Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | September 2, 2024 | Worcester Business Journal 5 CEO of Marlborough, Leominster hospitals resigns from UMass Memorial system Steve Roach, the president and CEO of two UMass Memorial Health hospi- tals in Marlborough and Leominster, departed from the Worcester-based healthcare system in June. Roach served in his executive roles at Marlborough Hospital since 2013. While staying as president of Marl- borough Hospital, he also became interim president of HealthAlli- ance-Clinton Hospital, based in Leominster, in 2019 and assumed the role on a non-interim basis in 2021. "It was a very amicable separation and Steve remains a friend of the organization," said Dr. Eric Dickson, UMass Memorial Health president and CEO. He did not provide further details for Roach's separation with the system. Roach could not be reached for comment. His LinkedIn account has not been updated to reflect his departure from UMass. Roach's salary was $458,006, with $828,998 in total compensation, in the fiscal year ending in September 2022, according to nonprofit data provider Guidestar. Dr. Charles Cavagnaro has assumed the role of interim president and CEO of both hospitals. A long-time UMass Me- morial employee, Cavagnaro previously served as president and CEO of the net- work's former Wing Memorial Hospital and Medical Centers in Palmer, and as interim president of UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester. Dickson is in the final stages of inter- viewing for a chief operating officer for UMass Memorial Health, a new position for the network. at new executive will lead the search and hire Roach's perma- nent replacement. Dickson expects the new COO to be hired in the next few months. Worcester festival stART on the Street to end, 2024 will be last edition Aer two decades, Worcester's prom- inent arts and music festival appears to be coming to an end, as the organization behind stART on the Street has said the upcoming 2024 edition of the festival will be its last. Creative Hub Worcester, which be- came involved in the festival as part of a 2022 leadership expansion, announced in an Instagram post the upcoming event on Sept. 15 will be its last. stART at the Station, a spinoff of the festival held inside Union Station in ear- ly December each year, will also come to an end aer the 2024 edition is held on Dec. 8, according to a Facebook post from organizers. "is was not an easy decision to make," the Instagram post reads, "We understand that this final chapter of stART will be received with as much emotion as it was for us to make it." Creative Hub Co-founder and Exec- utive Director Laura Marotta did not immediately respond to a request for more information. e organization has been working to open its long-awaited Creative Hub Community Arts Center at the former site of the Ionic Ave Boys Club at 2 Ionic Ave.; the organization expects the center to open in 2025. In a post to the stART on the Street Facebook page, organizers said the scale of the event's growth led to challenges, resulting in the decision to end it. "Despite the festival's growth and popularity, orchestrating an event of this scale has become increasingly daunting," the Facebook post reads. "e ongoing challenge of recruiting dedicated volunteers and the substan- tial costs associated with hosting such a large-scale event, combined with the commitment to maintaining accessibil- ity for vendors and attendees, were all factors that ultimately led Team stART to make this difficult decision." Sterling rock quarry worker killed by collapse A worker at a Sterling rock quarry was killed on Aug. 22 morning aer a 100-foot ledge collapsed. Emergency crews were called to 17 Stone Crest Way, the site of a quarry operated by Onyx Corp. of Acton, just aer 8 a.m on Aug. 22 aer reports of a rock ledge collapsing onto an excavator containing a worker. Using camera equipment to assess the site, emergency responders found no signs of life and pronounced the worker deceased at 8:39 a.m, according to the Sterling Fire Department's website. e fatal incident drew a wide variety of first responders to the scene, including multiple local fire departments, the Massachusetts State Police, and officials from the U.S. Department of Labor Mine Safety and Health Administration. B R I E F S Continued on next page WPI shouldn't buy hotels Worcester Polytechnic Institute is intending to purchase two private hotels in the Gateway Park area of the city and plans to convert them into student housing. Local gov- ernment and business leaders, led by the Economic Development Coordinating Council, have been vocal in their opposition to the sale. The site had been cleaned of environmen- tal contamination using public funds, and if WPI owns the site, the nonprofit college will be exempt from paying property tax. The conversion would reduce the number of hotel rooms in the city, but it would increase the amount of housing; and Central Massachu- setts is in the midst of a housing shortage crisis. When polled online, the slight majority of WBJ readers said WPI shouldn't buy the hotels and convert them to housing. Should WPI move forward with plans to purchase two hotels and convert them to student housing? F L A S H P O L L T H E T I C K E R 4.5% The Greater Worcester unemployment rate in July, up 0.6 percentage points from June. July's jump tied for the area's largest over-the-month increase in the past year. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 70 Gold Star Blvd. Address of a new Veterinary Urgent Care Center slated to open in Worcester this November, marking the system's seventh New England location. Source: Veterinary Urgent Care Center 23 Central Massachusetts businesses named to the 2024 Inc. 5000, an annual list of the nation's 5000 fastest-growing companies compiled by Inc. Magazine. Source: Inc. magazine $481,000 The median sales price for a single-family home in Worcester County in July, a 6.9% increase from July 2023 Source: The Warren Group Yes, it is a private transaction, and local government shouldn't get in the way. Yes, more housing is needed in the city. Yes, only if WPI increases its pay- ment in lieu of taxation to the city to make up for the revenue shortfall. No, too many public funds have been invested to remove the properties from tax rolls. No, the hotels benefit Worcester's economy better than student housing would. 29% 28% 23% 17% 4% Steve Roach, former CEO of UMass Memorial hospitals in Marlborough and Leominster

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