Joan Payden is the founder, president, and CEO of Payden & Rygel, an investment firm based in Los Angeles that manages more than $106 billion in assets.
She employs about 200 people.
She lives in California, and her company has offices all over the planet.
When it reviews potential hires two qualities are a must: passion and commitment.
She visited Derby Friday — and found both in spades.
Payden, whose father, Joseph, graduated Derby High School in 1915, is donating $2.5 million so Derby Public Schools can build a new field house and baseball field at the Leo Ryan Athletic Complex off Chatfied Street.
“Everyone here is just so wonderful,” Payden told the Valley Indy. “You have spirit. You have passion. You have commitment. Sometimes that is hard to find, but, boy, it is all over here, which is very exciting.”
Her donation can’t be understated.
Derby received an almost $3 million grant from the state for a new turf field and running track within the Ryan complex.
The state grant was wonderful news — but the new construction pushed out the Derby High School baseball field, and the money wasn’t enough to replace the school district’s ancient field house, which, literally, smells.
Derby is the state’s smallest city, and it is pretty much fully developed, not to mention economically distressed. So relocating fields is easier said than done.
There was talk about moving the baseball field across town to Witek Park, but there were concerns about what that move would do to Derby Youth Soccer, whose players currently use the fields at Witek.
Payden’s donation was like relieving a pressure valve, giving Derby the option of spending more money on a better project that will (hopefully) see the baseball field stay within the Ryan Athletic Complex.
The details regarding where everything goes are still being hammered out, but Payden was in Derby Friday tracing her family’s heritage in the city.
Friday morning she visited Derby Public Schools Superintendent Matthew Conway at his office on Fifth Street.
They were scheduled to be joined by Ken Marcucio, the chairman of the school board, Mark Izzo, the school district’s business manager, Anthony DeFala, the city’s director of public works, Martin Pascale, the high school principal, and Peter de Bretteville, the architect who will be designing the new field house.
After the meet and greet it was onto Derby City Hall at 1 Elizabeth St. to meet Mayor Anita Dugatto.
Hayden’s father grew up just up the street from City Hall, near the historic Sterling Opera House.
As Payden and the school officials made their way down the hallway on the second floor of City Hall toward Mayor Dugatto’s office, Conway stopped and pointed to an oversized, framed photograph on the wall.
It was of Elizabeth Street some 100 years ago. Sterling Opera House is a focal point — and the spot next door where Payden can trace her heritage.
Payden was moved.
Her father wasn’t just a graduate of Derby High School. He was the valedictorian, and he played football there.
After Derby High School he went to Yale University — but he left for a spell to become a fighter pilot in World War I.
He eventually returned to his studies and later became the CEO of Union Carbide Java Ltd in Indonesia.
Her mother, by the way, grew up in Shelton. Before starting a family she worked at Yale University and was a guidance counselor for the New York City school system.
Mayor Dugatto gave Payden a bag of Derby promotional materials, including a Derby button she pinned on Payden.
Payden, meanwhile, made it a point to talk to everyone in the office. She smiled, recalling how she was laid off from her first job at a company next to the World Trade Center in the 1970.
She was crushed, and placed a call to her dad. He urged her to buck up and keep going.
Did we mention Ms. Payden’s a company manages $106 billion in assets?
Apparently she listened to her father.
After chatting with Mayor Dugatto, Payden agreed to snap some group photos in the Joan Williamson Aldermanic Chambers. She was somewhat reluctant to answer a reporter’s questions.
She was reminded that her late brother started as a local newspaperman in Westchester County, N.Y.
“That’s how I know you’re dangerous!” she joked.
Then it was downstairs to Derby Town Clerk Marc Garofalo’s office, where Payden looked up family records.
Conway chronicled the visit on Twitter.
Here is a photo the school superintendent posted showing Payden with Garofalo in the records vault at Derby City Hall:
Joan and Marc looking her Dad’s Birth Certificate pic.twitter.com/s5hbGdiddB
— Matt Conway (@derbypssuper) April 7, 2017
The Valley Indy departed City Hall to tape a podcast in Ansonia, but Payden was scheduled to continue her visit with a stop at local landmark Roseland Apizza on Hawthorne Avenue.
Then it was onto Derby High School, to have lunch with the type of people who will benefit most from her generosity — Derby students.
“You don’t know how exciting it is for me, to be here to connect, and to make a little difference,” she said.
On Saturday, Payden will close out her visit by attending the Second Annual Derby High School Athletic Hall of Fame induction, scheduled for 6 p.m. Saturday in the Derby High School gym.
Joan visiting with our future leaders
DerbyRedRaider</a> <a href="https://t.co/CO4RD0wAB5">pic.twitter.com/CO4RD0wAB5</a></p>— Matt Conway (derbypssuper) April 7, 2017
