wbjournal.com | February 18, 2019 | Worcester Business Journal 3
Worcester Business Journal (ISSN#1063-6595) is
published bi-weekly, 24x per year, including 4 special
issues in May, September, October, and December by New
England Business Media. 172 Shrewsbury St., Worcester,
MA 01604. Periodicals postage paid at Worcester, MA.
Copyright 2019. All rights reserved. Postmaster: Please
send address changes to: Worcester Business Journal,
PO Box 330, Congers, NY 10920-9894.
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cambeywest.com or contact our circulation department at
845-267-3008. Fax: 845.267.3478
Advertising: For advertising information, please call Mark
Murray at 508-755-8004 ext. 227. Fax: 508-755-8860.
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Worcester Business Journal
172 Shrewsbury Street, Worcester, MA 01604
508-755-8004 tel.
• 508-755-8860 fax
www.wbjournal.com
A division of:
Worcester Business Journal
WBJ
I
n February and March 2018,
Worcester Business Journal ran
a six-part, award-winning series
called e Boardroom Gap, where
we examined the gender break-
down in the executive suites and boards
of directors at 75 prominent Central Mas-
sachusetts business organizations, finding
the region lagged behind in having wom-
en in leadership positions.
is year, we wanted to do a follow-up
to that investigation, to see what progress
– or the lack thereof – had been made in
a year. But rather than focus solely on this
one report, WBJ decided to look more
wholly at trends surrounding women in
positions of power and launched our first
ever Women in Leadership edition. is
focus is a complement to our Outstanding
Women in Business awards edition, which
has come out in the autumn for the last
10 years, but rather than looking at the
successes of six individuals who win those
honors each year, this Women in Leader-
ship edition takes a much larger scope.
First off, flip to pages 12-17 to see
News Editor Grant Welker's excellent
follow-up to last year's e Boardroom
Gap coverage. By again examining nearly
1,600 executives at 75 prominent Central
Massachusetts organizations, he found
the region now is slightly more inclusive
of having women in positions of power.
Women now make up 35 percent of exec-
utive suites and boards of directors – an
increase of 2 percentage points from last
year – although the gender pay gap among
executives widened.
On pages 8-9, Staff Writer Zachary Co-
meau dives into his one of his two favorite
topics, beermaking (the other is marijuana),
to find while men still own the majority of
the region's breweries, women are represent-
ed in almost equal numbers in the employee
base and the state's female industry associa-
tion is the largest in the country.
For pages 10-11, I dusted off my old
reporter's notebook to write a story about
five Worcester entrepreneurs who have
created a business and emotional support
network entirely through an exclusive
group text, which has helped them grow
their high-profile companies.
Writing about women in leadership cer-
tainly is never limited to one WBJ edition
per year. It is part of our year-round cover-
I N T H I S I S S U E
age of the Central Massachusetts economy,
but with each biweekly issue, we like to
focus on one topic of special importance to
the region. And Women in Leadership is
one important topic.
- Brad Kane, editor
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NEWS & ANALYSIS
DEPARTMENTS
4 Central Mass. In Brief
5 Flash Poll
8 Focus on Women in Leadership
18 The List: Ad & marketing
communications firms
20 The Rainmaker
21 Know How
22 Movers & Shakers
24 Photo Finish
25 Opinion
26 Shop Talk: Karen Spinelli, Spinelli CPAs
8 Pink boots brewing
The Massachusetts brewing industry
is among the national leaders in woman
participation.
12 Narrowing The Boardroom
Gap
In a follow-up to its 2018 investigation,
WBJ found Central Mass. businesses
slightly improved their inclusion of
women in leadership.
Our first Women in Leadership edition
Editor, Brad Kane,
bkane@wbjournal.com
News Editor, Grant Welker,
gwelker@wbjournal.com (Real estate,
higher education, health care)
Staff Writer
Zachary Comeau,
zcomeau@wbjournal.com
(Manufacturing)
Contributors
Susan Shalhoub, Livia Gershon,
Sarah Connell
Research Director,
Stephanie Meagher,
smeagher@nebusinessmedia.com
Research Assistant, Heide Martin,
hmartin@nebusinessmedia.com
Production Director, Kira Beaudoin,
kbeaudoin@wbjournal.com
Art Director, Mitchell Hayes,
mhayes@wbjournal.com
Senior Accounts Manager
Matt Majikas,
mmajikas@wbjournal.com
Senior Accounts Manager
Christine Juetten,
cjuetten@wbjournal.com
Senior Special Accounts Manager
Mary Lynn Bosiak,
mlbosiak@wbjournal.com
Marketing & Events Manager
Kris Prosser, kprosser@wbjournal.com
Distribution and Database Coordinator
A Guide to STUFF, a publication
of New England Business Media
Patty Harris,
pharris@nebusinessmedia.com
COO, Mary Rogers,
mrogers@nebusinessmedia.com
Accounting Manager, Valerie Clark,
vclark@nebusinessmedia.com
Accounting Assistant, Rae Rogers,
rrogers@nebusinessmedia.com
Collections Manager, Raki Zwiebel,
rzwiebel@nebusinessmedia.com
Human Resources, Jill Coran,
jcoran@nebusinessmedia.com
Publisher, CEO, Peter Stanton
pstanton@nebusinessmedia.com
Associate Publisher, Mark Murray
mmurray@wbjournal.com
President, Joseph Zwiebel
jzwiebel@nebusinessmedia.com
