Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | October 28, 2024 | Worcester Business Journal 9 WBJ largely credited with turning the company into a multi-billion-dollar business. By 1992, the Framingham-based TJX had launched HomeGoods, a popular retailer featuring discounted home decor that now has more than 900 locations. And Ralph Crowley Jr. and Mike Ruettgers had taken the reins at Polar and EMC, respectively. 1994 EMC became a Fortune 500 company aer posting record 1993 revenues of $783 million. With 14 consecutive profitable quarters in its rearview, the computer storage giant was listed at number 412 on the magazine's list of largest U.S. industrial corporations. EMC revenues grew 76 percent in 1994 to $1.37 billion, with the company now employing more than 3,200. Two years aer Neil McDonough, son of founder Myles, was named president, FLEXcon ranked as the sixth-largest private company in Central Mass., with revenue of $225 million, a 12.5-percent increase over the prior year. Polar Beverages joined FLEXcon on the list, at number 23, at more than $65 million. Polar had plenty besides profits bubbling to the surface. Crowley and brother Christopher Crow- ley grappled with an uncle over the terms of a 1986 family-company succession agree- ment, a dispute that included a lawsuit and was eventually settled, paving the way for the new generation of Crowleys' dramatic expansion. In other family business news, Anthony Consigli – an inaugural WBJ 40 Under Forty honoree – took the reins of the Mil- ford-based construction outfit. Today the CEO of a multi-billion dollar company, the fourth-generation president inherited a firm with 15 employees. Douglas R. Starrett was named chairman and CEO of L.S. Starrett in September. Aer succeeding his father, Arthur, as president in 1962, he was responsible for one of the longest periods of sustained growth and profitability in the company's 125-year his- tory. At the same time his son, Douglas A. Starrett, the current chairman, was promot- ed to president. TJX Cos. was busy too. It launched T.K. Maxx in the United Kingdom, introducing its off-price concept to an international audience. By 2020 it would have more than 650 stores across Europe and Australia. e store was named T.K. Maxx to avoid confu- sion with British discount brand TJ Hughes. A year later, TJX Cos. would acquire its chief competition, bringing the Marshalls brand and its 496 locations into its expand- ing portfolio. And in 1996, Polar Beverages acquired longtime competitor Adirondack Beverages of Scotia, New York. Along with Adirondack, Waist Watcher, Clear 'N' Natural brands, and private-label accounts, the acquisition included a 600,000-square-foot production facility. 1999 Polar Beverages wasn't done padding its portfolio – and wouldn't be anytime soon. It acquired Venture Distributing, a leading distributor in the Boston marketplace with brands such as Nantucket Nectars and Arizona. As acquisitions go, EMC was just getting started as well, paying a reported $1.1 billion for Data General Corp. of Westborough, the minicomputer pioneer. Data General's work with computer storage systems and servers made the EMC marriage a smart match. There were subtractions. John Nelson, the influential former top executive at both the Norton Co. and Wyman- Gordon, stepped down after four years as TJX Cos. board chairman. Soon after, Ted English became TJX CEO in January 2000. In his nearly six years in charge, the conglomerate added more than 900 stores and 50,000 employees. Its revenue increased from $8.9 billion to $15 billion, before English left to become CEO of Bob's Discount Furniture. As for Consigli, the family-run private company – with Anthony's brother Matthew joining him at the helm since 1997 – generated $60 million in revenue in 2000, an 80-percent jump over 1999, and increased its employee ranks from about 20 to 130. In 2001 – the year Egan retired to become U.S. ambassador to Ireland – EMC posted a staggering $945.2-million net loss in the third quarter, its first such loss in almost 12 years. In October 2002, EMC announced 4,000 global layoffs, including 1,500 in Massachusetts. Perhaps more consequential was the five-year alliance EMC formed with Texas-based Dell Computer Corp. 2004 In January, EMC completed its $625-mil- lion acquisition of VMware, a virtual so- ware company, which over the next decade would provide increasingly larger shares of EMC's revenues. e shopping spree stretched into October when EMC spent $50 million to purchase Dantz Development Corp., a maker of backup soware products. Dantz became the 15th soware company EMC had acquired since 2000. In March, Carol Meyrowitz – today TJX Cos. executive board chair – was promoted to senior executive vice president. She held the role for less than a year before briefly taking on advisory positions for TJX and Berkshire Partners, a Boston-based private equity firm. A month earlier, TJX reported a 17-per- cent increase in sales for the fourth quarter and a year-ending $658 million in revenue – an increase of $80 million, year over year – on sales of $13.3 billion. Meyrowitz would return to the fold in October 2005 as president before eventually being tabbed as CEO in 2007 to replace Cammarata, who had served on an interim basis aer English's departure. Consigli – now a company with 190 employees and $50 million in annual volume – continued its rapid expansion aer winning a $19-million contract to convert 215,000 square feet of a former mill in Lowell into 154 units of market-rate and affordable housing. Other projects included the ongoing $35-million addition to Milford-Whitins- ville Regional Hospital and a $65-million joint venture project building the new Worcester Technical High School. 2009 By the time Neil McDonough was named WBJ's Big Business Leader of the Year, FL- EXcon had 1,200 global employees, includ- ing 800 in Massachusetts. WBJ reported the Spencer-based company had annual sales between $350 million and $375 million. Ralph Crowley Jr., president and CEO of Polar Beverages JOSHUA QUALLS PHOTO / CC BY 2.0 EMC headquarters in Hopkinton T.J. Maxx and Homegoods at the Greendale Mall in 2018 JJ BERS PHOTO / CC BY 2.0 Continued on next page

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