.
It's been around. Did you create a law?
This is from John Lyons, episode 31.
Say, let's see John Lyons.
What did John line say?
Man, I might be speaking out of turn.
What do you say?

(06:16):
I don't have it.
What if it comes to me?
Okay,maybe we'll we'll phone a friend later.
That's right.But you did mention Phil Colburn. Yes.
So our motto, be a good friend.
You see the bumper stickers around town?
Absolute signs.
So that's.
Hold the door for someone. Pick uptrash is not yours.
Give compliments. Be charitable.
What makes Phil a good friend?
I know is your coworker.But what makes him a good friend?

(06:37):
Or is he a good friend?
Will Phil listen to this?
You know he.
Listen. He's a very good business partner.
And and he's been a and a longtime friend.
What makes him a good friend is that,I actually hired Phil when,
you know, back in the early 90swhen we were a very small firm.
And what makes him a good friendand a great business partner is
we had a vision,we both had the same vision.

(06:59):
And, and we both really supportedeach other as, as we grew that vision.
And I would saythat we're very different people,
but but one of the things that makesa business partner or a friendship work
is to knowwhen somebody really cares about something
and let them go and do that,and only push back if you know it.

(07:19):
Very rare circumstancesin both of us have given each other
the rope to,to go in different directions,
always towards the samewhen we knew that the vision was shared.
So trust, keeping positive intentions and.
All of those and confidence.
In others. Work ethic. Right. Got it.
Wow. That's a good friend.

(07:40):
Oh, that's what it was.
Did you more or less createthe genre of Allen intellectual property
litigation within the legal community?
I don't no, no, no, no, I just yeah.
No, I did not.
How did you grow your firm to bethe one of the largest in that specialty?
Yeah.
So, you know, the more things change,the more they stayed the same.
Growing a business today,even with the internet

(08:03):
and with all the fancy stuff out there,it's all about building relationships.
Personal relationships.
So one of the things I started doingthe 90s when we decided
we want to be bigger,and we had a reason for it.
There were a lot of small firms like mine
that were being gobbled upby general practice firms.
We wanted to stay independent,so we knew we needed to be bigger.

(08:23):
So, I started getting on airplanesand I started traveling and knocking on
doors, principally in Japan and Korea,
to try to develop, business there.
And, it it's it's hard to do that. Right.
You go there sometimes and you visitwith some law firms or some companies,
and you have no ideawhen you get back on the plane.
Was that worth the effort in the timeand of course, the money.

(08:46):
But over time,we developed some huge relationships.
Our largest client today is Samsung,which is,
as you know, a huge Korean company.
And, so it was that kind of thing.
And then it was alsojust relationship building.
So we would have, friendswho were, at a client,
a VP of engineering,that person would go to another company,

(09:07):
and we had this personal relationship,and then we would follow them to their
new company,and we'd start doing work for them.
And then as we matured as a law firm,some of our lawyers started
what we say going in-house.
They started going into corporations,into universities.
And, they had greathad a great relationship with us
and a great timeworking at Counter Coburn.

(09:28):
So of course, when when they got totheir new spot, they would bring us in.
So we grew continuously from the,you know, in organically.
We never really acquiredany law firms for growth,
but we did it throughjust being being nice people
to high and giving good, high qualityservice, being responsive.
And also, as I mentioned, that businessmodel, having a good price point,

(09:50):
having it, getting a lotof giving a lot of value to our clients.
Nice.
Can you name a couple otherpopular companies that you work with?
Sure.
We work some Raytheon Technologies.
We work with IBMand we work with General Motors,
Dow Chemical, and then we workwith a lot of universities.
We work with the Universityof Connecticut.
And just, it's it's it's a very varied.

(10:13):
Yeah, clientele.
And we also do a lotin the trademark area, too.
So, Ferrari is a client, and,
we do, work for, Major League Baseball and.
A bunch of way.Yeah. Okay. Yep, yep. The whole. League.
Or we do work for all the minor leaguebaseball teams we.
Do nice. For. Yeah,

(10:34):
include including our local teamin Hartford. Yes.
Hartford Yard goats. Yes.
So after this podcast,I'm heading to Hartford Yard Goats.
And you have a phone call. With who?
With Samsung. Actually.
And what time will it be over there?
It'll be Wednesday morning.
That's amazing. Yeah. Good stuff,good stuff.
I want to shout out some sponsors, Keating agency,
insurance sponsors, the podcastfloat 41, The Fix, I.V.

(10:56):
Luna pizza, golf law group, people'sbank, Parkville market.
Maximum beverage.
We're here now.
Beautiful places. And in. Here.Oh, I love this place.
Our newest sponsor. Sally and bobs.
You ever go there?
Absolutely. Great spot. Helen and Cesar.
They were podcast guests recently.
And then West Hartford Lock.
So with West Hartford Lock
saying, what are three keysthat make you great at being.

(11:18):
Running?
I want to say co-managing partner, butthat we'll get into that next question.
A lawyer at Cantor Colburn LLP.
What are three keysand make you great at your job?
Three keys. Wow.
Well, I
thinkone is, I'm try to be very responsive.
So when my clients contact me,whether it's email, text,

(11:39):
phone call, whatever it is,I try to respond to them right away.
In the service business,we're no different.
You know,if you're a plumber in the in your,
you got a leaky basement and you don'tcall, you don't respond to the homeowner.
They get mad, right?
Same thing in my businesswhere we're in the service business.
No differentthan, a lawyer or electrician.
So I try to be really responsive.
I try to, be creative and cost effectivein the, in the,

(12:04):
in when I'm telling my clientsI, what I do is whatever my,
my issue, my client's dealing with,I, I put myself in their place.
What's the best thing to dogiven the costs of doing things?
If there's three options,what would I do if I were them?
And I and I try to push themto do the best thing for them, it's
not about how much money I'll make.

(12:25):
It's about what's best for my client.
Because at the end of the day,I want to grow old with my clients.
And you don't do that unless you give themthe right advice all the time.
Not just the advice.It puts more money in your pocket.
And I would say the last thing is, I'mjust try to be a human being with them.
I just try to be their friend.
I want to, you know, because my clientsare, like, really good people.

(12:45):
And I want to get to know themand get to know their issues,
get to know their families,get to know what's driving them,
what what their desires are,where they want to be in 5 or 10 years.
And and when you're a real with somebody,it's not just business.
I think people really like that.Very nice.
So time cost and being a good friend.
That's right.
Time. Time is money.

(13:06):
And we're going to talk about that.
So your role changedwhat happened on December 31st.
Right. Right. And whywhy did that happen. Yeah.
So I will I'll go back to the 90swhen, Colburn
and I, formed this we had taken over it.
We were working for a firm,
and the two guys retired,and we were looking out into the future.

