22 S T U F F • 2 0 1 9 • StuffMadeinMA.com
e dynamic, diverse life
sciences of Massachusetts
e state is a global leader in a cutting-edge
industry subsector
B Y L I V I A G E R S H O N
F
or 30 years, Charles Alpuche worked
for PepsiCo, rising to senior vice
president of North American
Beverages. After retiring early, with a
pension and benefits, he eventually
returned to work in an entirely new
industry, working for Insulet Corp., a company
now based in Acton which makes an insulin
delivery system called OmniPod.
"It was easy for me to come out of retirement
because I absolutely loved what we were doing for
the diabetes community," Alpuche said. "To me, it's
about being happy to wake up in the morning and
just change people's lives."
Since breaking ground on its Acton facility in
2017, Inuslet has grown its employment by 65% to
1,200. Bringing manufacturing previously done in
China to the Massachusetts location, it hired hun-
dreds of people in a wide range of roles including
manufacturing, research and development, soft-
ware engineering, marketing, chemical engineer-
ing, and sales. To help make this happen, the State
of Massachusetts provided support, including tax
incentives.
"I've built plants all over the world," Alpuche
said. "It was one of the best partnerships I've ever
worked with to make it happen."
T e c h S p r i n g
Location: Springfield
Founded: 2014
Employees: 7
Product: Digital health innovation facilitation
(consulting)
That'll bring in the crowds: TechSpring holds an
open house for the general public on each month
with pizza and beer.
The office for Springfield biotech consultant
TechSpring is set up to be similar to Silicon
Valley companies, in order to encourage
innovation. Waylon Harris' role with the
company is to be its innovation host.
P H O T O / M I C H A E L PA P E T T I
VIDEO LINK
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