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Small Business

  • MassDevelopment CEO steps down more than two years before contract end date

    Sam Drysdale | State House News Service April 29, 2024

    Dan Rivera stepped down from his position as president and CEO of the economic development agency MassDevelopment on Friday, effective immediately, more than two years before his contract was set to expire.

    Sam Drysdale | State House News Service April 29, 2024
  • 2024 Power 100: Amy Chase

    Emily Micucci Updated: April 29, 2024

    Chase may be reserved, but her impact as a trendsetter in the Central Massachusetts small business community cannot be overstated.

    Emily Micucci Updated: April 29, 2024
  • 2024 Power 100: Adriana Vaccaro

    Mica Kanner-Mascolo Updated: April 29, 2024

    After founding Culture Redesigned in 2018 in Shrewsbury, Adriana Vaccaro is at the forefront of a small, new wave of entrepreneurs and businesses in Central Mass. helping companies fill their job vacancies amid the ongoing workforce shortage while

    Mica Kanner-Mascolo Updated: April 29, 2024
  • WBJ names the Power 100, the most influential Central Mass. professionals in 2024

    Brad Kane Updated: April 29, 2024

    In this first-time expansion of the previous power players list, WBJ names the professionals in Central Massachusetts who most effectively wield their power to have an outsized influence on the economy and community.

    Brad Kane Updated: April 29, 2024
  • 2024 Power 100: Clifford Rucker

    Eric Casey Updated: April 29, 2024

    It’s fair to say Clifford Rucker has a well-diversified portfolio. As the founder of Rucker Investments, he has his hands in a number of high-profile ventures in Worcester, including the Worcester Railers minor league hockey team, Off The Rails

    Eric Casey Updated: April 29, 2024
  • 2024 Power 100: David Bagdon

    Eric Casey Updated: April 29, 2024

    As local news outlets are struggling just to stay alive, the Community Advocate excels at the important service of providing Central Mass. communities with the information they need, under the longtime leadership of David Bagdon.

    Eric Casey Updated: April 29, 2024
  • 2024 Power 100: Eric Busenburg

    Emily Micucci Updated: April 29, 2024

    As the Central Massachusetts life sciences industry looks to grow, Busenburg and Euro-American provide an important link to the rest of the world.

    Emily Micucci Updated: April 29, 2024
  • 2024 Power 100: Jason Reposa

    Eric Casey Updated: April 29, 2024

    Reposa’s innovation stands out in the increasingly competitive and financially strained Massachusetts cannabis industry, where he is one of the few actively working to help other entrepreneurs succeed in the space.

    Eric Casey Updated: April 29, 2024
  • 2024 Power 100: Stephen Genatossio

    Nancy Campbell Updated: April 29, 2024

    Stephen Genatossio not only talks the talk, he walks the walk, in sneakers. Sneakerama was founded with his father in 1978 in a small storefront in Webster Square.

    Nancy Campbell Updated: April 29, 2024
  • 2024 Power 100: Elizabeth Cruz

    Mica Kanner-Mascolo Updated: April 29, 2024

    Cruz founded LABO in 2013 driven by a passion for community empowerment.

    Mica Kanner-Mascolo Updated: April 29, 2024
  • 2024 Power 100: Debra Maddox

    Emily Micucci Updated: April 29, 2024

    Central Massachusetts born and educated, Debra Maddox has a firm hand on the pulse of the people she and her team serve at the Multicultural Wellness Center, founded in 2005.

    Emily Micucci Updated: April 29, 2024
  • 2024 Power 100: Caroline Frankel

    Eric Casey Updated: April 29, 2024

    Caroline Frankel has been breaking down barriers in the legal Massachusetts cannabis industry since its beginning, and her latest breakthrough will make it easier for entrepreneurs and small businesses to find a foothold in an industry.

    Eric Casey Updated: April 29, 2024
  • 2024 Power 100: Travis Duda

    Emily Micucci Updated: April 29, 2024

    Travis Duda is leading something of a counterculture business movement in Worcester. Made up of like-minded Worcester company owners, professionals, and residents who want to network and collaborate, the No Jerks Network pokes a bit of fun at the

    Emily Micucci Updated: April 29, 2024
  • 2024 Power 100: Mike O’Kronley

    Emily Micucci Updated: April 29, 2024

    Ascend Elements, once a Worcester green technology startup that in the last two years has grown its workforce 500%, appears unstoppable as a leader in recycling elements of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles.

    Emily Micucci Updated: April 29, 2024
  • 2024 Power 100: Gloria Hall

    Eric Casey Updated: April 29, 2024

    Worcester’s art scene wouldn’t be what it is today, if not for the impact of Gloria Hall.

    Eric Casey Updated: April 29, 2024
  • 2024 Power 100: Danielle Spring and Julie Toupin-Spring

    Emily Micucci Updated: April 29, 2024

    Although it is a lesbian bar, Femme is open to everyone and seeks to be a safe space at a time when the LGBTQ+ community is increasingly under fire locally and nationally.

    Emily Micucci Updated: April 29, 2024

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Today's Poll

Will the life sciences industry play a bigger role in the Central Mass. economy over the next few years?
Choices
Poll Description

Life sciences has been the hot industry in Central Massachusetts over the last few years, as the region looks to leverage its proximity to the global Cambridge-Boston innovation hub and cement biomanufacturing and biotech as cornerstone industries of the area economy. Major prospective development projects are underway in Worcester, Devens, and Marlborough, as many Central Massachusetts communities hope to capture an industry expansion. Yet, after significant growth in the early 2020s, the life sciences industry has been in a down cycle over the last couple of years, with Greater Boston companies laying off workers and an overbuilt lab market further slowing any new developments. Data released by the Cambridge-based Massachusetts Biotechnology Council in late August shows Worcester County was the sole Massachusetts region to gain biomanufacturing jobs between 2022 and 2023. Worcester County added 279 new jobs, accounting for a 11.8% jump in growth. In contrast, Norfolk, Essex, Middlesex, and Suffolk counties saw a combined loss of 556 jobs. These industry jobs numbers come as leaders await the outcome of the Massachusetts House-passed $1-billion life sciences reauthorization initiative as it stalls in the Senate.