wbjournal.com | December 1, 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 $100.00.
For more information, please email circulation@wbjournal.com or
contact our circulation department at (508) 755-8004 x242.
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)
Editorial Interns
Jill McSorley, jmcsorley@wbjournal.
com; Charlotte Powers, cpowers@
wbjournal.com
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
Graduate
Programs
Clarku.edu/graduate
The Clark MBA
Healthcare Analytics Concentration
Generous Scholarships for Central Massachusetts Residents
For Healthcare Professionals
M.S. in
Healthcare Technology
TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S
4 Central Mass. In Brief
8 Focus on Health Care
26 List: Largest holistic wellness
providers
27 Advice
28 Movers & Shakers
29 Opinion
30 Shop Talk: Plain View Farm
6 Sticking with sustainability
Despite business and political pressures,
Worcester's specialized stretch codes are
here to stay, presenting firms with
experience in green building an edge.
27 Implications of One Big Beautiful
Bill
Advice columnists David McLaren and
Jennifer Chase Williams detail the tax
breaks for businesses in President Donald
Trump's signature legislation.
29 Passing the baton at WBJ
After 46 years leading Central
Massachusetts' premier business
publication, Peter Stanton will retire as
publisher of Worcester Business Journal
at the end of January.
O
ver the last two years, I've
taken on more of a lead-
ership role at Worcester
Business Journal outside of
the newsroom, where I help
decide on new products like events, edition
focuses, and awards. is includes our
nascent Notable Veteran Executive awards
from November and this edition's Cham-
pions of Health Care awards, now in their
third year.
Deciding whether to launch or keep an
awards program includes a number of fac-
tors: the number of potential winners in the
market, how many nominations WBJ can
reasonably expect, financial support from
sponsors and advertisers, anticipated event
attendance, and – most of all – ensuring the
award winners are unbiasedly selected in a
way to upli the best of the Central Massa-
chusetts business community and maintain
the integrity of the WBJ brand.
One factor I tend to overlook until late
in the process is how much each of these
awards mean to the individual award
winners, which you can't truly appreciate
until you are physically in the room with
them when they officially are recognized
in front of their friends, family, co-work-
ers, and the community at large. Most
professionals toil in relative obscurity and
achieve great things without most people
knowing. Yet, when they are in a room
full of hundreds of people all cheering
for their achievements, you get to see this
rare spark of humanity in them where
all their hard work becomes a joyous
culmination.
is has been especially true of the
Champions of Health Care winners for
the past two years. Health care is an
extremely difficult profession, with life-
or-death stakes complicated by factors be-
yond winners' control, such as systematic
barriers and insurance requirements. And
all of our winners of this award for the
past three years represent the best of what
people can be: giving all of their talents,
time, expertise, and beyond to make
other people's lives better.
You can start reading about the
winners of this year's 10 Champions of
Health Care awards starting on page 8.
In these stories, you'll discover a group
Being in the room
I N T H I S I S S U E
of high achievers dedicated to reaching the
best-possible outcomes for everybody.
– Brad Kane, editor
W
