Merging business with blood
Last year, when we were honoring six family-run businesses in Central Massachusetts, a summer-long family drama focused on a business was playing out. Not on TV, but in real life, and not that far away.
The internecine battle between the two warring factions of the Demoulas family, which runs the Tewksbury-based Market Basket supermarket chain, was like a soap opera come to life. But what really captured and sustained the attention of most of us was the fierce loyalty exhibited by hundreds of employees who, standing behind ousted CEO Arthur T. Demoulas, organized a boycott of the stores, leading the company's beleaguered board — controlled by Arthur T's cousins — to sell the firm to him.
It was a triumph for workers who risked their jobs — without the protection of a union — because the man in charge treated every employee as if he or she carried the Demoulas surname.
Family relationships can be complicated, especially when there's a business in the mix. But in the many family firms we've honored annually for seven consecutive years, we've admired how many have worked to ensure that business doesn't get in the way of family.
In this issue, we honor five family firms as our 2015 Central Massachusetts Family Business Award recipients. We will also honor them in person at our annual Family Business Awards event on Thursday, June 25, at Cyprian Keyes Golf Club in Boylston.
Thanks to …
A special note of thanks to our three judges — John W.S. Creedon, Jr. of Creedon and Co. and the Worcester Bravehearts; Maureen Raillo of Worcester Airport Limousine and Jonathan R. Sigel, an attorney with the Worcester-based law firm Mirick O'Connell. They took on the task of winnowing a field of 22 nominees to this year's five honorees. (Note: Because Raillo works for a competitor, she was excused from evaluating the nomination for Knight's Airport Limousine.)
– Rick Saia, WBJ Editor
THIS YEAR'S HONOREES
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