Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | August 21, 2023 | Worcester Business Journal 3 only a tiny percentage are reported to police. Our eyes have been opened to a dark undercurrent in our society most would prefer not to discuss openly. As journalists and a media organization, we are firm in our commitment to bring these topics out of the shadows. We plan to do this comprehensively, transparently, and sensitively. Yet, with the incident from our July event still under investigation, now is not the appropriate time to do so. ese are conversations that need to be had, and they will be had. Some alarm bells are hard to hear, but this one is ringing in our ears. We all need to learn how to recognize the sound and be able to respond. – Brad Kane, editor W hen I saw an ambulance pull up to the parking lot following WBJ's 40 Under Forty photo shoot in July, I was initially more puzzled than alarmed. We had just wrapped up our four- hour, winners-only reception, an annual gathering where the soon-to-be honorees meet before they are officially announced as the 40 Under Forty in one of our August editions. e reception provides us the opportunity to take everyone's portrait for their awards profile and helps set the tone for the special edition and subsequent ceremony, which are designed as fun, slightly zany ways to celebrate up-and- coming professionals and the youthful exuberance they bring to the Central Massachusetts business community. e 40 Under Forty awards ceremony, typically held in September, is WBJ's biggest event of the year, and it and the awards edition have grown in such scope and complexity, the entire project is produced over a six-month period and takes hundreds of hours for our team to put together. at summer day when we held the photo shoot had been particularly hot and rainy, so when I saw the ambulance pull into the parking lot at the end of the night, I thought someone had gotten overwhelmed from the weather and needed some kind medical attention. Instead, what I and the rest of WBJ's staff learned in the following days and weeks has been far more alarming. During that July reception, there was an assault, and the police are actively investigating the incident. WBJ is fully cooperating with the police, providing whatever the investigators need in their efforts, which at this point includes not disclosing any more details. e safety of our event attendees is paramount to WBJ's core values, and we are dumbfounded, outraged, and devastated this happened. Given the seriousness of the matter and the ongoing police investigation, we at WBJ – in a decision made by Publisher Peter Stanton, Events Manager Kris Prosser, and myself – have postponed the publication of the 40 Under Forty and the awards ceremony to a still unspecified date. We remain committed to honoring the Class of 2023 members in all their glory, but now our top priorities are supporting in every way possible the person most impacted by the assault, as well as assisting the police in the investigation. Everything else seems trivial. On top of the outrage and devastation, I remain completely shocked this happened at any event, forget one of ours. Kris Prosser and I have been saying to each other phrases like, "Never before in all our years has something like this happened." Unfortunately, that likely isn't true. As we discovered in talking to people more experienced in this type of situation, this type of incident is far too common in business settings and has certainly occurred at other events, including ours and other events in our community, except the statistics show is is not our 40 Under Forty edition 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 18 Nurturing America's superpower Outside the Box advice columnist Bonnie J. Walker details the important work of diversity, equity, and inclusion professionals in helping business professionals all play in the sandbox together, in order to create the best outcomes for companies. 19 10 Things I know about ... Pub brewery conversions Advice columnist Mark Borenstein from the law firm Bowditch & Dewey offers considerations for small farm brewing thinking about broadening their businesses. 21 The value of nonprofit board service Viewpoint opinion columnist Katherine Garrahan lays out the benefits businesses receive when they encourage their employees to volunteer on nonprofit boards. 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 7 The Ticker 17 The List: Highest-paid CEOs 18 Column: Outside the Box 19 Know How 20 Movers & Shakers 21 Opinion 22 Shop Talk: Indian Ranch

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