This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.
05/18/2022 08:30 AMThere’s an old saying that life’s greatest riches are often right in our own backyards and that one does not have to venture far to have a full and productive life. East Haven native Beth Purcell is a living example of this philosophy.
Beth earned three college degrees from Quinnipiac University, starting off with an associate degree in executive secretarial studies.
“I basically wanted to be a secretary,” Beth says about the start of her career.
She then took a detour and decided to earn a four-year degree in management and business administration. Her professional education was then capped off with an MBA.
“I pursued my MBA while I was working a Bayer Pharmaceutical, and I was there for 19 years, starting as an admin,” says Beth.
Beth had worked her way up to a senior manager position at Bayer when the company decided to leave Connecticut and move to New Jersey.
“I decided I didn’t want to do that [move], so I left Bayer after 19 years and went to Yale University,” says Beth.
At Yale, Beth has both enjoyed and excelled in the area of finance for the past 13 years. She currently works as the director of finance in the university’s Office of New Haven Affairs.
“We work with the City of New Haven for school programs and helping non-profits, and on the other side of the department we also work with university properties where we have retail and commercial [outlets] known as the Shops at Yale,” says Beth.
“We bring brick-and-mortar stores into New Haven both for the public and for the students, and hopefully make New Haven a better place,” explains Beth. “We don’t just let any retailer come in and open a store. They have to be of better quality, and we don’t like a lot of turnover, so they have to have the financial background.”
Beth also works on marketing and helps run events at the Shops at Yale along Broadway, Chapel Street, and Whitney Avenue, to bring the public and students out to the shops, which also helps New Haven.
It’s that same conscientiousness that Beth applies to her volunteer work for East Haven on the Board of Finance (BOF), where she has served for the past 11 years. For the past 15 years, Beth has also served on the Republican Town Committee (RTC),
Although Beth began her volunteer work for the town on the RTC, “When they had some turnover, I volunteered to be on the BOF, not knowing I had to be on the ballot and win a spot there,” Beth says with a laugh.
Beth lost in her first run for a BOF seat, “but I got on the second time I ran,” she recalls. Now in her sixth term, Beth brings experience and wisdom into her contributions to help the other five elected BOF members plan East Haven’s annual budget.
“One of the things that got me involved in the town committee was I didn’t like what was going on in town and yet [had] lived here my whole life. So, instead of complaining about it, I decided to get involved and hopefully help,” says Beth.
Municipal governments run best when people who care get involved, and Beth exemplifies the democratic principles of our participatory government.
“A lot of people don’t want to get involved, because it’s politics, and politics has a nasty connotation,” Beth says and stresses that community involvement is key to making positive changes.
And when it comes to positive communications between political parties, “I think we are one of the best boards there is,” Beth says of the BOF, adding, “Our group gets along very well regardless of political affiliation,” and she wishes more people in town were aware of that cooperation.
“Some of the board members are newer and three of us have been on the BOF for 11 or more years, and we all get along and we can discuss and compromise and negotiate mostly during the budget process,” explains Beth.
Beth has lived in East Haven all her life except for the two years when she was in college and her parents moved to North Haven, “But when I got married, I moved back to East Haven and I’ve been here ever since,” she says.
Beth has one son, Nicholas, who, at age 27, has followed in his mom’s footsteps, first by going through the East Haven school system and then entering the same business field. Today, Nicholas works as a financial analyst at the Yale School of the Environment.
“It’s a small town,” Beth says of East Haven, “and I’ve been here so long I tend to know a lot of people and I love to spend time at the East Haven Town beach.”
Those beach days feel like a long vacation to Beth.
“My favorite thing is sitting at the beach reading in the summer, and I’m a 20-year member of the Silver Sands Beach Club,” she says. “That’s my summer vacation. Whenever I can get some down-time in the summer, that’s where I am.”
When not reading for relaxation, Beth kick-boxes three times a week for her workouts.
“It’s a great stress reliever,” she says.
Beth’s contributions to the hometown she loves are done through her love of finance and business administration, and she encourages others to join town committees and organizations and get involved.
“If people have a particular interest, or are upset about something, get involved in the town,” Beth advises. “This is the place where we live, so it would help if we could get more people involved and join one of the town committees or get involved in the different events that take place [in town] where we help people, give stuff out, or help seniors. And it would be good if more young people started getting involved.”