Victor J. Buselli
Member
A small business entrepreneur since he was a young man, Victor Buselli is the former general partner of Buselli Associates, a real estate management group. He was the general partner of Williams Associates IV, as well as the former general manager and secretary/treasurer of Banner Resort, Inc. II, a golf course recreation facility. Victor is also president of Mar Vic Cleaners and Tailors, Inc., a leading dry cleaning and tailoring business in Connecticut for over 40 years.
A member of the Greater Waterbury Chamber of Commerce and the National Cleaners Association, Victor has served numerous community organizations to promote the vitality of the City of Waterbury. He was awarded the Greater Waterbury Business NAACP’s Businessman of the Year Award in 2009 and is a major contributor to community-based organizations assisting families in need.
A veteran of the U.S. Army where he attained the rank of Sergeant, Victor Buselli served the United States in Korea for two years.
Roberta Coogan
Member
Roberta Coogan of Roberta Coogan Interior Design in Middlefield, CT was founded in 1987.
Roberta has been an early-stage funder of First Fairfield Associates.
Dr. Jordan R. Dann
Member
Dr. Jordan Dann, a founding member of First Fairfield Associates, passed away on July 10, 2022. He practiced veterinary medicine in Connecticut for 65 years. During his medical career, he was a member of both the Connecticut Board of Veterinary Medicine and Harvard Schools Committee for two decades and served as Chairman of the Connecticut Veterinary Medical Association Committee on Ethics for many years. Additionally, he provided leadership as a president of the Fairfield County Veterinary Medical Association. Dr. Dann’s community service also includes his role as a member of the Danbury Hospital Development Fund Board of Directors.
Jordan Dann served as a member of the U.S. Army Combat Engineers and attained the rank of 2nd Lieutenant, being stationed in Germany from 1944-1946. A graduate of Harvard College, Dr. Dann received his Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine with distinction from Colorado University.
Laura C. Manning
Treasurer
Laura Manning is responsible for the daily operations and financial administration of the company, overseeing project management and communications. As a member of the team, she coordinates the development of projects and refines the organization’s activities among internal staff and clients.
Laura’s experience encompasses a variety of industries, including real estate, accounting, and investments. She holds a bachelor’s degree in business computer science from Barrington College.
Julie Venus
Member
Julie Venus is seasoned support staff with The Law Offices of Norman J. Voog, LLC, with more than 25 years of experience in handling day-to-day operations of the law office. She is the office manager, paralegal and secretary in charge of the firm. Julie’s extensive experience, energy, work ethic and team focus skills enrich the firm through all aspects of a case, including document product, preparation and trial support.
Francis L. Voog
Member
Francis Voog had a successful 31 year career as a kindergarten teacher, making an important early molding of young minds. She taught in Groton, Connecticut, in a school adjacent to the US Submarine Base. For all of her career most of her students thought she was the one who had an accent, as most of her charges came from out of state Navy homes. Her classroom was the quintessential mixing pot of America.
Frances has been an early-stage funder of First Fairfield Associates.
She received both Bachelor and Master of Education degrees from Central Connecticut State College.
Norman J. Voog
Member
Norman Voog is an attorney with broad experience as a litigator. He founded his law practice Voog, Simmons and Voog and established its offices in Waterbury and Ridgefield, Connecticut. He also has served the public through the Waterbury Legal Aid offices and more recently as an attorney trial referee in the Connecticut Superior Court. As a special master in the Connecticut Superior Court, he has resolved domestic cases in a capacity as special public defender and appointed counsel for minor children and/or as guardian ad litem. Over his distinguished legal career, Norman has been a member of many professional associations, including the ABA, CBA, Waterbury Bar Association, Danbury Bar Association, CTLA, ATLA, and the Criminal Defense Lawyers Association.
Mr. Voog received a bachelor’s degree in zoology and microbiology, a master’s degree in ancient and medieval history from the University of Connecticut, and a doctor of laws degree from the University of Connecticut School of Law.
Richard S. (Dick) Voog
Chief Financial Officer & Chairman of the Management Committee
Richard Voog had a lengthy and successful engineering career, working at two leading enterprises, primarily supporting the U.S. Navy.
Mr. Voog began his career at Electric Boat in 1960 as a Metallurgical Engineer and served as Engineering Project Manager when he left the company in 1977.
Beginning at Sonalysts, Inc. as a Principal Engineer in 1977, when it was an 18-person start-up, Mr. Voog made significant contributions to the company’s growth and development for 30 years. Given that Sonalysts was a very flat, entrepreneurial organization, Mr. Voog was able to obtain and manage engineering projects and also create and manage aspects of the internal infrastructure. His longest engineering project was a 17-year run designing and building components for Electric Boat under the Trident Submarine D-5 Retrofit Program.
Dick also created the IT Department, the Purchasing Department, and the Shipping and Receiving Department at Sonalysts, and ran each of them for over fifteen years in addition to performing concurrent engineering work. When he retired in 2003, Sonalysts was close to a 500-person enterprise, and he takes pride in his contribution to that growth. Mr. Voog subsequently consulted with Sonalysts until 2007.
Having participated in a collaborative undergraduate degree program between Wesleyan and MIT, Mr. Voog received degrees from both schools. His major field of study at Wesleyan was Chemistry. At MIT, his major was Course 3, Metallurgical Engineering.
Frank Zarro
Advisor to the Management Committee
Frank Zarro is responsible for advising the management committee on program development and project management focusing on three human resource social impact assignments, 1stGig.com, VetsBridge.com and whenpeoplework.com and coordinating a Brownfield application for an environmental remediation project in downtown Saratoga Springs, NY.
At Skidmore College, in Saratoga Springs, he has supervised a for-credit independent study honors course on social justice topics and a for-credit internship program. He also helped to create the Skidmore College Restorative Justice Project, for which he works on legislative initiatives and civic learning programs.
Frank also volunteers as a member of the Building Committee at Bethesda Episcopal Church in Saratoga Springs, NY.
He has held various management and planning positions in the New York State Unified Court System and founded the In Our Name Restorative Justice Initiatives in 2012 to promote discussion about important social and criminal justice topics.
Frank has taught college level courses to incarcerated veterans of the United State Armed Forces and legal research and a law library clinic to incarcerated individuals at Mt. McGregor Correctional Facility in Wilton, NY and Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, NY. He served as the Director of Development and Special Projects for the New York State Defenders Association where he helped found the Veterans Defense Program which provides assistance to returning U.S. military veterans whose service related PTSD, TBI and substance abuse problems have led them to encounters with the civilian criminal justice process.
He received a Master of Public Administration from the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University and a Juris Doctorate from Seton Hall Law School in Newark, NJ.