(13:27):
We said, we want to grow this firm,
and at some point, there'sgoing to be a lot bigger than we are.
And what I saw at the timewas that in a lot of law firms,
especially IP firms like mine,guys and women.
But would,you know, would be in their late 60s,
their 70s, they're still workingand you had other

(13:48):
lawyers at the firm were saying,you know what?
I'm never I like the leaders of this firm,but they're never going to leave.
I'm never going to be able to spreadmy wings.
I'm never going to be ableto take the firm in some other direction.
And so what would happenis a lot of these firms sort of blow up
because lawyers that are 52 say,they say, you
know, I'm never going to be in control,I'm out of here.
I'm going to take my book of businessesleaves, okay.

(14:09):
And we said, we don't want that to happen.
So we're going to so we're we wrote intoour partnership agreement back in the 90s
that at the end of your when you the yearyou turned 66 at the end of that year,
that you will no longer bean owner of the firm that you were retire,
you could still work for the firm,but you don't own it anymore.
And so as we startedgrowing and new partners came in,

(14:29):
they all knew that at some point, Kanter'sleaving, Coburn's leaving, and everybody
else will leave at that ageso that the younger, quote
unquote, people will, will be ableto spread their wings and take control.
Something to look forward to. Right.And and at the end of the tunnel.
Exactly. For it's interesting.
People like to know that somedaythey can control the situation.
So that's what we wrote it in.
It seemed like 35 years.

(14:51):
Later that'll happen.
And it honestly seemed likeit was never going to happen.
It did.
And they did on and December 31st.
So as of now, because of your birthday.
Yeah, my birthday,I turned 66 last year. Eve.
No, no, but it's the year.
It was the year you got you gotyou got you at the end of the year.
Yes. Yep.
So. It's a little bithard. It's been my baby.

(15:11):
I know it's been my baby. So it's it's.
You know, it's mixed a mixed blessing.
I, I knowit's the right thing to do, but,
and I've got a lot of other thingson my plate which keeps me busy, so.
But that already happened to Colburn.
Not to. No. He's a year younger.
It's going to happen to himnext, you know.
And do you.
Have someone already filling your shoes?
We have a group of other partners.Process.

(15:32):
Oh, there's a group of other partnersand they will vote on on leadership
as things go.
Oh it's a vote.
Yeah. Amongst thethe partners. Right. Wow.
And what are they looking forwhen they vote.
Or I.
Think clones of my canor I would. Say no I don't.
They're going to look foryou know what the best people to lead the
firm into the future.
That's amazing.

(15:52):
Yeah, that's almost like
a principal saying or,you know, superintendents like, all right.
Age wise.
I mean, that goes to being termlimits and age limits on a lot of.
Things it does. Right.
Yeah I think it's a healthy thing.I think it's healthy too.
So I think that's wonderful that you didthat commend you because.
Yeah. You're handing over your baby. Yeah.
Now does that change withnot to get personal, but like

(16:15):
how does where does that fall?
And being an owner and a lawyerI'm thinking pay right away.
So what's paystill getting paid the same or do you.
Yeah it's it's it's different.
It's different.
Yeah. Yeah. Interesting. Interesting. Wow.
Did I miss anythingabout intellectual property?
How longcan you talk about intellectual property?
Oh, I could go on forever.

(16:36):
You know, I taught
I taught patent law for many years
at UConn law school,so I could just talk forever.
So it's it's what I've done.
My whole my whole 40 year career.
Nice. Yeah. What can I get paid?
You want to get something patented?
Well, you've got it.You've got friends of Feeney.
Get paid and be a good friend.
So, you know, besides patenting,we do trademark work, right?

(16:58):
And trademarkis, is a is any kind of a symbol or a word
or phrase that designates your goodsor services and distinguishes them?
Get the. Little T on the. Surface.
Yeah, that little that are in the circleare the TM.
The TM means you've that you'reusing something as a trademark.
The R in the circlemeans it's been registered,
you know, through a firmlike Cantor Coburn.

(17:19):
But a way to protect, you know,like you could with the Feeney thing.
You could probably getthat as a registered trademark
and that you'd be able to stop othersfrom knocking you off.
I'm sure everybody wants everyone.
So we're afraid the feelingis the knock off friend, the Feeney.
Yeah.
What are the prosand cons of getting something trademarked?
There's no there's no con, okay?
It just it's just it's just like patentsin that patents protect you

(17:42):
from your from your competitorscopying your products.
Trademarksprotect you from your competitors,
copying the names of your productsor the name of your company,
or the logo you use, or a phrase,a tagline that you might use.
And it it gives you a tool to go to courtand say, you've got to stop using that.

(18:03):
Interesting.
Because you're causingconfusion in the marketplace.
Because someone went to Londonand there was like,
I think it was like, be a good friend.
Chinese restaurant in London.
And someone said, hey Feeney,you should sue.
Yeah. Joking.
Yeah.
But but just so you know,
all of these things patents, trademarks,they're only when you obtain them,
they're only good in the countrythat you apply for them and get them.

(18:25):
So, so for example, our firm for our U.S.
clients, we obtain patents and trademarksin countries all over the world.
So I hire otherIP firms in England, in Korea,
Australia and China,right to cover that country and those.
And that's by the same token,those law firms

(18:46):
and all those foreign countrieshire me to do it here in the U.S..
So I'm going in.
May I go to, something calledthe International Trademark Association.
There'll be 15,000 people in San Diego,
lawyers, patent and trademark lawyersfrom around the world.
And then we come and
a lot of those lawyersI do business with, I send them work.
They send me. Work. Nice. Yeah.Okay. Yeah.

(19:07):
You take care of me in London,I'll take care of you.
Sure. Yeah.
Interesting, man.
I'm learning.
See, I'm a lifelong learner.
I tell my studentsthat learn something new every day. Right.
Was this around? So I grabbed I in 1989.
I was in eighth grade and my eighth gradeyear book I wrote. I want to be a lawyer.
Could I
have written an intellectual property.
Was that around.

(19:28):
Yeah.
So IP I mentioned is patents, trademarks,copyrights, trade secrets.
What's kind of interestingis the phrase IP.
Okay. Really startedlike in the mid to late 80s.
So when I first got into this,I was a patent attorney,
that did trademark lawon some copyright stuff.
Okay. Nobody used IP.
And then all of a sudden it became a thingwhen the global economy,

(19:51):
was superchargedby intellectual property.
That's when that phrase really came in.
So, I mean, if you Google IP,maybe it shows up in the 60s.
I but but not much.
It really became a phrase,
I would say in the late 80sand then not throughout the 90s.
Yeah.
That's when all of a sudden I startedreferring to myself as an IP lawyer
and not just. A patent attorney.

