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www.wbjournal.com • Worcester Business Journal 15 Congratulations On 25 Years! Scan or Visit www.FLEXcon.com HAPPY BIRTHDAY Worcester Business Journal TM smithnjones.com I n 1999, Ediberto "Eddie" Santiago, an entrepreneur who owned a couple of small markets in Worcester, approached the Federal Home Loan Bank in Boston. He envisioned a regional supermarket in the city's Main South neighborhood and had purchased a two-acre site along Main Street that included the Odd Fellows building and the former Mart building, which had been vacant since 1986. While Santiago planned to use the 40,000-square-foot Mart building for a supermarket, he didn't need the addi- tional 30,000 square feet in the adjacent, four-story Odd Fellows site. So FHLB agreed to partner with Santiago, subdi- vided the two-acre parcel and took the Odd Fellows site and about 75 parking spaces. He kept the Mart building and 70 parking spaces, selling the Odd Fellows building to FHLB for $380,000. The bank's total acquisition price for the site was $950,000, with Santiago paying the balance. In 2000, Santiago took control of the Mart site, where he developed a 52,000-square-foot supermarket. He completed Santiago's Plaza in 2001, while the FHLB was still working on the financ- ing needed to renovate the Odd Fellows building for office and residential space. Santiago's Plaza generated $11.5 mil- lion in annual sales in 2005, a year before he sold the supermarket to Providence- based Four Way Meat, a second-genera- tion company that runs the Compare Foods supermarket chain. n EDIBERTO SANTIAGO U nder the longtime leadership of founder Arthur Remillard Jr., Commerce Insurance wielded consider- able political clout on Beacon Hill. As The Boston Globe reported in 2008, the top-spending indi- vidual lobbyist for the first six months of that year was Commerce, which paid $475,000 in lobbyist salaries as it adjusted to new regulations that allowed competition in the automobile insurance market. During that period, Commerce spent 63 percent more than the next top client, the Massachusetts Teachers Association. Remillard, former CEO and chair of the Commerce Group, retired in 2006 after 40 years in the property-and-casu- alty insurance industry. He had teamed up with other independent insurance agents and area businesspeople back in 1971 to create Commerce. Today, as part of Spain-based MAPFRE, which acquired Commerce in 2008 for $2.2 billion, the company is No. 1 in the Bay State auto- insurance sector and contin- ues to play a key role in Central Massachusetts and beyond. Remillard continues to show much influence locally. In October 2013, Harrington HealthCare System broke ground on an $8.8-million reconstruction of the emergency depart- ment at its hospital in Webster. A $4-mil- lion donation for the project came from the Remillard Family Foundation, known for its community spirit. n ARTHUR REMILLARD JR. F ounded by Elaine Osgood, Atlas Travel of Milford has helped lead the way in its industry. It has been named for four straight years as one of the 50 fastest-growing women-led companies in North America by the Women Presidents' Organization. In 1986, when Osgood purchased a Uniglobe franchise, she recognized that the repeat nature of corporate travel would be the foundation of the agency. Her initial office in Milford remains the company headquarters today. In 1997, after achieving every honor the franchiser had to bestow — includ- ing the Chairman's Circle, President's Award and Owner of the Year — Osgood left the franchise world behind and independently expanded her corpora- tion. In 1998, as one of an elite group of leading independent agencies, Atlas became a BCD Travel affiliate, enabling the company to provide consolidated travel services to its customers. She then launched Atlas Travel & Technology Group, which brought cor- porate-travel-management leader Atlas Travel and technology innovator Prime Numbers Technology under one umbrella. Earlier this year, Atlas opened a London office to better serve U.K. and European clients as well as travelers from the U.S. n ELAINE OSGOOD 25 YEARS: IMPACTFUL PEOPLE