Worcester Business Journal

August 25, 2025 - 40 under Forty

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wbjournal.com | August 25, 2025 | Worcester Business Journal 3 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 ` Commercial Banking Done Differently. Bob Paulsen Commercial Banking Center Manager 100 Front Street | Worcester, MA 01608 Cell: 508.254.8582 Robert.Paulsen@RocklandTrust.com For more information, contact: Awarded as the Best Bank in the Northeast in two categories by Coalition Greenwich for U.S. Middle Market Banking, including: • Likelihood to Recommend • Overall Satisfaction Member FDIC T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S 5 Central Mass. In Brief 15 40 Under Forty, Class of 2025 41 List: Highest-paid CEOs 42 Guest column: Krishna Abburi 43 Advice 44 Movers & Shakers 45 Opinion 46 Shop Talk: Fidelity Bank 8 Many generations, one workforce Communications issues, clashes over values, and how to navigate the most age- diverse workforce ever. 11 The second inning Almost five years into the 35-year Polar Park project, the WooSox are still drawing crowds, but parcels key to ballpark's funding are underutilized and being listed for sale. E very year for the 40 Under Forty awards, I issue the same challenge to the winners: Take the best photo. Since 2016, WBJ has divided the 40 winners into smaller groups and taken them to high-profile and fun locations around Central Massachusetts to create high-energy and zany photos in order to set a tone of youthful exuberance for the entire publication. Aer we put one of these photos on the front page of the 40 Under Forty edition in 2017, I've told all these small groups they are in a competition to land on the cover of what has traditionally been WBJ's most-read edition of the year. And, oh boy, these Type A personalities go all out: coordi- nating outfits, bringing props, buying party supplies, hiring professional makeup artists, scouting locations in advance, and cajoling photographers to help them win. e hardest part is picking the winner, especially since I attend nearly all the shoots and see the extreme effort the 40 Under Forty put into these photos, oen outside in the July and August heat and humidity. e photos now are so good that Art Director Mitchell Hayes will mock up at least 10 different cover op- tions. It's like trying to pick your favorite child, and each year I bemoan all the alter- natives we le on the cutting room floor. In another very close competition, the group who shot their photos at Fivefork Farms in Upton won this year. Yolanda Ramos hand-painted a dozen signs to use as props. Jennifer Ngo's marketing team created a special apron for her. Jeff Bercume did his best Tom Cruise imper- sonation. Ellin Terrill-Kocibelli wore a black dress, black jacket, black gloves, and sunglasses, looking like the coolest version of an assassin crossed with a farmer. ey convinced the farm's owners to push back the start of the shoot, to capture the per- fect sunset lighting. ey spent nearly 30 minutes dangling off the front bucket of a tractor, all in the hopes of getting the best shot. e win is well deserved. Of course, the nine other groups all took amazing photos, too, and it pains me they all can't somehow be on the cover. Regardless, we took hundreds of fantastic photos, which you can see starting on page 15. While the photos may draw you Picking the cover for the 40 Under Forty I N T H I S I S S U E in, my hope is you'll stick around to read ev- ery word of the winners' profiles and realize how lucky we are to have these 40 people in our business community. - Brad Kane, editor W CORRECTION: The bio box for David Runyan that appeared in the Q&A-style story "Free health care" in the July 28 edition didn't include his doctor of nursing practice degree from UMass Chan Medical School.

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