wbjournal.com | April 26, 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
Sharon Boateng,
sboateng@wbjournal.com
Contributors
Susan Shalhoub, Livia Gershon
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
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Murray at 508-755-8004 ext. 227. Fax: 508-755-8860.
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not return them to the sender.
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Worcester Business Journal
WBJ
O
n May 3, WBJ readers will
no longer enjoy the privi-
lege of stories from News
Editor Grant Welker. at
benefit will belong to Bos-
ton Business Journal, as Grant returns to
the city where he lived before Worcester.
As he departs WBJ, Grant leaves behind
a legacy of hard-nosed investigative jour-
nalism, data-driven reporting, and the vi-
tal-but-all-too-rare trait of speaking truth
to power. During a time in the Central
Mass. journalism industry where nearly
all media outlets are more concerned
with appeasing government officials and
business executives, as well as promoting
their ideas and opinions, Grant offered
undisputed facts and thoughts from un-
biased experts, unafraid of how his stories
oen went against the grain, following
only where the research took him.
In 2018, Grant published a six-part
investigative series showing how Central
Mass. is behind the state and national
curves in having businesswomen in
positions of power. e Boardroom Gap
investigative series has now become an
annual highlight in WBJ's coverage. Later
that year, aer hearing countless offi-
cials and executives brag of a Worcester
Renaissance, he dove deep into more
than three dozen key metrics to see if all
that talk had translated into any actual
extra economic output. His "Worcester's
overhyped Renaissance" story showed
Worcester was still behind its peers.
Grant's coverage of the publicly funded
Polar Park baseball stadium public project
has yielded many uncomfortable truths,
including the development will likely not
pay for itself through tax collections, as
city officials have claimed; and how delays
in contract signings put the city at a nego-
tiating disadvantage against the Worcester
Red Sox baseball team and the developer
of the surrounding project. e only
reason anybody knows the $160-million
Polar Park is the most expensive minor
league stadium ever built is because Grant
did the legwork of tracking down all the
costs of every other minor league stadium.
Heck, the only reason the $160-million
price tag is so well known is because
Grant thoroughly read the city's public
documents on the stadium.
A good journalist can have an out-
I N T H I S I S S U E
sized – if oen unseen – influence on a
community, providing previously unknown
information and critical analysis. For four
years, Grant Welker brought his A game to
his job at WBJ, and Central Mass. is better
off because of him.
– Brad Kane, editor
e legacy of Grant Welker
N E W S & A N A LY S I S
4 Central Mass. In Brief
10 Focus on Manufacturing Excellence
Awards
19 The List: Largest local manufacturers
21 Know How
22 Movers & Shakers
24 Photo Finish
25 Opinion
26 Shop Talk: Amy Lynn Chase
21 Alternatives to investing in the
stock market
Advice columnist Matthew Erskine offers
four ways to invest your money, with strong
returns, while avoiding the volatility of the
stock market.
25 Congress must take action on
cannabis banking bill
In the Viewpoint opinion column, James T.
Brett from the New England Council urges
the U.S. Senate to follow the House's lead
and help legal cannabis businesses take
advantage of the finance industry.
D E P A R T M E N T S
A division of:
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