Worcester Business Journal

16 Worcester Business Journal | July 9, 2018 | wbjournal.com P O W E R 5 0 R E T A I L CHRISTOPHER BALDWIN CHAIRMAN, PRESIDENT & CEO BJ'S WHOLESALE CLUB, WESTBOROUGH Residence: Westborough College: Siena College in New York Since Baldwin assumed the role of president and CEO in 2015, the retailer more than doubled its net income, from $24 million in fiscal 2016 to $50 million in fiscal 2018. e latest fiscal year profit came off sales of $12.5 billion, a three-year high for the company. is May, Baldwin took over the mantle of BJ's chairman aer his predecessor, Laura Sen, le her position as non-executive chairwoman. Baldwin's latest power grab came just as the company launched its initial public offering at the end of June, with investors feeling quite bullish on the company's prospects. BJ's stock debuted on the market at $17 per share and rose 41 percent to $24 by the next day. With that stock price holding steady, the company's market cap is near $3 billion, which is more than the $2.6 billion private equity firm CVC Capital Partners of Luxembourg paid for it in 2011. Baldwin – whose 30 years of experience in retail includes executive roles at Hess Retail Corp., Kra Foods, e Hershey Co. and Proctor & Gamble – is the chairman of the trade group National Retail Federation. AMY LYNN CHASE FOUNDER, HABERDASH IN HUDSON; CROMPTON COLLECTIVE,; THE WHITE ROOM AND CANAL DISTRICT FARMERS MARKET IN WORCESTER Residence: Worcester College: Quinsigamond Community College Short of a deep-pocketed developer, few could make as much of an impact on a neighborhood as Chase has in Worcester's Canal District and Hudson's downtown. She opened Crompton Collective in 2012, offering a spot for vendors to sell goods and creating a treasure- hunt shopping destination the city lacked. She later started the farmers market and events venue e White Room. In 2017, she opened the Haberdash, a smaller scale but similar type of shop in downtown Hudson where people can find all kinds of handmade gis. When not helping revitalize neighborhoods, Chase serves on the board of the Canal District Alliance; works with students at her alma mater, Worcester Technical High School; and donates space for charities such as Binkeez For Comfort. What advice would you give up-and-comers? Strive not for success, but to add value to your community. If your community needs the service that you provide, you are more likely to stick with it and be a success. Fun fact? Her lips are sealed: I can't just give out that juicy info. You'll have to follow us at @ShopCrompton to find out! RALPH CROWLEY JR. PRESIDENT & CEO POLAR CORP., WORCESTER As head of the Crowley family's main business holding, Ralph has pushed for Polar Beverages to innovate in a soda market dominated by two national players all while employing 700 and generating $465 million in 2017 revenue. Polar Beverages has been family owned and operated for 136 years, first founded as a whiskey and seltzer company, with an inflatable company mascot polar bear still greeting Worcester visitors and residents along the I-290 corridor. Now, it's the largest independent bottler in the U.S., providing packaging services for national soda brands with a new $10-million canning line and water treatment system, all while still making strides in its own products. Polar routinely releases creatively named flavors – like Yeti Mischief and Unicorn Kisses – in colorful packaging and has seasonal flavors like Watermelon Margarita, Pineapple Grapefruit and Mango Berry. Yet, the development of a new seltzer line has been new real invention, standing out on grocery shelves. Ralph works with his sister and three brothers on the family's other prominent business holding – Wachusett Mountain Ski Area in Princeton, which invested $2 million in snowmaking equipment in 2016, allowing it to produce a record amount of snow for the past two seasons. MICHAEL DUNDAS PRESIDENT & CEO SIRA NATURALS, INC., MILFORD Residence: Newton Colleges: University of California, Berkeley; University of San Francisco School of Law Dundas is quickly becoming the face and the brain behind Massachusetts recreational marijuana. In late June, Sira became the first company on the East Coast to obtain a license to grow retail marijuana products. Dundas, named Sira CEO in 2014, employes 65 people in his Milford cultivation facility, including high-skilled jobs like food scientists, lab technicians and horticulture experts. Although the town voted to ban recreational marijuana companies, the vote was amended to allow Sira to produce its cannabis products in Milford and sell at its stores in Cambridge, Newton and Somerville. Since the recreational marijuana business is difficult to break into, Dundas developed an incubator at Sira to give entrepreneurs access to products and equipment. He makes policy recommendations to the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission through his role on the Cannabis Advisory Board and serves as president of the trade association Commonwealth Dispensary Association, a group he helped found. What advice would you give up-and-comers? Be yourself, work hard, fail fast, and fail oen. Voice of China: I spent three years as the host of a national radio talk show program in Beijing, China. ERNIE HERRMAN PRESIDENT & CEO TJX COS., FRAMINGHAM College: Boston College TJX has done so well in today's turbulent retail environment, one could almost think that Herrman and his leadership have it easy. But T.J.Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods and the other chains making up TJX have fought off Amazon and outlived past retailers like Bradlees and Caldor because they've made taken advantage of a shopping experienc others can't match: the so-called treasure hunt. TJX's stores have long drawn customers who enter a store without knowing what they'll find, and Herrman has kept the company on a strong trajectory, with more than $35 billion in revenue through the end of 2017 and ranking 85th on the Fortune 500 list. TJX has kept growing while other retailers have shrunk or closed. In fact, last year TJX added a new chain, HomeSense, and announced plans to expand by 1,800 stores. With more than 4,000 stores in nine countries, any TJX head is nearly guaranteed to make this list, and Herrman, who took over for Carol Meyrowitz in 2016, is no exception. He is the highest- paid public company CEO in Central Massachusetts, with $17 million in total compensation in fiscal 2017. HARRY KOKKINIS PRESIDENT TABLE TALK PIES, INC., WORCESTER Residence: Worcester Colleges: Amherst College, UMass e 94-year-old Table Talk Pies has been owned by the same family for three generations, and Kokkinis' chapter in that legacy will be the expansion of its production and return to its roots in Worcester. Kokkinis and the company last year opened a 50,000-square-foot production facility in the South Worcester Industrial Park – along with a retail store in the Canal District – adding to its other facilities in Shrewsbury and Worcester. is move to again become Worcester-centric led to the creation of more than 50 jobs to the 300 already employed by Table Talk. A second pie line is being installed in the new facility to produce another 1 million 4-inch pies each week. In all, the company produces more 160 million four-inch pies and more than 20 million 8-inch pies in the Worcester area. What advice would you give up-and-comers? Work hard, and do what you love to do. ere is no greater gi than to do what you love to do and get paid for it. Early beginnings: When I was 4 years old, my grandfather let me eat a whole pumpkin pie at one sitting while I was visiting the bakery. at started my love for pies.

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