Meet Dan Hincks

By Lloyd Garrison

Dan Hincks, the successful bidder at the Greenwoods Theater auction.

Ever since college, Dan Hincks has appeared to be pursuing life with two conflicting goals. One involved joining the family printing business in Farmington, where as CEO of Data Management for the last 14 years, he has tripled sales and nearly doubled the number of employees to 65.

The other goal, which took a back seat until now, was rooted in a childhood love of music that finally led him to Norfolk and the purchase last month of the Greenwoods Theater Building. Today, his aim is to tranform Greenwoods into a showcase for live musical performances appealing to a variety of tastes. “This is the beginning,” he says, “of a life-long dream.”

The dream first took shape in the Hincks family household in Farmington. “I grew up surrounded by music of all kinds,” he recalls. “My mother was on the board of the Hartt School of Music at the University of Hartford, where I went to college. There were classical musicians in and out of the house all the time. My older brother, Rob, became a talented singer and songwriter.”

As a teenager, Hincks played the guitar. “But in college I began promoting concerts at the university and at area clubs,” he says. “Ever since then I have dreamed of finding a really great place where I could present the best performers.”

Back in June of last year, before he had ever heard of Greenwoods, he launched Infinity Music and Entertainment with Sue Tomkus, a company executive who agreed to serve as Infinity’s general manager.

“I was lucky that the company had sufficient management depth so that I could pursue my dream,” says Hincks, who brings to Infinity a business-like approach that was honed at the Harvard Business School.

Indeed, the day after the auction, he and Sue Tomkus took an early bird flight to Los Angeles to attend five days of seminars and workshops at the annual Pollstar convention, which brings together many of the nation’s leading music promoters, agents and managers.

“When we started Infinity,” says Hincks, “We knew about Norfolk’s Chamber Music Festival and other classical music offerings at Tanglewood and Music Mountain, but there appeared to be a vacuum in performances of popular music in the area.”

Hincks, who is 52, has fond memories of visiting Norfolk, where his uncle Bill Hincks lived until about 15 years ago. So when an associate at Data Management reported that Greenwoods was up for auction, he jumped at the chance to bid on the building.

Although Greenwoods owner Maura Cavanaugh prevented bidders from inspecting the interior, Hincks phoned a number of Norfolk residents and peppered them with questions. Among them were First Selectman Sue Dyer, and Libby Borden and Frank Bell, members of the town’s economic development commission. “We got a good sense of what was inside the building,” says Hincks.

Eventually, Hincks will likely move Infinity’s office, which is now in Burlington, to Greenwoods. He currently resides with his wife in Burlington and commutes to Data Management in nearby Farmington. The Hincks have two daughters, 25 and 23.

As for what kind of music might be played at Greenwoods, Hincks is open to a wide variety of musical genres, including classical, country, rock, folk and jazz. “We will just have to see what people want to hear.”

Photo by Lloyd Garrison.