(20:11):
Interesting. Yeah.
Well, we'll get we'll get back to IP.
My next question.
You may know how it's related.Can you do a cartwheel?
Well,I'm married to a woman who certainly can.
Do a cartwheel.
Who? Just yesterday I'm marriedto the mayor of West Hartford. Yep.
And I must say, the best mayor.

(20:32):
Yes, I was going to saythe state of Connecticut,
but I'm going to go more broadly.
The United States of America. Nice.
And certainly the only one who.
Does cartwheels, as far as I know.
But, yeah, just yesterday.
She she had a full day on her plate,
and she threw out the first pitchfor Little League.
And as soon as she throws the pitch out,she does a series of cartwheels

(20:52):
to go off the field.
And then later that morning,we, the girls softball
league started their,
their season.
And she threw out the first pitchthere. And again.
They show a series of cartwheels.Yeah, yeah.
You knew exactly where I was goingwith that. Yeah.
Every parade cartwheel.
My 100th podcast.
I have it at Playhouse, Park.

(21:13):
And you know, I'm thanking everyone.Thank you. Carrie Army.
You want to come back
and I instead of say, say a few wordslike, oh, do you want to do a cartwheel?
Without thinking?
Without question, she just wome cartwheel,high heels and all.
You know,that goes back to the fact that in
she went to a whole high and at all high,she was in she was a coach, coach,
co-captain of the of the girls,the girls, all high gymnasts gymnast.

(21:36):
Okay.And she was a really, really good gymnast.
Oh. And and and then over the years, I'll say two things.
One is whenever we were.
She loves cartwheels.
And whenever we were in a hotel,that had, like, a long hallway,
with all our kids and everythingshe would do, like, cartwheels
all the way down the hallwayif nobody was looking.

(21:57):
And then also when, when our kids
would play one time when our kidswere playing basketball at Hall,
during one of the leagues,she did a cartwheel.
It's winter. Wintertime.
She had these big boots on with,like, long heels.
And she slippedwhen she did the cartwheel.
And she actually ended up, injuring herelbow.

(22:18):
Oh, no.
Yeah.
And and ambulance had a combo, sothe cartwheels can be troublesome for her.
And she still does them, too.
Oh, she don't give up. No, no.
Yeah. I, taught again.
Teaching third grade.
My two students, onesing the national anthem at the softball.
And she was a maid. She goes.
And the mayor was there, and she dida cartwheel in the dirt in her high heels.

(22:38):
Yeah, I was like. Oh, I know.
Oh, and that girl did a great job.
And yeah, the national anthem.That's my student.
Oh, she's. I have the video.She was very cute.
All right, I'm telling the cameraI'll show runner very cute.
Congratulations on the national anthem.
That was so good.
And, another John Lyons quote.
John Lyons says

(22:58):
as Mayor Sherry can see around corners.
What do you think he means by that?
Well, she has superhuman vision,
so she actually doesn'tsee around the corner.
She sees through the walls.
So, I think that you means
that she, anticipatesthe needs, of the town. Yep.
Going into the future.

(23:18):
I mean, and there's so many examples.
And just when you see all this housinggoing up, you know, she saw some years ago
how critical, so many peoplewanted to move into the town,
and there wasn't enough housing.
So many, seniors wanted to leave their,sell their, their bigger homes.
But there was no housingfor them to go into.
They wanted to go into a smaller apartmentor a condo. So.

(23:41):
And she understood thatif we had more housing for even
for our seniorswho wanted to sell their homes,
they would move in the housing,still stay in town, and younger
families could move into the houses.They're leaving.
And then, of course,all the young professionals
that want to live here,there wasn't enough housing stock.
So she has really pushedto make that happen.
And at the same time, of course,

(24:02):
it's it's helping and it really will helpin the next couple of years to grow
the grand lifts or grand list of the town,which, really will help the taxpayers
to help with subduing the burdenthat taxpayers have here in town.
We have an exclusivetaxes will go down in West Hartford.
Well, heard of here? Someday. Someday.There we go.
But this is going to really help.

(24:22):
Always have a jobbecause kids will compete moving in. Yeah.
So that's all. But all these buildingsyou're seeing, they're not.
And you know, once they come onlinethey pay substantial taxes.
And and that's really going to help lowerthe property taxes
for or or helpwith property taxes for rent. No.
Right. By French cleaners.
There's two huge ones.
There's that Farmington. Yeah.
That's going to be hugelike a lot of people.

(24:43):
Right.
And then Sherry had had something to dowith those.
She has to want to do. Itbehind Luna Pizza.
All the economic developmentin tennis. Great.
She's really involved in. Yes.
Well, if you want to learnmore about Sherry, she was episode 35.
And you notice Michael is episode 135.
Yeah.
So 100 podcastsit took to get from Sherry to Mike.

(25:06):
Well, listen,that's something about you. Or versus.
Everything about me.
I just ride her coattails.
My claim to fame is I'mthe husband of Sherry Canter.
That's. That's about the best thing.Oh, great.
And, so do you offer
do you offer suggestions, advice to mayor?
You do you let her do her thing?I will, don't listen.
We we have a we have aI will say we have an amazing marriage.

(25:30):
We're very close.We're each other's best friends.
And we do we do share,you know, some some marriages.
People don't know what's going on at workand vice versa.
That's not us.
We share a lot.
So, when I said about growing my firmand all that getting on airplanes,
there wasthere was something that I didn't mention
and that isthat Sherry was always by my side.

(25:51):
So I would go to international conferencesand there's,
there's one that I'm goingto, in San Diego next month.
Sherry comes with me to all those
and my clients around the worldlike Sherry better than they like me.
So she's really helped megrow my firm, without question.
And by the same token, I'mI'm really trying to support her
in everything she does.

(26:12):
You know, we'reboth on a lot of other boards and things,
but with the town, I mean,I watch every town council meeting.
Sometimes I text her all kinds of things,you know, because I see her face.
Sometimes I see herlook down at the at the,
it's sometimesI'm texting things that are inappropriate.
And she looks downand I get try to get a smile out of her.
So, Yeah. So.But we really. Do support. Each other.

(26:32):
That's amazing.Yeah. You're a power couple.
Sure.
To both in the Hall of Fame at UConn.
We are.
I don't I'm
I don't knowif there's another couple there,
but maybe there must be or I'm in thethe School of Engineering Hall of Fame
and she's in the School of BusinessHall of Fame.
That's fantastic.Yeah, yeah. That's great.

