BL Companies regional manager and principal Matthew Bruton has been named to the Hartford Business Journal’s 40 Under Forty list for 2025. This annual recognition highlights outstanding young professionals making a meaningful impact in their companies and communities.
Bruton oversees BL’s land development group for the Northeast region, managing a diverse portfolio that spans multifamily residential, medical offices, retail, quick-service restaurants, and industrial developments. In his 12 years at BL, he’s risen from project engineer to principal, building and mentoring a talented engineering team of 25 and permitting millions of square feet of new development in New England.
“Matt is an accomplished civil engineer and leader, and a model of what early-career leadership can look like in a demanding, impact-driven industry,” BL Companies Vice President of Operations Derek Kohl wrote in the nomination for this recognition. “He exemplifies the qualities this award seeks to recognize: not just professional achievement, but leadership with purpose, integrity and a lasting impact on both the business and the broader community.”
In its profile, the HBJ highlighted a few key projects Bruton has managed, including the Life Star helipad at MidState Medical Center, a 60-acre mixed-use development in West Hartford, and multiple Amazon delivery stations across Connecticut.
“As a Connecticut native, it is special to be a part of designing projects that are reinvesting in the community where I am now raising a family,” he told the HBJ. “I’ve managed more than 150 projects that have created new places to live, brought retail services to underserved communities and designed industrial complexes that make getting goods and services easier for the community.”
Read Matt’s full profile here.