Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | March 16, 2020 | Worcester Business Journal 15 978.757.3003 • www.devenscommoncenter.com Your destination for corporate meetings! A convenient location in Middlesex County and easily accessed from all major routes, Devens Common Center offers an ideal location for corporate meetings of all sizes and styles, along with two onsite hotels offering 250 overnight room accommodations. Contact us to find out how we can help make your event the very best it can be! Michael McAuliffe President and CEO, Middlesex Savings Bank Indian Ridge Country Club, Andover 3.7 Doug Brown Chief administrative officer, UMass Memorial Health Care Hopkinton Country Club 4.9 Daniel McGahn President and CEO, AMSC Oak Hill Country Club, Fitchburg 6.6 James Umphrey President, Kelleher & Sadowsky Tatnuck Country Club, Worcester 8.4 John Roche President and CEO, Hanover Insurance Group Hopkinton Country Club 8.5 James Scammon CEO, Bose Corp. Vesper Country Club, Tyngsborough 10.9 Kris Canekeratne Chairman and CEO, Virtusa Corp. The International, Bolton 12.2 Ed Manzi Chairman and CEO, Fidelity Bank Worcester Country Club 12.5 Neil McDonough President and CEO, FLEXcon Holdings Trust Reservation Golf Club, Mattapoisett 13.2 Ralph Crowley Jr. President and CEO, Polar Beverages Worcester Country Club 13.6 Lee Delaney President and CEO, BJ's Wholesale Club Blue Hill Country Club, Canton 13.8 Edwin Shea Central Massachusetts market president, Bank of America The Haven Country Club, Boylston 13.8 Mark O'Connell President and CEO, Avidia Bank Charter Oak Country Club, Hudson 14.9 Patrice Muchowski Senior vice president of clinical services, AdCare Worcester Country Club 15.0 Michael Robbins Chairman and CEO, Cornerstone Bank Tatnuck Country Club, Worcester 18.6 Karin Branscombe CEO, Quaker Special Risk Worcester Country Club 19.1 Patricia Finnegan Gates Partner, Mountain Dearborn Worcester Country Club 23.3 Don Doyle CEO, Webster Five Cents Savings Bank The Haven Country Club, Boylston 24.4 Javier Cevallos President, Framingham State University Framingham Country Club 24.7 Golfer Title, company Home golf course Handicap Golf handicaps of prominent Central Mass. executives For several notable Central Massachusetts executives, golf can be more than an occasional way of making a business deal or knowing a client better. Some (below) have registered with the U.S. Golf Association their handicap score. The handicap score is the amount over par, or what an elite golfer would shoot, for a 18-hole round. The lower the score, the better the golfer. Source: United States Golf Association M E E T I N G S & G O L F G U I D E F O C U S first time, but fewer people played at least once in the past year, with partic- ipation peaking in 2001, according to e Wall Street Journal. Nicholas Barnes, an associate pro- fessor of business and law at Nichols College in Dudley, which has its own nine-hole golf course, sees golf as sitting between two trends: top firms looking to be more inclusive, which can mean moving away from golf, and a time crunch oen limiting how much some- one can spend out on the course. For larger companies, it might mean taking a client out to a Boston Red Sox or Celtics game, for example, which still offers plenty of opportunities to chat. Minor-league teams are also savvier at marketing themselves to business clients than they used to be, Barnes said. Barnes said as business leadership has slowly diversified in gender and ethnicity, executives are seeking out non-sports events and venues for networking and business development with clients. "I do see the next generation as more diverse and less interested in golf," Barnes said. Even as a late arrival to the game, Cev- allos sees the game as having slightly less of a role in the business world than when he picked up the sport. "It's not as intense as it used to be," he said. "ere are other ways to connect to people nowadays." Doyle, whose handicap is 24.4, mentions an old adage – a bad day of golf still beats a good day in the office – but knows it's sometimes harder for everyone to find the time. But Sprister is confident the sport will carry on, saying he's seen an uptick local- ly despite the drop nationally. "Absolutely," he said. Teaching kids the sport, he said, he advises them golf is something they can play the rest of their lives and potentially lend a hand at work, too. "Golf will help in your career," Sprister said. "I really believe that." W

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