(26:53):
Yeah, we bleed blue.
Just for the record.
We're we're. Huge UConn. People.
So can you get Geno or Hurleyon my podcast?
I'll work on it. All right.
We're really.
Sherry has more pull than I thinkbecause Sherry is a trustee
at the University of Connecticut.
So both have verbally confirmed with me.

(27:14):
I saw Hurley at the Children's
Community Gala in Hartford,and I say, hey, I give him the spiel, hey.
Coach. I'm Eric Feeney.I teach third grade.
I do a nonprofit.It's called Friends of Feeney.
We help children.He starts slapping me on the chest.
That's good. Beep.
That's good.
Yeah. And I'm like.

(27:35):
And I'm like,so will you come on the podcast?
Yep, definitely. How about. This?How about Hurley's wife?
Would you like Hurley's wife on the.That'll work too.
Because she works with Sherry.
Sherry? She and Sherry are together on the.
The, Children's hospital.
Yeah, she's.Really involved. With that. Yeah.
She has.
It's Sherry. Sherry. Cheers.
Okay. There. They're.

(27:56):
They're board for raising.
She's good friends with Matt. Me.Matt, me.
My friend Scott, Matt and his wife runsthe children's
community hospital,so she's good friends with Hurley.
Andrea. Is it? Yes. And she.And she's a hoot.
She would be great. Okay. Podcast.
Center up.
Let's do it, coach.
And then Geno also said too.
So and I joked with GenoI go Geno, will you come on the podcast?

(28:19):
Hurley said he wouldand Lobo said she would.
He goes, oh that's great.
You got one that speaks Englishand one that doesn't.
And I was like, Geno never misses.
Yeah he's hilarious.
So yeah big bleeding blue.
So you went to four Final Fours in a row.
Yeah. Yeah.
We were in Tampathat for the women's just now.
We did the two men's before that.

(28:40):
And we were at the women's before that.
That was in Minneapolis when they lostto South Carolina in the finals.
So you definitely bleed blue.
Oh yeah. Yes. Four Final Fours.
And then two of your kids went there.
Two out of the four. Yes.
Yep. My son Ben, who is a trademarkattorney at my law firm,
he went to UConn undergradand then UConn law school.
And my son Josh, it went to,the School of Business, got an MBA.

(29:03):
Nice.And what are your other two kids? Who?
So the other two boys, the two boysI just mentioned live here
in West Hartford.
The other two boys live in Chicago. My.
And they both went to Tufts University.
And my son Sam is a singer songwriter.
I know what he's got.
He's. It plays in a few bands,but he has his own band.
It's called Minor Moon.
Minor moon. Go on Spotify, check it out.

(29:24):
Great music.
Is it indie? Is an indie rock band.
And my other son, Jacob, is a lawyer,
working with, and,working with housing issues in Chicago.
Nice. So two in Chicago.
You gotta go. The hang out.Are they near each other?
They hang out.
They are very close.
All four of our sons are very close.

(29:45):
They love each other, see each otherwhenever they can.
And the two in Chicagodefinitely hang out together a lot.
That's amazing. Yeah.
I have my sister in law has three boys.
I couldn't imagine four boys.
They the youngest slaps the oldest.
He goes, cries, tells and and you knowthey he the oldest gets yelled at.
The youngest goes back in fights.
The oldest againI'm like you just complain. Ready. But

(30:08):
it's just crying breaking stuff I'm sure.
Is that. Was that the experience.
I tell you they they would.
Know hit it pretty. Good.Yeah they were. Pretty good kids.
My oldest son, Josh, is was,you know, sort of they took his lead.
He was a really sweet little boy.
And theyit was not as bad as one would think.
Yeah.
Four boys, but they.

(30:29):
All credit to the WestHartford school system.
They went to Morley.
That explains. It. Yeah.
And that's why.They had great teachers and.
Great education. They really did.
Only they only hire the best out here.
Only the best. Yeah.
Which goes to set humble brag.
But this also brings it back to Sherry.
And I'm just an amazing person.
A couple years agoI was a finalist for teacher of the year.

(30:49):
Unfortunately didn't get it,but it was still an honor and I'm so proud
and humbled.
I got a handwritten note mailed to me.
Open up, Sherry Kanter.
Congratulations, Eric.
You do so good in schooland such good things for the community.
So it really meant a lot.
And that just showswhat kind of person and mayor she.
Is like.
Yeah, I will tell you.
I mean, to that end,whether it's handwritten notes

(31:12):
or whether it's responding to emailsfrom constituents, she does it.
So like at nightwhere we'll be watching TV
and like she's buried in her phoneand it's not because she's shopping.
I and I'll say like,what are you doing, hun?
You know, because we're watching the show.
And she's like,I got to get back to these people.
And that a lot of times it's thingsthat would be unpleasant to get back to,

(31:33):
you know, somebodycomplaining about this or that.
And, but she, she feels it'sso important to respond to everybody
so that everybody knows that theyshe hears them.
That's amazing. Yeah. No.
You want to make sure every
like a teacher or a parent when I doteacher parent relationships are students.
You want to treat everyonelike a VIP, right?
So everyone gets your full attention.

(31:54):
And if they have an issue or an email,
you try to get back to themat the best spot.
I think that's so important.
I know in my own career,whether it's, you know, the janitor
that's cleaning up your office at night,you treat everybody with respect.
In my clients, you know, it'snot just the vice presidents
or, you know, or the top engineers,but it's the admin.
It's everybody in that client.

(32:15):
Every single personneeds to be treated with respect.
And not only does it
pay dividend for your business,but it's the right thing to do.
Interesting.
So as a politician in the digital age,
some people get a lot of backlashon social media.
Do you do you feel like.
I mean, sometimes it's it'smostly always unfairly treated.

(32:37):
Do you offer suggestions?
How does she feel about thator do you see it?
Do you hear about it?
I do, I do. There's not.
Me. Quite frankly,she's pretty well liked.
Yeah. And rightly so.
And so it's not as bad as I'm sure it isfor some people, but it's out there and,
I, I think the mostly the best thing to dois completely ignore it and not engage.

(33:00):
She's really she's really good at
ignoring it and not engaging,because I'm a lawyer, maybe.
And I just.
And she's my wife, and I love her,and I get pissed off.
I'm the one who says, don't you?
You can't let that go unanswered.
You know, whether it's a letterto Weehawken or something or some other,
something else on Facebook or.
And she's really good atjust letting it go because it goes away.

