Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | June 22, 2020 | Worcester Business Journal 5 B R I E FS Biostage CEO resigns James McGorry resigned as CEO of Holliston biotechnology company Biostage, Inc., officially leaving his position on Feb. 7, according to a company quarterly earnings report released in May. Under the separation agreement, McGorry will be paid $187,500 severance pay, which equals six months of his base salary at Biostage. He was given the opportunity to purchase 80,000 shares of common stock of the company. It was not immediately clear why McGorry resigned, although the company said in its earnings statement it planned to search for his replacement. DST invested in Biostage because the Holliston's company's main product, which seeks to regrow the esophagus in patients' throats, is seen as important in the Chinese market because of the higher rates of cancer in China due to higher smoking rates. Biostage did not immediately return requests for comment regarding McGorry's departure. Auction set for $13M Boxborough properties e commercial properties at 60 and 70 Codman Hill Road in Boxborough are set to be auctioned off at the end of the month. e mortgager sale of the two properties at public auction is set to take place at noon on June 30 at 60 Codman Hill Road. When the properties were last assessed in January, 60 Codman Hill Road was given a value of $7,979,600 while 70 Codman Hill Road was assessed at $5,306,300. e property at 60 Codman Hill Road sits on approximately nine acres of land with a 100,000 square-foot office building and 316 parking spaces, according to the auction notice. e property at 70 Codman Hill Road is currently fully leased by a single tenant, has a 13.8-acre lot, a 43,700-square-foot office building and 118 parking spaces. e tenant is British multinational company Intertek Testing Services, which serves industries like food, health care and energy. e property is listed on public land records as being owned by Billchelm Realty, LLC of Lynnfield, which is registered with Robert F. Tambone, according to the Massachusetts Secretary of State. American, JetBlue approved to temporarily stop Worcester flights JetBlue Airways and American Airlines are approved to suspend service to Worcester Regional Airport through the end of September in order to provide the airlines relief during the COVID-19 pandemic, which all but halted air travel, according to a filing from the U.S. Department of Transportation. American Airlines confirmed it would accept the opportunity to suspend service to Worcester. JetBlue and Massport, which owns and operates Worcester airport, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Before the coronavirus pandemic hit, JetBlue was offering nonstop service from Worcester to New York City, Orlando and Fort Lauderdale. Before the DOT ruling, JetBlue had stopped both its Florida flights while operating the NYC flight on limited capacity. American was offering nonstop service to Philadelphia. eir departure only leaves one airline and one direct flight operating out of Worcester: Delta Air Lines' nonstop service to Detroit. It's official: We're in a recession e U.S. economy has entered a recession, the official arbiter of such cycles said, saying the economic slowdown began before businesses starting shutting down due to the coronavirus pandemic. e recession began in February, according to the Cambridge-based National Bureau of Economic Research, before the coronavirus pandemic made a major mark in the country or forced any broad business, school and other closures. e proclamation ends the longest economic expansion in modern U.S. history: more than 10 years, dating to June 2009. Rail Trail Flatbread Co. to open Milford location e owners behind Hudson eatery Rail Trail Flatbread Co. plan to open a restaurant at 223 Main St. in Milford, in the old Rockland Trust building near the town common, co-owner Karim El- Gamal said. El-Gamal said the restaurant group plans to open a location at the site, but said he didn't have finalized details. e group did receive a liquor license from the town, he said, which will help move things forward. El-Gamal owns the restaurant with Michael Kasseris and Jason Kleinerman. James McGorry, former CEO of Biostage Welcome Peter Staiti and Eric Gaetz to our commercial lending team! Here to support your business in Greater Worcester. Member FDIC Visit us online at RocklandTrust.com/Worcester Peter Staiti, First Vice President Commercial Lending Center Manager Peter.Staiti@RocklandTrust.com Eric Gaetz, Vice President Commercial Loan Officer Eric.Gaetz@RocklandTrust.com Holy Cross to hold fall classes on campus College of the Holy Cross will hold classes on campus this fall but will finish the semester remotely aer anksgiving, President Philip Boroughs announced. e Worcester college plans to release more information, including about on- campus housing, in early July. Boroughs said Holy Cross will adopt a hybrid plan of in-person and online courses, starting the semester Sept. 1 on campus but eliminating the traditional fall break and sending students home for the semester before anksgiving. e rest of the semester is planned to be finished online. Some classes will be held online for all students, even for those living on campus, Boroughs said. Others will have both an in-person and online component. Classes held on campus won't look quite the same because of spacing considerations. Holy Cross will need to use larger spaces, with classes held across the entire day, with some meeting later in the aernoon or evening, to avoid congestion on campus and allow for proper cleaning of spaces. Shareholders ask TJX to fix $19M vs. $12K CEO-to- worker pay disparity Shareholders at Framingham retail parent firm TJX Cos., Inc. are requesting executive pay scales be changed to help close a company-wide earnings gap where the top executive makes nearly 1,600 times more than the average workers, according to a proposal published by Trillium Asset Management of Boston. In asking that the board of directors' executive compensation committee consider all TJX employee salaries when setting target salaries for the CEO, shareholders argued high pay disparities between CEOs and other executives can undermine collaboration and teamwork, and high CEO compensation can negatively impact morale and productivity among employees who aren't among the senior executives. In the request, shareholders noted that TJX CEO Ernie Herrman was paid $18.9 million in 2019 while the company's median employee payout was $11,791, representing a pay ratio of 1,596:1. W

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