wbjournal.com | May 5, 2025 | Worcester Business Journal 3
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T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S
4 Central Mass. In Brief
10 Focus on Small Business
15-37 Special Sponsored Section:
Biz Profiles 2025
38 List: Most frequent SBA lenders
39 Know How
40 Movers & Shakers
41 Opinion
42 Shop Talk: Mechanics Hall
6 Embracing uncertainty
As the global trade war wreaks havoc on
their supply chains and future plans, Central
Mass. manufacturers are urged to save cash
and be proactive.
8 Collaborating through a crisis
More than 50% of Central Mass. emergency
room beds are taken up by mental health
patients waiting for treatment.
Worcester Business Journal (ISSN#1063-6595) is published bi-
weekly, 24x per year, including 4 special issues in May, September,
October, and December by New England Business Media. 172
Shrewsbury St., Worcester, MA 01604. Periodicals postage paid
at Worcester, MA. Copyright 2025. All rights reserved. Postmaster:
Please send address changes to: Worcester Business Journal,
PO Box 330, Congers, NY 10920-9894.
Subscriptions: Annual subscriptions are available for $84.00. For
more information, please email circulation@wbjournal.com or
contact our circulation department at 845-267-3008.
Advertising: For advertising information, please call Mark Murray
at 508-755-8004 ext. 227. Fax: 508-755-8860.
Worcester Business Journal accepts no responsibility for
unsolicited manuscripts or materials and in general does not return
them to the sender.
Worcester Business Journal
172 Shrewsbury Street, Worcester, MA 01604
508-755-8004 tel.
• 508-755-8860 fax
www.wbjournal.com
Worcester Business Journal
WBJ
A division of:
Editor, Brad Kane,
bkane@wbjournal.com
Managing Editor, Eric Casey,
ecasey@wbjournal.com (real estate,
manufacturing)
Staff Writer
Mica Kanner-Mascolo,
mkannermascolo@wbjournal.com
(health care, diversity & inclusion)
Contributors
Sloane M. Perron, Giselle Rivera-
Flores, Emily Micucci, Livia Gershon
Photographers
Matt Wright, Edd Cote, Christine
Peterson
Research Director,
Stephanie Meagher,
smeagher@nebusinessmedia.com
Research Assistant, Heide Martin,
hmartin@nebusinessmedia.com
Production Director, Kira Beaudoin,
kbeaudoin@wbjournal.com
Art Director, Mitchell Hayes,
mhayes@wbjournal.com
General Manager
Kris Prosser, kprosser@wbjournal.com
Senior Accounts Manager
Christine Juetten,
cjuetten@wbjournal.com
Accounts Manager
Timothy Doyle
tdoyle@wbjournal.com
Human Resources Manager,
Tracy Rodwill,
trodwill@nebusinessmedia.com
Director of Finance, Sara Ward,
sward@nebusinessmedia.com
Accounting Clerk, Rae Rogers,
rrogers@nebusinessmedia.com
Event Coordinator,
Patty Harris,
pattyh@wbjournal.com
Director of Audience Development
and Operations, Leah Allen,
lallen@nebusinessmedia.com
Business Office Assistant,
Nicole Dunn,
ndunn@nebusinessmedia.com
Publisher, CEO, Peter Stanton
pstanton@nebusinessmedia.com
Associate Publisher, Mark Murray
mmurray@wbjournal.com
President, Tom Curtin
tcurtin@hartfordbusinessjournal.com
A
s a business journal
focused solely on the
Central Massachusetts
economy, Worcester
Business Journal typically
doesn't cover national news. Other
publications like Wall Street Journal
and Business Insider cover national
news from a business angle much more
comprehensively, so we concentrate
our coverage on news happening
within the borders of our business
community.
Of course, there are exemptions,
especially if national or international
news is so wide-ranging that tangible
impacts are felt in WBJ's coverage
area. e best (and worst) example of
this is the COVID pandemic, which
upended so many norms and ways of
conducting business, practically every
feature article WBJ wrote from 2020-
2022 mentioned the pandemic in some
capacity. Heck, even a couple of articles
in this edition still reference COVID.
is year, the giant paradigm-
shiing global event is President
Donald Trump's trade war with
practically every country in the world.
is, of course, is having very tangible
impacts in Central Massachusetts, from
what consumers are seeing on the shelves
and how much they are paying, to the
fallout on businesses' operations and how
they are adjusting (or not). e problem
WBJ has encountered in covering the
tariffs in any meaningful way since
Trump took office is the tariff policy
seems to change by the day. It's difficult
to understand tariffs' impact locally when
the policies shi so suddenly nationally.
WBJ Managing Editor Eric Casey
makes our first significant examination
of tariffs in this edition, by focusing on
how manufacturers are navigating the
chaos in his "Embracing uncertainty"
story on page 6. e business advice
is surprisingly straightforward and
similar to what to do during all times
of change: save your cash, hold off on
major expenditures, shore up your supply
chains, and advocate for yourself.
It's a rapidly changing world, and part
of WBJ's role is to help our audience
better understand that change and find
room to succeed. It's never going to be
Covering tariffs' impact on Central Mass.
I N T H I S I S S U E
easy, but we remain firmly committed to
this principle.
– Brad Kane, editor
W
CORRECTION: A Q&A-style story entitled "Financial adventure"
from the April 21 edition of WBJ incorrectly said Hanscom Federal
Credit Union piloted a WealthTrek room in Worcester last year.
That pilot program was actually held in Burlington.