(33:24):
And Iif it was me, I would be engaging more in
it would not be pretty and it would not bethe right thing to do long term.
Yeah. But she, she, she gets it.
It's tough as a public figureor a politician.
You're alwaysthere's always gonna be haters.
Oh yeah. No, no.
So I mean when I taught my courseat UConn for many, many years
and they get the evaluations, you know,if you have a class with 28 people,

(33:45):
you're not going to get 28.People said you did great.
You know, there's always a couple people,right? Mad at this?
I used to bring my four boys.
I used to bring them to the final classof the year at UConn Law school,
because I would bring in food and we wouldit would be more of a question
to answerabout getting ready for the final exam.
And I'd bring my boys in and I, I rememberI even had like an evaluation

(34:05):
where they said,
I don't think it was appropriate for youto bring your kids to this and like.
Are you kidding me? You know,and it's like.
Yeah, next time I will bring foodeither. Right? Right, right.
Yeah. Back to UConn.
So you serve on the engineering advisoryboard.
You are an adjunct professorfor more than 20 years,
so you're no longer doing that.
Right? Okay. Right.
Formermember of the UConn Foundation. Yes.

(34:28):
Bleeding blue for good. Yes.
I was one of the founding members.That was the no.
That organization now
has been merged into the universitybecause of the change in the law.
But I was a founding memberof that group, Bleeding Blue for good,
which was the first official Nil group,to start paying playing our athletes.
Yeah. What's your takeon paying college athletes?

(34:50):
You know, it's funny, I was just talking
to guys at lunch about it todaybecause everybody is talking about it.
You know, I, I don't have a takebecause it's it's the reality.
Yeah. It's this is here to stay.
It's it's completely changed the game.
It's changed how coaches coach. Right.
Because nowat the end of their professional coaches,
now they got to restock their teamat the end of every year.

(35:11):
Really all these playersare on a one year contract.
If you will.
Are there parts of itI don't like? Of course.
Are there parts of it
that that I think are the right thingto do for these players? Yes.
But it's just when, you know, when the,when the train has left the station,
there's not much of a point of saying,oh, I want to go back to the old way
because it's never going to happen.

(35:31):
It is what it is.Yeah, right. Agreed. Okay.
The Dean's advisory Councilfor a school of engineer.
Right. School?
Yeah.
Actually, we have, dinner Thursday night,and there's a new dean of
School of Engineering.
We have a meeting all day on Fridaywith that. Right.
Nice bleeding below.
So, yeah,my girls are juniors, and they're.
They do, what's it model un every year.

(35:54):
Oh that's great.
At, UConn.
So we go and get the tour.They really enjoy it.
One's really interested in attending.
So we'll see.
Maybe I'll be bleeding blue soon too.
I'm twin girlsso they do mock trial model U.N.
Unified Theater Student Council.
That's why all the fun stuff.
Yeah.
And you know, UConn is,a phenomenal school.

(36:15):
It's that great value.
Definitely growing.When I was in high school
looking at UConn, it was like,I feel like it was a farm.
It was in the middle of the woods. Yeah.
And now it's like a beautiful campusand just it's what's changed in a lot.
When I went there,my parents didn't really have much money.
And so back then,
if you were a good student,you were going to get in no matter what.
You know, that's completely changed.

(36:37):
It's much harder to get in and,so when I was a senior
and I went to Ellington High Schoolin Ellington, Connecticut,
my parents said, we can only afford UConn.
So I applied to a single school.I applied to UConn.
I knew I was going to get in,it was just a real different era.
I applied to one school to, oh, didyou live in Connecticut State University?
Okay.
Same thing I,I, my parents really can afford.

(36:59):
I joined the Army National Guard, wentaway for six months for all the training,
and I promised for six yearsI a week and a month,
and I got the GI Bill tuition waiver.
And yeah, my buddy Jeff was at southern.
I said, I'll go there.
It's great. I applied to one school.
That's cool.You do apply to one school, too?
No. Great stuff going on.
How do you balance the work?

(37:21):
Life, you know.
Yeah. Family. So work. Travel.
I will tell you that,I was a little nervous when I took this
new turn from the law firmbecause, you know, managing a law firm,
it's every single day emails,you know, cash reports, all that stuff.
I was a little nervous that I would.
Would I fill my timeappropriately and be happy,

(37:41):
but I've got a lot going on whichI like to be busy, so I chair some boards.
I'm chairman of the boardof Connecticut Innovations.
That's the state's venture capital fund.
I chaired the board of the ConnecticutMuseum of Culture and History, in the West
End of Hartford.
I'm on the GreaterHartford Jewish Federation board.
So, those.
Those.
Keep me really busyand keep me really interested in things.

(38:05):
I'm also in, quite involvedin a couple of early stage companies.
Once atechnology company, once a restaurant.
And so that also keeps me busy.
So, I like that I need to stay busy.
So I've got that in between.
I'm trying to take bike rides,see my grandchildren.
But what about a soccer team?

(38:26):
Do you have a soccer team?
I do, I have a small interest.
In a soccer team in Italy.
Yeah. So nice. Yeah. Why?
Why Italy?
And what are you, Italian?
No, no.
The worst investment I ever made.
But, A good friend.
A good friend of mine.
Got a group of guys, I

(38:48):
when I say I have a small investment,I it's infinitesimal right there.
A couple of really wealthy New Yorkguys, bought a team, in Italy and,
and then.
Do you have a jersey?
I do, and then and then, and then a few other
a bunch of other people came inwith very small amounts, right.

(39:09):
So and they were in, you know, they haveseries A, B, C, D, they were in series C,
and now they actually are now in series B,they went up.
Oh. Because if you win, you go up.Yeah. Yeah.
Exactly. Just like,how many more do they have to go up.
Well if they, if they went upto the next one to be the top one.
Oh no way. Yeah. Like the. Premiere.What's the name of the team.
Yeah. That's good. I'm like losing. The.

(39:29):
You're like LeBron Brian has stakein a soccer team LeBron James.
Yeah we're like what's the team in wax.
Oh and then Ted Lasso and
Deadpool.
The guy plays. Deadpool. Yeah exactly.Yeah yeah that's awesome.
Just like all of them.
Yeah I know you, Ryan Reynolds. That's it.
You got that wrong. Look on YouTube.Yeah. That's it.
Good looking. Do that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

(39:50):
No, it's great though.
You're busy.
Busy. And, just an interesting life and.
Yeah.
And I was just actually in India,a month ago with our governor,
with Governor Lamont, as as boardchair of Connecticut Innovations,
our state's venture capital fund.
I went to India with the governor, and we went to a whole bunch
of cities and met with all kindsof companies, big ones, small ones.

