wbjournal.com | January 8, 2024 | Worcester Business Journal 3
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:
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Worcester Business Journal
172 Shrewsbury Street, Worcester, MA 01604
508-755-8004 tel.
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www.wbjournal.com
Worcester Business Journal
WBJ
A division of:
Editor, Brad Kane,
bkane@wbjournal.com
Staff Writers
Eric Casey, ecasey@wbjournal.com (real
estate, manufacturing)
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, 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
General Manager
Kris Prosser, kprosser@wbjournal.com
Senior Accounts Manager
Christine Juetten,
cjuetten@wbjournal.com
Accounts Manager
Timothy Doyle
tdoyle@wbjournal.com
Human Resources Manager,
Tracy Rodwill,
trodwill@nebusinessmedia.com
Director of Finance, Sara Ward,
sward@nebusinessmedia.com
Accounting Assistant, Rae Rogers,
rrogers@nebusinessmedia.com
Account Receivable Specialist,
Patty Harris,
pharris@nebusinessmedia.com
Director of Audience Development
and Operations,
Leah Allen,
allen@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
W
com and let me know how the last 12
months went for you. As Julie said on
Facebook, thanks to the groundwork laid
last year, "2024 is looking bright!"
– Brad Kane, editor
O
n New Year's Day, I was
scrolling through Face-
book, trying to catch up
with the goings-on of long-
ago friends, when I came
across a post from Julie Bowditch, the
new(ish) executive director of the non-
profit CASA Project Worcester County.
Julie had asked her friends on Facebook
to share something they were proud of
accomplishing in 2023. Her only rule was
you couldn't compare yourself to other
people; even if your accomplishment was
surviving the year, that was enough.
e comments that followed were pure
inspiration, because of their honesty. e
replies from Julie's friends were great
because people were acknowledging
their struggles along with touting their
achievements. People were celebrating
staying sober, keeping their businesses
open as COVID aershocks shook their
industries, coming out to their families,
growing their startups, discovering new
event spaces, having babies, leaving toxic
jobs, founding new businesses, and find-
ing the perfect black wool sweater.
Julie, of course, replied to every single
comment with nothing but support and
positivity. is was quite the service she
was providing to people. It even enabled
me to set aside my well-worn feelings of
guilt and obsession over life's problems
to focus on the positives of my 2023 (of
which there were many, although for Julie's
post I ultimately choose setting a person-
al record time for running a marathon).
Furthermore, she inspired me to be more
like her and enable people to celebrate their
achievements. I took the small step of ask-
ing Julie her top accomplishment in 2023.
Having taken over as leader of CASA
nearly two years ago, Bowditch said she was
proud of her staff, board, and volunteers at
the child advocacy nonprofit for everything
they achieved in 2023. What she didn't
mention on Facebook was these achieve-
ments included the CASA Champions for
Children fundraiser, which raised a record
$110,000 and was voted by WBJ's readers
as the Best Nonprofit Fundraiser Event for
this year's Best of Business awards. Check
out all the winners starting on page 11.
How about you? What was your proudest
accomplishment of 2023? If the mood
strikes you, email me at bkane@wbjournal.
Your proudest accomplishment of 2023
I N T H I S I S S U E
Award-winning service,
right in Worcester County.
For more information, contact:
Peter Staiti
SVP, Commercial Lending Center Manager
100 Front Street | Worcester, MA 01608
508.769.5725
Peter.Staiti@RocklandTrust.com
RocklandTrust.com/Worcester
CREDIT
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BANKING SER VICES
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ADVICE
Recognized by the
Massachusetts District
Office as the number
one 504 Third Party
Lender in 2023
Rated #1 in
Massachusetts & #5 in
the Nation according
to the 2023 list of The
World's Best Banks
Recognized in 2023
as #5 on the list of
Top 50 Public Banks
# 5
Member FDIC
T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S
4 Central Mass. In Brief
11 Focus on Best of Business Awards
30 The List: Largest labor unions
31 Know How
32 Movers & Shakers
33 Opinion
34 Shop Talk: Toro Loco Taqueria
4 Tree House fires back against
minority owner's lawsuit
The two majority owners of Tree House
Brewing and the company itself deny
any wrongdoing and say the lawsuit
filed against it is filled with misleading
information.
31 10 Things I know about …
Sustainable development, part 1
Advice columnist Samantha McDonald
lays out her first five reasons for why
choosing to develop buildings in a more
environmentally friendly manner is better
and more cost-effective.
