Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | May 10, 2021 | Worcester Business Journal 13 H O S P I T A L I T Y & C U L T U R E P O W E R 5 0 W O R C E S T E R B U S I N E S S J O U R N A L C o n g r a t u l a t i o n s t o S t e v e K e r r i g a n , P r e s i d e n t a n d C E O a t K e n n e d y C o m m u n i t y H e a l t h o n h i s w e l l - d e s e r v e d W o r c e s t e r B u s i n e s s J o u r n a l P o w e r 5 0 r e c o g n i t i o n ! P O W E R 5 0 David M. Fields QUALITY CONTROL TASTE TESTER WORMTOWN BREWERY, IN WORCESTER Residence: Sutton Colleges: Presbyterian College and Ohio University As the managing partner of the largest brewery in Worcester, Fields takes advantage of this position to be one of Worcester's biggest hype men, spreading passion for his hometown as his beer gains a wideraudience. His 11-year-old brewery took a giant leap forward this year, expanding its Shrewsbury Street location with a 5,000-square-foot taproom. The expansion includes a planned distillery, enabling Wormtown to vary its products with new spirit options. As craft beer continues to play an outsized cultural and industrial role in Greater Worcester, Wormtown is further engraining itself into the fabric of the region, becoming the official hometown beer of the new Worcester Red Sox baseball team. There's no ques- tion Fields and Wormtown are inextricably linked with Worcester's ongoing wave of development – a position of influence Fields takes on enthusiastically. What do you think the future holds for Central Mass.? "More surprises…more adventures and with each additional success, I expect more talented and inspirational people to want to plant a flag in our area." Dream job: "I generally have a beer everyday by 10 a.m. as part of quality control. I am literally a professional drinker. I actually get paid to do this!" Allen W. Fletcher PARTNER AT CANAL DISTRICT PARTNERS, IN WORCESTER PRESIDENT OF WORCESTER PUBLIC MARKET Residence: Worcester Colleges: Harvard University, University of California at Berkeley. In February 2020, when Fletcher opened his Worcester Public Market off of Kelley Square in the Canal District, it marked a high point in his four-year effort to convert a dirt lot into a vibrant mixed-use development with a European-style market at its core. The WPM supports 35 individual vendors, most of whom are first-time entrepreneurs, primarily people of color and women. Yet, barely a month had passed from the grand opening when the coronavirus pandemic upended the retail and eatery industries. Despite already taking a significant risk in opening the new concept in a still largely low-income neighborhood, Fletcher stepped up to help his vendors out, waiving their rents during the thick of the crisis. Now he and those tenants are in position to reap the rewards as the early investors in a neighborhood expected to boom in the years ahead, as more developers make their way to the district. What do you think the future holds for Central Mass.? "Worcester remains the city of perpetual potential, and the future of the Canal District looks bright. Nothing could possibly go wrong." A language of West Africa: Fletcher speaks Wolof, which he has occasion to use in the Canal District. Larry Lucchino CHAIRMAN & PRINCIPAL OWNER WORCESTER RED SOX Residence: Brookline Colleges: Princeton University and Yale Law School The Boston Red Sox top minor league affiliate team has finally completed its move from Pawtucket, R.I. to a new $160-million public baseball stadium in Worcester's Canal District. Despite the three-year moving process, the team already has become a rallying point for city and business leaders. And at the heart of all decisions made by the team – leaving Pawtucket after 50 years, picking the Canal District as its new site, designing the baseball stadium, the formation of its charitable foundation – is Lucchino. The coronavirus pandemic has unsettled plans for the team's inaugural season at Polar Park – the fifth ballpark Lucchino's been involved with – but neither the health crisis nor construction challenges could diminish what team and Worcester city leaders said bringing the team would accomplish: a heightened sense of hometown pride. What do you think the future holds for Central Mass.? "It is not only the Heart of the Commonwealth, it is the Heart of New England, one of the most beautiful, diverse, cultured, artistic, educated areas in the world. And it has room to breathe, and room to grow." A long-time Worcester admirer: "My participation, as a teen, at Bob Cousy's summer basketball camp enhanced a lifelong admiration for this champion of Worcester. The 'Cooz' was my idol!" Robb & Madeleine Ahlquist and Caitlyn & Keith Carolan WORCESTER RESTAURANT GROUP RESTAURANTS: THE SOLE PROPRIETOR, ONE ELEVEN CHOP HOUSE AND VIA ITALIAN TABLE Residence: Shrewsbury Colleges: Robb, Madeleine, and their daughters Caitlyn and Margot went to Syracuse University, while Keith Carolan played basketball at Pace University It's as difficult of a time for restaurateurs in perhaps generations, with the coronavirus pandemic pummeling the industry. But as it has for decades with three of Worcester's most popular restaurants, the Worcester Restaurant Group adapted and survived, first by adapting to the initial wave of the crisis by offering takeout with the same high level of service, and then by installing high-quality air filtration systems to ensure guest safety. Now, after leading the company for 42 years, Robb and Madeleine are moving into an advisory role, handing the business off to their daughter Caitlyn and her husband, Keith. Overseeing three of Worcester's best known restaurants won't be entirely unfamiliar to the Carolans. Keith was most recently the group's beverage director and Via's general manager, and Caitlyn, now the Worcester Restaurant Group's president, has spent 14 years with the company in various management roles. What do you think the future holds for Central Mass.? Robb: "Worcester is becoming a magnet for young people to live, work and recreate … This will bring more opportunity and diversity of op- portunities that become a self-perpetuating momentum that will take Worcester forward." An avid cyclist: To celebrate his 60th birthday, Robb rode a bike across the U.S. from San Francisco, to Portsmouth, N.H. A teacher at heart: Madeleine was a teacher for 10 years before creating The Sole Proprietor and was asked, by the State of New York, to create content and questions for the New York Regent Exams. A love story: Caitlyn & Keith met in New York City, their first date was a matinee of "King Kong" and they were later engaged at the top of the Empire State Building.

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