(40:11):
That was great.
I know my I have students, big timeIndian population, and I have houses,
and I'm open and I'm invitedto go to India to stay with them.
And I might take them up on it.
I want to learn.
Is it your first time over there?Second, how.
Many times I've been to India about,I think 3 or 4 other times.
We have clients in India.
We do a lot of work in

(40:33):
India, has a huge pharmaceutical industry,on the generic side.
And we represent a numberof generic drug companies.
And I also represented,Agricultural Chemical Company.
So I've been to Mumbai and I've been to
some other cities before, but never with.
It's differentwhen you travel with a governor.
How's net.
Net good.
Net net travel with net just great.

(40:54):
I out a couple of years ago a net and Iand another group went to Israel
and and another business development trip.
So it's fun to travel with net.
He's a he's he's a very, very nice man.
Very down to earth.
And what you see on TV is what you get.
He's just a very good guy.
I got multiple emailsgoing back and forth with Carmen Colon.
She's his scheduler.

(41:15):
Okay. Can I come in on the pod?Get him in here.
I'm going through you now.
All right,Michael, we're going to make it happen.
We got Hurley, Geno.
Hurley's wife, Hurley's wife?
Yeah. And then Governor Lamont. Yeah.
He's a friend of Feeney.
I'm multiple pictures with him.
Going back to when I worked at the.
Oh, well, as a teacher,I worked in the CA, the Connecticut

(41:36):
Education Association,but I was a local political coordinator,
so we helped elect politiciansthat would help and support teachers.
So we would meet in Hartfordand interview everyone.
So I interviewed Ned and Dan Malloy.
At that time they went with Malloy, butNed came back to following and was hired.

(41:56):
And he's doing a great job,so I'd love to talk with him.
He's a good, good guy.
Let's talk about recently. So I. Yeah.
You brought up I was going to say,hey, recently you went to India with Ned.
And then just most recentlySaturday night, we were hanging out.
Yeah, we were.
Hanging out together.
Yeah. We'll show a picture.
This is where the picture is going to go.

(42:17):
Stephania boom. Me.
Me in the middle.
Michael and Victor.
Victor. Me Michael. Okay.
I'm dressed up.
What were you dressed up as?
Billy Joel?
You were Billy Joel.
I see it now. Yeah yeah yeah yeah, yeah.
I joked to it.
Yeah,I was a rock star, so it was Pop Rocks.

(42:39):
What an amazing event.
It was incredible.
So fun.
The people who were singing that,the voices were.
Just so super.
And then, like, it was like American Idol.
They brought a new personto sing a different song, right?
And then.
Then they would give an award.
New person sing. The food was great.
They. Had, It was a beautiful venue.

(43:01):
I had never been there before.
I think it's a pretty new venue and.
Brand new Bristol Event Center.
I think it's called honors prom is goingto be there at the end of the month.
No first prom that they're everhosting is going to be Connor kidding.
Yeah. And we were there first.
Yeah.
Of course the Playhouse on Parkis such a phenomenal.
Amazing, amazing. Yeah.
So as you can see,Pop Rocks was the theme.
So everyone dressed as rock stars.

(43:22):
I guess last year it was the Roaring 20s.
People dressed like that.
But it was a great event.
I'm so happy to go.
Tracy Tracy doeswonderful work at the Playhouse.
Park. She's a good friend.
Thank you, Tracy,for everything you're doing over there.
I hope you raised a lot of money.
We had my 50th podcast,at Playhouse on Park. No.

(43:42):
And my 100th podcast.
I had Harvey Air Cologne saying.Oh, that's great.
Frank Whaley.
Frank Whaley playsMoonlight Graham and Field of Dreams,
and he also gets shot by Samuel Jacksonin Pulp Fiction. Wow.
Frank Whaley.
So he was my alsothe guest at the hundredth podcast.
Great.
But, they wereso you know that the lights, the sound.

(44:03):
Tracy.
Donated all the revenueraised to Friends of Genius.
So thank you again. Tracy.
Thank you for such a wonderful night.
I mean, the food, the drinks.
The raffles were great.
It was fantastic.I want to raffle check this raffle out.
I won at AC Peterson.
I get to put a food on the menu.
Oh. That's cool.

(44:23):
Isn't that great?What are you going to call it?
Fries with Fini.
Nice little friends of Fini.
Fries of fini, fries of Fini.
So it's going to be fries.And this is all brainstorm?
Yeah, you're going to mehow we talk through this. What do you.
Yeah, yeah, we can try to patent it.
Oh, yeah. Yeah. See, now we're talking go.
But I am going to have to charge.
You starting, Now go look.

(44:44):
At his watch, I love it.
I got to talk fast.
Is is like Shark Tank.
Fries in an ice cream,and you dip the fries in the ice cream.
I love that. Done. Fries a fini.
That's pretty good, right?
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, dude, it fries salty. Sweet.
Everybody loves all of that.So you ever dip a frying the ice cream?
I have not.
Oh, that's the move, Nicole.

(45:04):
Come on, you got to try it. We'll do.Good stuff. So. Yeah.
Thank you.
I'm so excitedthat I won that I tried to win Billy Joel.
But then didn't win.
My friend, my buddy Rob friend won.
He goes, I go, congrats.
He goes, I didn't win,but I'm the plus one.
I got lucky.
My wife and I just went to a Billy Joelconcert two months ago.

(45:24):
Oh. Nice sun.
Oh, Mohegan. Yeah. We.
And we wanted that, you know,Sterling physicians, you know, that's,
a group around here.
They have a foundation,they raise money to do good things.
And we went to the their foundationdinner gala, and we won the.
Billy Joel tickets there.
I saw him at Hartford, a while ago.

(45:44):
Hartford?
Oh, yeah, XL center.
Yeah. Well, he's great,even though he's old.
Older than me, even. But he's great.
I mean, talent,
you know, once you have it,I know it takes a while to lose
Mick Jagger still out there, right?
Billy Joel's still out there.
I'm sure WillieNelson's still out there doing something.
No good stuff.
Smoking pot.

(46:05):
The piano man.
Yeah, I was singing alongwhen they did the Piano Man.
That's that's a go to.
You got to sing along.
So we talked about Playhouse on Park.
We talked about Ned.
Oh, I always talk.
Do you have a favorite restaurant?
I know it's going to be toughbecause, you're eating out a lot,
but it doesn't have to be in WestHartford, right?
To be anywhere in the world.You're, well, travel guy.

(46:27):
Yeah, yeah.
Where'd you eat in India with Ned Lamont?
We ate, all over.
We ate mostly at,
I guess we probably mostly ate at, hotelswe were staying at, you know, in India.
You got to be careful. Where you eat.
Yeah.
Because otherwise it's easy to get ill.
You know, if you just eatin any restaurant because you're are.

