Issue link: https://nebusinessmedia.uberflip.com/i/1504065
wbjournal.com | July 24, 2023 | Worcester Business Journal 3 e Supreme Court's decision is nearly one month old now. Even though this news has been covered from multiple angles, WBJ is bringing you some fresh perspective in this edition. - Brad Kane, editor A ffirmative action has been part of American life for 60 years. e U.S. Supreme Court's decision in June to effectively end its use in college admissions was a seismic shi, not only for the higher education industry but for society as a whole, with ramifications expected to play out over decades. When the news of the Supreme Court's decision broke, we in the WBJ news- room wrote it up for WBJournal.com. Even though we pride ourselves in being intensely focused on local business news, the decision was too massive for us not to mention it. Beyond simply writing up that news, though, we wanted to examine how the end of affirmative action in college admissions would impact our local econo- my. Since this edition was our first regular issue since the Supreme Court's decision and we had been planning on focusing on higher education anyway, we decided to include our analysis in this issue. e problem we faced, though, was practically every other media outlet in the country has been covering this news for nearly a month. We wanted to bring fresh perspective and move beyond the simple "Here's what local colleges are saying" reaction story. To accomplish this, Staff Writer Isabel Tehan took the long view. A really long view. Her cover story "Diversi- ty denied" on page 10 focuses on the long- term impact on the workforce pipeline. e basic premise Tehan started with was as college admissions become less di- verse, particularly at elite universities, the bottom of the workforce ladder would be- come less diverse, and as that generation moved up the ranks, the applicant pool for managers, executives, and CEOs would have fewer Black and brown professionals. Aer concluding her research, she found her sources said this was one possibility, but it might not happen. e beginning of the workforce pipeline is expected to become less diverse in the immediate future, although that might not translate to the top of the corporate ladder. College graduates typically take about 20 years to reach the CEO level, and there's plenty businesses can do in the meantime to make their workforces more diverse, par- ticularly if they are committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion work. Reporting on month-old news W I N T H I S I S S U E 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: TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S 6 S.P. did it Following a young career spent in regulation and service, Seth Pitts prepares to lead Bay State Savings Bank and become its first Black CEO. 18 I set my shame aside and returned my bakery to profitability Advice columnist Renee King writes in her The Hustle is Real column about how she was able to focus her business to get her bank account back where it needed to be. Editor, Brad Kane, bkane@wbjournal.com Staff Writers Timothy Doyle tdoyle@wbjournal.com (Real estate, higher education) Isabel Tehan, itehan@wbjournal.com (Health care, diversity & inclusion) Contributors Giselle Rivera-Flores, Laura Finaldi, Monica Benevides, Alan Earls, Susan Shalhoub, Livia Gershon Photgraphers Matt Wright, Edd Cote 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 4 Central Mass. In Brief 10 Focus on Higher education 17 The List: Top colleges and universities 18 Column: The Hustle is Real 19 Know How 20 Movers & Shakers 21 Opinion 22 Shop Talk: A Great Notion Graduate Programs clarku.edu/graduate The Clark MBA | Finance | Accounting Analytics and Big Data | Computer Science Project Management | Communications Sustainable Development Public Administration Generous Scholarships for Central Massachusetts Students Local, Flexible, Career-Focused CORRECTIONS • The Movers & Shakers column in the June 12 edition incorrectly spelled Saint Vincent Hospital registered nurse Jaclyn Esparza's last name as Esparz. • The Movers & Shakers column in the June 26 edition incorrectly said Lashaun Woodliff as a previous director at House for Hope. His title was actually director of facilities.