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wbjournal.com | April 3, 2023 | Worcester Business Journal 3 I N T H I S I S S U E A TRACK RECORD OF SUCCESS HELPING SMALL BUSINESSES GET AHEAD. For the eighth year in a row, St. Mary's Credit Union has been named the #1 SBA lender in Massachusetts by providing the highest volume of service to small business borrowers. In short, we helped the most businesses take theirs to the next level. That's something to be proud of because it means that we were able to help a lot of small businesses in a big way. If you're interested in a loan for your business and the personalized experience you'll find only at SMCU, let's talk. And maybe next year, you'll be part of the reason we take home #9. Learn more at stmaryscu.org Editor, Brad Kane, bkane@wbjournal.com Staff Writers Timothy Doyle tdoyle@wbjournal.com (Real estate, higher education) Kevin Koczwara kkoczwara@wbjournal.com (Manufacturing, energy & environment) Isabel Tehan, itehan@wbjournal.com (Health care, diversity & inclusion) Contributors Giselle Rivera-Flores, Laura Finaldi, Kaitlin Yazbek, Emily Micucci, Susan Shalhoub, Livia Gershon Photographers Matt Wright, Edd Cote, Christine Peterson Research Director, Stephanie Meagher, smeagher@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 Senior Account Executive Yasmin Nasrullah, ynasrullah@wbjournal.com Marketing & Events Manager Kris Prosser, kprosser@wbjournal.com Human Resources Manager, Tracy Rodwill, trodwill@nebusinessmedia.com Accounting Manager, Sara Ward, sward@nebusinessmedia.com Accounting Assistant, Rae Rogers, rrogers@nebusinessmedia.com Account Receivable Specialist, Patty Harris, pharris@ nebusinessmedia.com Audience Development Manager, Leah Allen, lallen@nebusinessmedia.com Business Office Assistant, Nicole Dunn, ndunn@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 2023. 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 $84.00. For more information, please email circulation@wbjournal.com or contact our circulation department at 845-267-3008. Advertising: For advertising information, please call Mark Murray at 508-755-8004 ext. 227. Fax: 508-755-8860. Worcester Business Journal accepts no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts or materials and in general does not return them to the sender. Worcester Business Journal 172 Shrewsbury Street, Worcester, MA 01604 508-755-8004 tel. • 508-755-8860 fax www.wbjournal.com Worcester Business Journal WBJ A division of: decades without recognition, stand before a large crowd rising to its feet, excited to praise their accomplishments. It's quite a thing to see. – Brad Kane, editor W hen I was writing this col- umn, I had just le WBJ's Business Leader of the Year & Hall of Fame Awards, which was held on March 28 and honored the eight outstanding Central Mass. pro- fessionals profiled in our March 6 edition. e ceremony made for an amazing night, with each of the winners making heartfelt speeches about the people who helped them along the way. Amusingly to me, nearly all of the winners talked about how humbled and shocked they were to receive the awards, while simultaneously praising the worthiness of the other hon- orees. Even more astounding was seeing the interconnections between the 200+ professionals in the room, even though nearly all came strictly for one honoree from disparate industries like health care, banking, technology, construction, and human services. e event was a showcase for the diversity and the close-knit rela- tionships in our business community. With this April 3 edition, we arrive at another set of awards, the third of five WBJ will publish this year. e Manu- facturing Excellence Awards remains our only sector-specific award and honors accomplishments in one of the foundation- al industries in Central Mass. When I attend journalism conferences with my fellow business-to-business edi- tors, the feelings about awards fall into two broad categories: ey are either unbear- able chores servicing a revenue-producing aspect of our companies, or they are a moment to reflect on the most positive aspects of our communities, worthy of the full prowess of our newsrooms. I'm firmly in the latter category, even though I under- stand the former. e WBJ newsroom has built up its reputation by speaking truth to power, examining the limited financing available for entrepreneurs of color, the leg- acy of redlining, overregulation of the can- nabis industry, and problems with a large public investment in a stadium. To use this integrity to pick the most innovative busi- ness leader or the 40 most promising young professionals can seem contradictory. But we can do both, and do them well. e same integrity that discovers flaws can honor excellence, too. Few things profes- sionally give me more joy than watching award winners, who may have toiled for e joy of awards TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S 21 Growing your business: Step one, preparing for the deal Know How columnist Amy Morrissey offers advice on how business owners can set up their companies for multi-million- dollar acquisitions. 24 Fix your failing targeted recruitment In her latest Outside the Box column, diversity & inclusion expert Bonnie J. Walker says organizations need to rethink how they recruit people from marginalized populations. 4 Central Mass. In Brief 10 Focus on Manufacturing Excellence Awards 20 The List: Largest manufacturers 21 Know How 22 Movers & Shakers 24 Column: Outside the Box 25 Opinion 26 Shop Talk: Self-Made Entrepreneur Conference W