wbjournal.com | March 15, 2021 | Worcester Business Journal 3
Editor, Brad Kane,
bkane@wbjournal.com
News Editor, Grant Welker,
gwelker@wbjournal.com (Higher
education, health care, real estate)
Staff Writer, Monica Busch,
mbusch@wbjournal.com
(Manufacturing, equality & inclusion)
Editorial Intern
Amy Thai, athai@wbjournal.com
Contributors
Susan Shalhoub, Livia Gershon,
Sarah Connell
Lead Researcher, Timothy Doyle,
tdoyle@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
Christine Juetten,
cjuetten@wbjournal.com
Senior Special Accounts Manager
Mary Lynn Bosiak,
mlbosiak@wbjournal.com
Marketing & Events Manager
Kris Prosser, kprosser@wbjournal.com
COO, Mary Rogers,
mrogers@nebusinessmedia.com
Accounting Assistant, Rae Rogers,
rrogers@nebusinessmedia.com
Account Receivable Specialist,
Patty Harris,
pharris@nebusinessmedia.com
Human Resources, Jill Coran,
jcoran@nebusinessmedia.com
Director of Audience Development,
Valerie Clark,
vclark@nebusinessmedia.com
Operations Assistant,
Leah Allen,
lallen@nebusinessmedia.com
Publisher, CEO, Peter Stanton
pstanton@nebusinessmedia.com
Associate Publisher, Mark Murray
mmurray@wbjournal.com
President, Tom Curtin
tcurtin@hartfordbusinessjournal.com
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 2021. All rights reserved. Postmaster: Please
send address changes to: Worcester Business Journal,
PO Box 330, Congers, NY 10920-9894.
Subscriptions: Annual subscriptions are available for
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845-267-3008. Fax: 845.267.3478
Advertising: For advertising information, please call Mark
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not return them to the sender.
Worcester Business Journal
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Worcester Business Journal
WBJ
A
year ago, WBJ had just sent
its March 16, 2020 edition to
the printer. e main feature
story in that magazine
entitled "Food love" was
centered on the love story between two
Worcester entrepreneurs, who separately
had started the city's exciting new Main
Street market and a BBQ restaurant. is
human interest story was a departure
from WBJ's typical analytics and trends
articles, and I was excited about how this
new type of storytelling would be folded
into our news coverage moving forward.
Of course, between the time that edition
was sent to the printer and when it was
mailed to readers, the entire world was
in crisis. e NBA had stopped playing,
then-President Donald Trump had banned
travel to Europe, and Massachusetts was
less than a week away from a near-to-
tal economic shutdown. We went from
planning our next print issue to wondering
if there would be an economy or a WBJ
around in the next month or two.
Yet, aer that initial panic in the first
several weeks of the coronavirus pandem-
ic, the Central Mass. economy found its
own way to survive, even if the health and
business tolls were high. For WBJ, gone
were the stories about star-crossed entre-
preneurs, as they were replaced by advice
on how to get government aid, what
the fallout would be for industries like
retail and higher education, and how our
healthcare organizations would handle
a spiking caseload. Even aer that phase
faded into a new normal, COVID-19 still
permeated every aspect of our lives, as
people died, employees lost their jobs, and
businesses shuttered. It was a bad year.
ose challenges, though, created
opportunities for people to shine. In this
edition of WBJ, we focus on the Business
Leader of the Year awards and the WBJ
Hall of Fame. While the Business Leader
awards have been published annually
since 1982, the difficulties the business
community faced in the past year have
brought new meaning to these honors. e
professionals you will encounter starting
on page 9 were truly the best of the best in
helping the economy survive the first year
of the pandemic, and now are positioning
the region for success down the road.
2020 was horrible. e pandemic is
I N T H I S I S S U E
still horrible. But 2021 offers hope, and by
recognizing those who helped us through
these bad times, I am optimistic for the
path laid before us toward a more promis-
ing future.
– Brad Kane, editor
COVID-19, one year later
N E W S & A N A LY S I S
4 Central Mass. In Brief
9 Business Leaders of the Year
23 WBJ Hall of Fame, Class of 2021
32 The List: Advertising firms
34 Column: Outside the Box
35 Know How
36 Movers & Shakers, Photo Finish
37 Opinion
38 Shop Talk: Boston Made
34 Apprehensive about the
COVID-19 vaccine
Outside the Box columnist Bonnie J. Walker
advises why employees of color may be
hesitant to receive the coronavirus
vaccine and what employers can do to
encourage inoculation.
38 Q&A: Writing the book on
innovation
In this edition's Shop Talk, professor Robert
Krim and author Alan Earls discuss their
book on the 400 Massachusetts innovations
that changed the world.
D E P A R T M E N T S
A division of:
W
Customized solutions from a local
team, here to help you face your
current business challenges.
Let's get you
back to business.
Member FDIC
For more information, visit
RocklandTrust.com/Worcester
or call,
Michael Crawford
SVP, Worcester Market Executive
508.769.2944
CORRECTION: In the Viewpoint column "Business & education must
increase partnerships in 2021" from the Feb. 22 edition, the name of
author Kathleen Manning was misspelled.
