Worcester Business Journal

20 Worcester Business Journal | May 2, 2022 | wbjournal.com P O W E R 5 0 N O N P R O F I T S DAVID JORDAN PRESIDENT OF SEVEN HILLS FOUNDATION, IN WORCESTER SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR-IN-RESIDENCE & ADJUNCT PROFESSOR AT CLARK UNIVERSITY Residences: Worcester & Edgartown Colleges: Medical University of South Carolina, Clark, Salve Regina University, University of Rhode Island As the head of the largest Central Mass. human service nonprofit – with $211 million in assets, more than triple the second-largest – Jordan holds considerable sway, which he uses to enhance the industry and the lives of people throughout the globe. In September, Seven Hills opened a 25,000-square-foot behavioral health facility in Worcester to streamline patient access, the result of its three acquisitions of YOU, Inc, Children's Friend, and Family Services of Central Massachusetts. This comes on top of new offices opened in Greenfield, Pittsfield, and West Springfield. Seven Hills employs 4,600, and has had employees from 56 different countries. This feeds into the Seven Hills Global Outreach initiative, where the nonprofit works with its employees to establish services in their home countries, including a children's library in Sierra Leone, farming microfinancing in Ghana, and a new primary school in Kenya. Jordan advocates for strengthening the workforce pipeline, including calling for better state government reimbursements and lobbying for immigration reform. Perhaps overlooked is Jordan's work at Clark University, where he has taught undergraduate and graduate classes since 2005. n What sets the Central Mass. business community apart? In a word, I'd say it's our people. We are a collection of disparate races, religions, backgrounds, nationalities, and beliefs, and somehow that unique melting pot has resulted in a regional character unlike that I have seen elsewhere. n Dotting husband: I happened to have been incredibly lucky to have married my amazing wife, Kathee Jordan. She is not only a strong and deeply compassionate individual, but she's the smartest person I've ever met in my life. ANH VU SAWYER EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR SOUTHEAST ASIAN COALITION OF CENTRAL MASSACHUSETTS, IN WORCESTER Residence: Boston Colleges: Calvin College, MIT Throughout its 300-year history, Worcester has seen itself as a city of immigrants, where different cultures fuse and people from across the world bring their skill sets to the region, creating a diverse economy. Since 1990, the area of the globe that has sent the most people to the Greater Worcester metro area is Southeast Asia, with nearby places like China and India also in the top 10 as countries of origin. As the leader of SEACMA for the past 10 years, Sawyer has created an incubator of sorts for the region's immigrant population, providing resources to help newcomers start their own businesses. The latest effort is SEACMA's partnership with the Massachusetts Growth Capital Corp., which has provided funding for several dozen Central Mass. small businesses owned by people of color and English-language learners. SEACMA's clients now employ more than 200 people. But SEACMA provides more than just business assistance, serving as a refugee organization and point of contact for 10,000 clients annually for services like food assistance. This effort has included welcoming refugees from Afghanistan, who are resettling in Central Massachusetts with the help of organizations like SEACMA and Worcester Together. n What sets the Central Mass. business community apart from the rest of the world? Worcester is a glorious mosaic of many beautiful cultures that were brought to the city via immigrants, refugees, and other displaced people. They came with hope, dreams, hard- working ethics, and undying love for the liberty of our great country, which allows us to be the best we can be. n Foodie: I eat a lot! And I am a pho addict. RONALD WADDELL JR. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR LEGENDARY LEGACIES INC., IN WORCESTER Residence: Worcester Colleges: Bridgewater State University, Boston University Three years ago, Waddell was an employee of the Worcester Community Action Council, working on an idea to help young men build themselves to be productive members of society. By early 2020, the funding for that nonprofit idea, Legendary Legacies, had grown just enough for Waddell to make it his full-time job. Today, Waddell and Legendary are cornerstones of the effort to engage communities of color with jobs and civic responsibility. In July, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and the Bureau of Substance Abuse gave Waddell a $1.3-million grant to expand the Legendary Links program within the nonprofit, which assists Black and Latino men returning home from incarceration. That came after the $125,000 Legendary received from the Worcester Together fund to create a youth-led civic engagement academy to increase voter registration, and $10,000 the previous year to run a food-delivery program during the coronavirus pandemic. Legendary Legacies is still relatively small, having grown from two to eight employees, but Waddell's star is on the rise. He co-chaired the Coalition for a Healthy Greater Worcester, which developed the Community Health Improvement Plan for the city government, designed as a long-term strategic roadmap to address health disparities. n What sets the Central Mass. business community apart? The proximity of leaders in the city fosters a deep spirit of collaboration. This is a pro and a con. There are times that due to the closeness of these relationships, courageous conversations to advance betterment for all are received as personal offenses. n Early exit: I'm technically a U.S. Navy veteran. I was in the Navy for five weeks before I was medically discharged. PHOTO | MATT WRIGHT

• Cover