Worcester Business Journal

12 Worcester Business Journal | November 17, 2025 | wbjournal.com VETERANS IN BUSINESS BY ERIC CASEY WBJ Managing Editor W hen Tim Nickerson got out of the military, his first job was work- ing in maintenance at Banyan Systems, a now-defunct soware firm once head- quartered in Westborough. "I started out plunging toilets and sort- ing mail when I got out of the military in 1989 for $8 an hour," Nickerson said. "I always tell people I am the true Amer- ican dream, because you can't start any lower than that." is would be just the beginning of his journey from serving in the military to being a business owner. More businesses are being started and bought by military veterans, particu- larly as the wave of post-9/11 service members hit the civilian workforce. Still, veterans in Central Massachusetts are calling for more help, particularly for the federal and state governments to fulfill promises made to veteran business owners. Nickerson eventually changed careers into property management and then construction. But when his first wife passed away in 2006, he was trying to raise two children in high school while navigating a commute and long days working in Greater Boston. He told his children something needed to change. He told his kids: "Guys, we got nothing better to do. Let's start a business," he said. "I'll be around to see soccer games, and worst case, we lose everything and move in with grandma and grandpa, right?" Starting a new business as a single par- ent was no easy task, but the skills and values he learned during his time in the U.S. Air Force and Coast Guard helped. His company's status as a veteran-owned business helped unlock some early opportunities. Today, his company N&T Mechanical Contractors provides commercial HVAC and plumbing services throughout Cen- tral Massachusetts and just opened its new headquarters in Sterling. Nickerson is now preparing to hand the company off to his sons, one of whom is also a veteran. Business skills learned in the military Nickerson owns one of the 445 certi- fied veteran-owned businesses in Mas- sachusetts, according to state data. Tony Fields, a fellow veteran business owner as president of Leominster-based IT firm Cleartech Group, said his time in the military allowed him to learn valuable skills, which eventually helped him along the path of starting his own business. Joining the Air Force as a computer operator in 1992, he used the GI Bill to pay for college, gaining technical skills to help his career. Just like Nickerson, he found himself in a job aer his time in the military where he struggled to make it to his kids' sporting events. Feeling that entrepreneurial itch, he eventually started ClearTech Group in 2017. While he values the technical skills learned during his time in the Air Force, Fields said leadership lessons learned in the military were the most valuable. "e training in leadership was instrumental in becoming a leader of an organization," he said. "ere were so many opportunities to lead. ey gave you the training, but they also gave you the opportunities to actually do that within your career field." An increasing number of veterans are becoming entrepreneurs, said Peter Cifichiello, a partner at Worcester-based law firm Bowditch & Dewey, who specializes in corporate transactions and has assisted veterans who have started or bought a business. "ere has been a big cultural push in the veteran community of being a veteran startup founder, and it was very appealing," Cifichiello said. "Being your own boss, starting your own business, and building your company as you want to build it, and getting like-minded people into an organization that all share that vision, that's all very appealing to a military person or that mindset." Calling for support In the early days of N&T Mechanical Contractors, Nickerson's choice to apply for designation as a veteran-owned busi- ness helped his new company land work at the Newport Navy Base and Philadel- phia Naval Shipyard. More recently, Fields' firm benefitted from a Small Business Administration 504 loan, coordinated by the Worcester Business Development Corp. and Ox- ford-based bankHometown, to help fa- cilitate the purchase and improvement of commercial real estate, according to an PHOTO | MATT WRIGHT e next mission Veteran business owners find some support, but say more resources are needed for post-9/11 military vets Tony Fields, president of Leomin- ster-based IT firm Cleartech Group COURTESY OF TONY FIELDS As he prepares to hand over his business N&T Mechanical Contractors to his sons, Tim Nickerson said his next mission is to help support fellow veteran business owners.

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