Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | March 29, 2021 | Worcester Business Journal 5 B R I E FS GWCF CEO departs after 19-month tenure Barbara Fields has resigned immediately as CEO of the Greater Worces- ter Community Foundation aer a little over a year and a half leading the nonprofit. e Worcester-based $1350-million foundation announced Fields' immedi- ate resignation late March 22, saying only she was pursuing other opportunities. Fields will be replaced on an interim ba- sis by Carolyn Stempler, who chairs the foundation's board and becomes the first woman of color to lead the organization. e foundation said it would establish a search committee to find Fields' eventual successor. Fields joined the Community Foundation in August 2019 from the Rhode Island housing assistance program RIHousing, where she was the CEO and executive director for four years. Fields succeeded Ann Lisi, who had led the nonprofit since 1992. All Mass. adults eligible for vaccine by April 19 All Massachusetts residents 16 and older will be eligible for COVID-19 vaccines starting April 19, the Gov. Charlie Baker Administration said in a key milestone in the state's campaign to end the pandemic. Other population groups are now eligible even sooner: residents age 60 and older and some workers, including those in restaurants, were able to get shots starting March 22. ose 55 and older and residents with at least one certain medical condition, such as asthma, will be eligible on April 5. Cultivate, the first adult- use cannabis dispensary in Mass., sold for $158M Multi-state cannabis company Cresco Labs of Chicago has purchased Cultivate, the groundbreaking operator of two marijuana retail locations in Leicester and Framingham, in a deal to net Culti- vate up to $158 million. In November 2018, Cultivate was the first marijuana adult-use dispensary to open in Mass., at its Leicester location, along with New England Treatment Access, which opened on the same day in Northampton. Cultivate has an addi- tional dispensary in Framingham with another planned to open in Worcester in the second quarter of the year. Four Central Mass. development projects win $4.8M in tax breaks, on $102M in investment Planned development projects in Devens, Lunenburg, Marlborough and Stubridge obtained state approval for incentives on March 18. Tax breaks approved by the Massachu- setts Economic Assistance Coordinating Council include a planned new $53-mil- lion facility in Devens by the manufac- turer Watson-Marlow, a new $27-million, 12-acre greenhouse by BrightFarms in Lunenburg and a new $22-million cold storage facility by Complete Cold Logis- tics in Sturbridge. Each tax break from the local municipality will save the businesses on their property tax bills above pres- ent-day valuations. e fourth approval was for a vacant storefront incentive in Marlborough will give $5,100 in rental assistance from the city and $5,100 in refundable tax credits from the state to bath products company Dancing Orchid Soapworks. Bristol Myers Squibb sees Devens expansion as part of major cancer effort A 244,000-square-foot expansion at Bristol Myers Squibb's Devens facility will add to the drugmaker's efforts to fight cancer using specialized technology. Representatives for the New York-based company gave a virtual tour March 16 of how the company's CAR-T cell therapy, which uses genetically modified cells, works to help a patient fight cancer. e Devens facility, which could start opera- tions by around the end of the year, will make Breyanzi, a treatment for lymphoma patients and Bristol Myers Squibb's first CAR-T cell therapy. Saint Vincent reaches deal with technician union Saint Vincent Hospital has reached the three-week mark in a high-profile nurses strike, but it's reached an agreement with a smaller union representing patient care assistants, housekeepers and others. e Worcester hospital said March 18 it reached a contract with the United Food and Commercial Workers union, which has about 600 employees at Saint Vincent. e two sides had reached a tentative agreement less than a week aer UFCW workers began picketing alongside the Massachusetts Nurses Association, who've been on strike since March 8. Terms of the new UFCW agreement weren't disclosed. Continued on Page 6 Barbara Fields Intelligent BUSINESS Solutions Start at IC! Info: Call 978.353.1331 or email businessbanking@iccreditunion.com Federally Insured by NCUA Like, Friend or Follow Us From small to large, and anything in between… We've got you covered. OPERATIONS for equipment or other purchases FLEXIBILITY for a line of credit for cash flow EXPANSION for commercial real estate Stop using standardized tests Should all colleges stop considering standardized tests in their admissions? On March 15, Worcester Polytechnic Institute announced it would no longer consider SAT and ACT scores when determining whether or not to admit prospective students, following a 2007 decision which made them optional to submit at all. In no longer considering the tests, WPI joins a growing movement aimed at broadening application bases and viewing applicants more three-dimensionally, reporting that, since ending the test requirement, the school has seen 81% more applications from women and 156% more from people of color. When polled online, the majority of WBJ readers said they favor dropping the SAT and ACT from the admissions processes at colleges. COMMENTS "Why should a bad day or a student with special needs be penalized for not doing well on standardized tests? These tests are a detriment to education." Yes 60% "To succeed in college, students should have command of a standard body of knowledge, which should be reflected in their SAT and ACT scores. Otherwise, they will be chosen based on warm and fuzzy criteria that doesn't mean squat in the real world." F L AS H P O L L No 33% Other 8%

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