(46:49):
You don't get the street food.
Do not get the street food.
No. Because, you know, in the water, too,you have to be really careful
because our systems aren'taren't red, you.
Know, adjusted to the, Indian. Stuff.
Well,I like so many restaurants, here in town.
Name a few.
I like Max's Oyster bar. Very nice.
I like Brickhouse.
I mean.
I like them all, you know, and,I like them all.

(47:12):
My wife likes them all equally.
She loves them.That's a good answer. Yes, yes.
And I.
Like what she likes,you know. Happy wife, happy. Life.
I love it. So that's the mottoI live by. That's it man.
So you're eatingat your favorite restaurant
and you can invite four guests, deador alive.
Wow. Who you in with?
Four guests. Dead or. Alive? Anyone?
Anywhere. We in? What?

(47:35):
Well, I'm going to invite.
This is I.
It doesn't sound exciting.
I'm going to invite my grandmother,Betty Bassett.
Okay.
Who I was very, very close to. And,
I would love to chat with herfor a few minutes.
I hate to say this.
I'd also invite my dad.
Who died in, in, 2001.
And I'm like, keep mr..

(47:56):
He was very involvedwatching my business grow, and.
He missed so much of it.
So. Yeah.
And then I guess I would invite some,who else?
What I invite maybe,
I think maybe John F Kennedy.
Okay. Yeah.
It's a good one.
Yeah, maybe John F Kennedy,because he was, And maybe

(48:17):
I love politics and all that, soI maybe I would invite Franklin Roosevelt.
Okay. Yeah, I'm going to. Go with that.
It's a great. Dinner.
Yeah, it's a great dinner, grandma.
Yeah, dad.
Yeah. JFK FDR. Yeah.
Love it. Okay. Love it.
And then me being a teacherfor 21 years, do
you have a favorite teacher that inspiredyou or someone that stands out?

(48:40):
I had so many great teachers.
You know, I went to this small high schoolin Arlington, but it was fantastic.
I had I got a great education.
I, you know, and thenbut I would say in college,
I majored in chemical engineering.
And there was one professor in particular.
His name was Jim Bell, and I wasI was doing
I was in this honors program at UConn,and I was able to

(49:03):
he worked in a placecalled the Institute of Material Sciences.
He was an expert on epoxy resins,and I got to work in his lab
with a bunch of graduate studentsfor a whole year.
And then because of him,
I got interviewed by Shell Oil Company,and I took a job in Houston with them.
But this guy, Jim Bell really impactedmy life in many, many ways,

(49:24):
and helped me in my careeras a patent attorney.
Patent attorneysall have technical, technical backgrounds.
Every patent attorney you meetis an engineer or,
or a biotech person or a physicist.
All of us, you have to be we have to take.
Especially now you're.
Reaching out more, right?
I said,I read an article, it non it used to be
a lot of engineers and scientists,but now you're doing, non-organic.

(49:47):
So I was like, just reaching out,like everyone has to have that special.
Oh yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely.
Software engineers.Everybody has to have something. So.
So your team is likealmost like the X-Men.
Everyone has their own. Well,yeah, exactly.
So when we hire, we never just saywe need a new patent attorney.
You say I need aan an electrical engineer.
I need a software engineer.
I need a small molecule chemistor I need a polymer scientist.

(50:11):
That's how we hire.
Yeah.
So then so when we. It'svery. Specialized.
Yeah. Well,
learn something new.
Is it too late for me to.
You know.
It's never too late.
A third. Grade teacher.It's never too late. Well, you can be.
You can become a trademark and copyrightlawyer. Just.
You got to go to law school, though. Okay?You can go.
You can go at night.
You can has a great evening program.

(50:32):
How long would that take me for years.
Okay. Yeah, but you can keep your day job.
I know my buddy is a teacher, Shawn Mosleyin Waterbury did it.
And he's like, Feeney,you can do it. Oh yeah.
And then my kids I againI wrote it in eighth grade.
You're the kind of.Yeah exactly. You said in eighth grade.
I can't like you can still. Fulfillthat. Dream.
I have to.
I'll be your mentor if you. Want.
Oh now I love it.And I'm. I'm motivated. Okay.

(50:54):
My daughter wants to be a lawyer,so maybe it's a race.
She's a junior in high school.
I'm 46. Who's going to get it first?
Yeah. That's right.
All right.
For years.
That's it. Yeah. At night.
At night. Right. Three years.
If you like a thesis.
Is there a big test?
No. Oh, they're just the bar exam.
Bar exam? Yeah, I got to. Yeah.

(51:14):
I got my principal degree.
I got my 092. I could do. Oh that's great.
So I.
Got my administrationa supervision six year.
Degree.
I could do that
I don't knowit might be too old for school.
I love it, love it.
So we did favorite teachers is youris your favorite teacher Jim Roy Jim.
Jim Bell.
Jim Bell. Is he still around? No.
I was going to say we love to share.

(51:35):
We love to share.
You. Know, you get to be my. Age.
All those teachers you had,most of them are not still around.
True, true,
man. So I got some upcoming events,if you don't mind me sharing.
No, please.
Bingo at Raymore.
Flanagan, May 16th. Bingo.
Sully. Shamrock pasta dinner.
That's my good friendwho has Ms.. They're doing a pasta dinner.

(51:55):
Memorial day parade. We're marching.
Friends of Feeney'smarching in the Memorial Day parade.
That's Monday, May 26th after partyat Luna Pizza.
Okay, I'll be there sharing,watching my wife, do, do her thing.
Cartwheel. That is. That's it.
Hartford athletic soccer on June 6th.
Bristol Blues.You ever go to Bristol Blues?
They theythey're college kids that play in Bristol.

(52:17):
It's great.
So we're doing all you can eat, allyou can drink for 25 bucks on July 12th
and our fourth annual,
friends of Nicholas, that's Rob parentsson, Rob parentis, a West Hartford
teacher, Nicholas Parenti, passed awayafter like, his eighth or ninth birthday.
We're celebrating him for the fourth yearin a row at the Yard Goats

(52:37):
game and our fourth annual golftournament.
Do golf.
I do okay.
Do aroundcheck the calendar September 13th.
I will check the calendar.
Cantor Colburn yeah, would be a wonderful.
Yeah, I can see the sponsor.
I can see that presenting sponsor.
Yeah, big time sponsor.
Like here.
Right.

