Worcester Business Journal

12 Worcester Business Journal | April 29, 2024 | wbjournal.com P O W E R 1 0 0 M A N U F A C T U R I N G & T E C H N O L O G Y Raffi Garabedian Co-founder & CEO Electric Hydrogen, in Natick and Devens Employees: 300 Residence: San Francisco Bay area College: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, University of California, Davis e rise of Electric Hydrogen since its founding in 2020 could be described as stratospheric, owing to its promising technology to decarbonize hydrogen produc- tion. In just four years, the Natick-based company has raised nearly $700 million in private funding under Garabedian's leadership, according to Crunchbase. With 300 employees, Electric Hydrogen is headquartered in Natick and has operations at two California sites and a new manufacturing plant in Devens. e Devens plant will allow the company to produce up to 50 tons of green hydrogen when it comes online in the second quarter. is 187,000-square-foot Devens plant will have a manufacturing capacity of 1.2 gigawatts, which will eliminate up to 2.4 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year, which outpaces the current total global installed capacity for such production. e U.S. Department of Energy has awarded $65 million in fund- ing to support the plant, in both tax credits and grants. In September, Electric Hydrogen reached an agreement to provide a 100-mega- watt electrolyzer system to New Fortress Energy in Texas by the fourth quarter. e plant is expected to produce 50 tons per day of hydrogen to be used as an alterna- tive energy source, with the capacity to double output in the future. "I'm proud of the values-driven culture that we've built at Electric Hydrogen that makes us stronger together, to address the greatest challenge of our time: decar- bonization," Garabedian said. Garabedian founded Electric Hydrogen alongside co-founders David Eaglesham and Derek Warnick. Before that, he was with Arizona-based First Solar, and he was the founding CEO of California-based Touchdown Technologies and spent more than 15 years developing and commercializing new technologies. - E.M. Jon Weaver President & CEO Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives, in Worcester Employees: 6 Residence: Sturbridge College: Assumption University e biotech industry has strong roots in Central Massachusetts, and Weaver and MBI are striving to build on that strength to transform the region into a global biomanufacturing hub. MBI is the state's oldest life sciences incubator, working with early stage companies from concept to clinical trials. Since 2000, the nonprofit fostered 188 companies, which have created more than 1,800 jobs and raised $1.4 billion. e company's headquarters at 17 Briden St. offers space, equipment, and support for young companies. In October, MBI opened the Pilot Biomanufacturing Center at the site, designed to help companies move from research to clinical trial manufacturing. "We initiated this project because of the challenges we saw our incubator companies facing in making that transition," Weaver said. Over the last year, MBI collaborated with the MassTech Collaborative and the City of Worcester's Economic Development Coordinating Council to create a Regional Biomanufacturing Strategy, outlining the steps necessary to compete against other states and countries in the highly competitive market. Weaver believes the region has all the ingredients to succeed, notably a talented workforce, affordable lab and office space, a number of already well-established biotech companies, and easy access to Boston and Cambridge. Local leaders and policy makers are supportive of the industry, paving the way for pad-ready sites such as e Reactory biomanufacturing park in Worcester. Weaver sees job opportunities for local residents, and MBI has partnered with industry and academic leaders to promote skills training and create a pathway to new careers. "We forecast over 1,200 jobs coming to the region in the next two to three years," Weaver said, "and we're working to ensure our community is ready." - N.C. Mark Schwartz CFO Workhuman, in Framingham and Dublin, Ireland Employees: 1,184 Residence: Framingham College: Harvard University As the new CFO of Workhuman, a tech company specializing in human resources soware, Schwartz has a lot of work ahead of him. e once unicorn company, meaning it was valued at more than $1 billion dollars, has faced a number of financial setbacks. One-tenth of the company's global staff were laid off in 2023, as the rest of the company's employees were told pay raises would be frozen aer the company faced an abysmal quarter of client bookings, according to Business Post, an Ireland-based publication. Schwartz took over as CFO in January. As the financial face of one of the region's most well-known tech companies, the press release announcing Schwartz's arrival at Workhuman at the start of the year said he was brought in to guide the company's legal and financial functions as it seeks to further expand its customer base. His role in this position will be critical in maintaining Workhuman's Central Massachusetts workforce, bringing additional life into Framingham's growing tech scene. Schwartz's prior work experience includes taking multiple private companies public, including Markforged, an additive manufacturing company based in Waltham, and Fabrinet, a ailand-based disk drive manufacturer, among a handful of others. is prior experience has led to speculation he was brought into Workhuman to guide the company through the IPO process. is help may be needed, as Workhuman already attempted to go public once in 2013, but pulled back from those plans the following year. If Workhuman does indeed go public, it would join a small list of publicly traded Central Massachusetts companies, potentially bringing more attention and outside investment into the area. - E.C. PHOTO | COURTESY OF ELECTRIC HYDROGEN

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