Worcester Business Journal

6 Worcester Business Journal | February 24, 2025 | wbjournal.com will be $15, with children six and younger getting in for free. "New England Futbol Club is an example setter in the Northeast," Joel Nash, senior vice president of youth and pre-professional properties at United Soccer League, said in a Nov. 24 press release announcing the launch of the team. "The club devel- ops thousands of youth players each year, and we're excited that League Two will give some of those players an opportunity to showcase themselves in an elite competition as they pursue professional careers." NEFC is in search of interns inter- ested in a career in sports manage- ment to assist with operations. The team has already secured one uniform sponsor but is in search of another and additional corporate support, Braga said. The team's roster is set to include various NCAA players from college squads based in New England, includ- ing College of the Holy Cross, Boston College, Harvard University, UMass Amherst, and University of Rhode Island. Peters & Sowyrda would like to congratulate R. Norman Peters on his induction into the Worcester Business Journal's Hall of Fame. Congratulations, Norm! One Mercantile St. Suite 540 Worcester, MA 01608 psclosings.com Continued from previous page Aspen Aerogels' Marlborough facility Aspen Aerogels axes plans for Georgia electric-vehicle part manufacturing plant Anticipating a change in the demand for electric vehicles, North- borough-based Aspen Aerogels has cancelled its efforts to construct a manufacturing facility in Statesboro, Georgia, instead pivoting to increas- ing its manufacturing capacity at its existing facility in East Providence and external manufacturing facilities. e firm is evaluating its options in order to derive value from the partially constructed facility, including use of equipment at the site to upgrade its East Providence site, according to a Feb. 12 press release from Aspen Aerogel detailing its fourth quarter earnings. e company makes a spe- cial protective layer for EV batteries. "In early 2023, pre-empting a reset in EV demand expectations, we decided to right-time the construc- tion of our planned second aerogel manufacturing facility in Statesboro, Georgia and subsequently ramped up our external manufacturing capacity for our Energy Industrial business," Ricardo Rodriguez, CFO and treasurer at Aspen Aerogels, said in the press release. Since taking office in January, Presi- dent Donald Trump has sought to cut funding of federal programs for elec- tric vehicles, including a buildout of the national charging infrastructure. e Aspen manufacturing site was originally expected to create more than 250 jobs and to be completed in 2023, according to a February 2022 press release from the State of Georgia announcing the firm's plans. Aspen Aerogels has secured $575 million in private funds for the facility through a loan from General Motors Holdings and a sale of more than $25 million shares of stock. e company had been approved for $671 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy for the site in October. e company did not disclose what will happen to the various funds ear- marked for the facility. Central Mass. business confidence fell in January as owners raise concerns over tariffs Central Mass. began 2025 with a dip in business confidence, yet stayed in optimistic territory for January. The Central Massachusetts Busi- ness Confidence Index sank from 57.9 to 57.2 last month, peddling back on its surge in December when confidence rose 5.2 points from November. Though trending down, the region's BCI was still 8.1 points higher than in January 2024 when business confidence was in pessimis- tic territory at 49. In contrast, the state's overall BCI was back on the rise in January, inch- ing upward by 0.2 points from 55.4 in December to 55.6, according to a Feb. 10 press release from the trade group Associated Industries of Massachu- setts, which compiles the index. The AIM index pulls from a survey of more than 140 Massachusetts em- ployers and is scored on a 100-point scale; a score of above 50 represents an optimistic outlook and a score below 50 represents a pessimistic outlook. W

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