(52:58):
We'll give you mic time free for some.
We'll talk.
Want to talk after we'll follow up. Sure.
Cantor Colburn. That's it.
The best place for IP.
And our seventh annual makerspaceevent makerspaces.
Seven years in a row.
We went to Elmwood Senior Centerand put out 1,000

(53:19):
pounds of cardboard and duct tapeand just watch the kids create.
Oh that's amazing. That's wonderful.
It's, pinball machines, claw machines,you name it.
The kids are building it.So there are future engineers there.
Maybe some IP lawyers.You should go recruit.
Yeah, yeah.
So it was great whileI had a wonderful time talking with you.
Do you have any recommendations?

(53:39):
TV shows, podcasts, books?
Oh, yeah. What's the name of it?
We're watching my wifeand I watching the show with Kate Hudson.
She. It's like,based on the LA Lakers where.
She. Takes over the team, but it's not.
They don't call them the LA Lakersor go on the LA. Something else.
It's on Netflix.
Really funny. Really. It was a funny.

(54:01):
She's like.
Who is it?
She's the boss.
Yeah. Yeah.
She's, Jeanie Buss. Jeanie Buss.
I mean, like. A character spin off.
Character spin off of Jeanie Buss.
Her and her family.My wife loves Kate Hudson.
So, yeah.
No, no, it's wheelchair basketball.
A lot of basketball talk.And tons of basketball talk.
So if you're into sports and it's.
And it's just really funny.
Oh I got to write that one. Yeah.That's a great one.

(54:22):
If we Google it we'll we'll get it
I don't remember names of things.
Come on, come on.
It's fine.
You're going to Google that for usKate Hudson Netflix.
Kate Hudson that basketball.
It's two words.
The name
and then that's it. Right.
Running point. Running point. Really good.
Stephania yeah.
Running point yep yep.

(54:44):
Proud I'm Mary my wife because she scoreda thousand points in high school.
So wow she's at East Grammy.
She's played Ellington.
You married. Her.
Yeah pretty much
East Granby. Yeah.
When I when she playedEllie Ellington. Yep. Yeah.
That was part of ourthat was sent in. Our.
Her biggest rivalI think was at Ellington back in the. Day.
I'm sure Ellington has always hadgreat sports and I notice they still do.

(55:06):
Yeah. Yeah. Good stuff.
Yeah.
So we're watch that I, we try to, follow up with my recommendations.
Any questions for me?
What makes you.
Such a good person?
You know, I don't know.
That's a great question.
I don't know, well, I try my best.
That's all. That's.

(55:26):
And, you know, had a rough,not rough childhood, but you know, maybe.
Who knows?
That's a great. Question. Yeah, I.
I like giving back.
I like helping children.
I was a big brother. My whole life, so.
And then we talked.My parents got divorced.
So I knew how it was not to see my dad.
So I empathizewith anyone that loses a parent.

(55:48):
Because I couldn'timagine never seeing them again.
So we're just trying to helpas many families as we can.
Again, friends of Feeney,our mission is to help
children and families that need assistanceafter heartbreak or tragedy.
We've helped over 90 familiesand raised over $250,000,
all volunteer based, workingwith wonderful people in the community
like Luna Pizza, Maximum Beverage,Sally and Bob's, you name it.

(56:12):
You know, soon to be working
with Kanter and Colburn.
It sounds great.
Thank you for the question.
Oh, so I got the cantor Colburn.
Oh. Do you know a Lauren Griner?
Lauren carmody?
She's the executive in residenceand marketing at Connecticut
Innovative Innovation.
So, Connecticut?

(56:32):
Yes, I'm chairman of the boardof Connecticut Innovations.
And she is, our head of marketing.
She's phenomenal at what she does.
And, you know, Sy is,
one of the most active venturecapital firms in the United States,
certainly on the East Coast.
And we, we invest in companies here in Connecticut
or companies that from around the globethat want to come to Connecticut

(56:53):
or companies that are spun out of Yaleor UConn, you know, we have around
250 companies in our portfolio,and she does all of our marketing.
She's 250.
No. For our for our venture capital firm.
She's amazing.
And we do this bike ride every year.
This four day bike ride that she bikeswith us on it and plans the whole thing.
Yeah. It's great.Yeah. No, she's a good friend.

(57:14):
Oh, yeah. She's great.I sent a selfie of me and her to sharing.
Sure you liked it?
I'm sure she knew exactly who it was,but I was hoping that got to you.
But, I'm good friends with her husband, Eric.
She's amazing. Yeah, he's all right.
I don't know where she is. Amazing,but she's amazing.
Yeah, yeah.
He's a big fan of the podcast.
Oh. I love him, too. All right.

(57:35):
Thank you.
Lauren.
Any closing remarks?
Well, it's a pleasure to be here.
Honestly, this is an amazing community.
I see it from the inside,you know, being married to the mayor.
And and.
What what. What makes a community amazing?
It's easy to say a community is amazing,but what makes it amazing?

(57:56):
And it's it's people like you, right?
I mean, it'snot just going to work every day
and dropping your kids off at school.You got it.
You got to have some people that go aboveand beyond and make the place so special,
and warm and, and are empathetic.
You've got all those, attributes.
And the other people do too,in this town. Yeah.
And it makes this town.

(58:17):
There's a reason why we keep being listedas the best place in Connecticut to live,
and one of the best places in the countryto live because of people like you.
And, And I'm just honored to be here today.
Thank you.It was wonderful talking with you.
We shot for 50 minutes with Feeney.
We're probably at 60 minutes.
I appreciate that your kind wordstruly mean a lot.
I'm just trying the best that I can.

(58:38):
Again. I'm a teacher.I have a roof over my head.
But I would like to give back, and, just help those that need it, all right?
Model being a good friend.
Because if everyone was a good friend,the world would be a better place.
Absolutely. Drive like a friend.
Hold the door for someone there.Real simple to hold a door.
Pick up.
I said it earlier.
Pick up trash,give compliments and be charitable.
You know, give the friends of Feeney.

(59:00):
We had this wonderful thing.
Birdies for charity going on Webster Banksmatching 15% for all donations.
So I'll set the link up at birdiesfor Charity.
And then
closing remarks. Yeah we're good.
All right I had a blast. Talk with you.Tell Shari I said hi.
She's amazing. Oh, back to it.
She wrote me the handwritten noteand then also I won.

(59:21):
Not I, the honoree for the WestHartford committee for the Saint Patrick's
Day parade, and she wrote somethingreally nice and sweet in my, like,
what's that called when you get that niceprint with the stamp from the
from the mayor. Right, right, right.
But she was like, you'll recognize thebe a good friend stickers all over town.
And it was just meant the world.
So her handwritten note was amazing.

(59:42):
That's what I tell.
I suggest every podcast writethe handwritten note that she did that.
So, And you're all right, too. Okay.
Thank you so much. On three will saybe a good friend.
One, two, three. Be a good friend.

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