Worcester Business Journal

40 Worcester Business Journal | April 29, 2024 | wbjournal.com P O W E R 1 0 0 C O M M U N I T Y D E V E L O P M E N T Travis Duda Co-founder and creative director HBG Branding + Design, and the No Jerks Network Employees: 3 Residence: Worcester College: Central Connecticut State University Duda is leading something of a counterculture business movement in Worcester. Made up of like-minded Worcester company owners, professionals, and residents who want to network and collaborate, the No Jerks Network pokes a bit of fun at the Worcester establishment, providing a chance to meet monthly on weeknight evenings for those who feel like they are on the outside looking in with the crowds typically attending chamber of commerce and similar events. e No Jerks Network has already garnered attention from its core audience and beyond. Its events in late 2023 were attended by small business owners who were struggling to stay afloat, as revenues were not meeting rising costs, and the attendees discussed ways to collaborate and help each other navigate tough times. Duda himself is a creative entrepreneur, as the launch of his graphic design and branding business in 2017 and the later opening of a Webster Street studio drives much of Duda's influence in the Worcester community. His more recent projects include rebranding work for the Worcester Public Library and design layout work for the Worcester Green Report, a City sustainability project. Aer graduating from college, Duda first landed in Metrowest, but felt an undeniable pull westward. "I found myself drawn to Worcester and its vibrant community," Duda said. Duda has had a big hand in local media and entertainment, producing comedy show festival WOOtenanny, hosting the podcast SeltzerTime featuring people with interesting local endeavors, and collaborating on public art advancement through mural project Worcester Walls. "I'm not afraid to roll up my sleeves and work alongside others, tackling the tough tasks necessary to bring about positive change in Central Massachusetts," Duda said. – E.M. David Bagdon Publisher of the Community Advocate Newspaper Bagdon Advertising, in Westborough Employees: 20 Residence: Medway College: Worcester State University As local news outlets are struggling just to stay alive, the Community Advocate excels at the important service of providing Central Mass. communities with the information they need, under the longtime leadership of Bagdon. Bagdon first began working alongside his father at what eventually became the Community Advocate in the 1970s, taking over control of the publication upon his father's passing in 1984 and keeping it as one of the few locally owned media organizations in Central Massachusetts. Today, the hyper-local publication receives more than 130,000 pageviews per month. Originally founded as the Community Advertiser, the paper plays an important role in connecting companies with customers, having worked with more than 1,000 local businesses in its history. e Advocate regularly breaks news in its MetroWest coverage area and is oen the only media outlet at key community events, like town meetings. Bagdon has expanded the business, as it is now produces the Hopkinton Independent and the Fiy Plus Advocate, the oldest continuously published senior- focused market publication in the country, which Bagdon purchased in 2012. e most difficult times for the business came during the early days of COVID, when it was unclear whether the printing presses would have the workers needed to run them or if the postal service would be available to deliver copies of the paper. Facing financial uncertainty, companies put planned advertisements on hold. Bagdon pressed on, realizing readers still needed their news from a trusted and reliable local source. "I have had the privilege of working alongside hundreds of passionate journalists and collaborators who have moved us forward consistently over these last 50 years to create publications I am very proud of," he said. - E.C. Kola Akindele Associate vice president, external relations & partnerships Worcester Polytechnic Institute WPI employees: 1,378 Residence: Dudley Colleges: Quinnipiac University, Northeastern University, University of Massachusetts Boston, University of Massachusetts Lowell WPI has a unique position in the Greater Worcester economy, providing the brightest minds and cutting-edge research to fuel the Worcester startup ecosystem. In 2021, Akindele le a similar post at the UMass Chan Medical School in Worcester to lead external relations supporting the culture of innovation at the prestigious techno- logical university founded in 1865. Akindele's job is to nurture relationships with funders, whether private founda- tions, government organizations, or corporate sponsors, to support research and operations, as well as to strengthen community connections. In its 2023 Annual Re- port, WPI said its faculty and research teams submitted 375 proposals, received $42.5 million in awards, and spent $62 million on research. As the WPI liaison, Akindele has a hand in helping to secure much of that funding. e vast majority of WPI projects are funded by federal agencies. Akindele will work with federal agencies like U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of Energy to ensure this money keeps flowing. WPI ventures funded by federal mon- ey include the development of flexible 3D robots for search-and-rescue operations; a smartphone-based screener to detect infected wounds; and tools for the detection of soware security vulnerabilities. Akindele is charged with community networking, an integral part of the university fabric, and part of his role is to report on how WPI impacts the community. WPI-led startups raised more than $9.7 million in capital and employed 335 people between 2022 and 2023, according to a Community Impact Report. School mentoring pro- grams, collaboration to assist nonprofits with operations, and a Worcester partnership to help refugees with web-based resources created by WPI's Small Business Digitiza- tion Services are among a host of projects aimed at helping the region. - E.M. PHOTO | COURTESY OF BAGDON ADVERTISING

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