www.wbjournal.com • Worcester Business Journal 19
25 YEARS: IMPACTFUL COMPANIES
Energy & Environmental Design — or
LEED — buildings, WPI topped the green
list in Worcester in 2013. The school also
placed 12th among 1,000 col-
leges in the interna-
tional Great
Power Race.
Eventually, the U.S. will get back on the
manned mission to Mars track. When it
does, look for WPI — and its new presi-
dent, former NASA space scientist Laurie
Leshin — to help lead the way.
T
wenty-five years ago, Norton Co. was
one of the region's largest manufac-
turers and a longtime symbol of
Worcester's manufacturing prowess. In
1990, it was sold to the French conglom-
erate Compagnie de Saint-Gobain. But
the Norton name is still on Saint-Gobain
products.
The sale to Saint-Gobain came not long
after Norton fended off a hostile takeover
bid from BTR of Great Britain, then got a
reported $1.8 billion — $200 million more
than what BTR had offered — when it
agreed to the Saint-Gobain marriage. The
deal came at a time when manufacturing
employment across the United States was
beginning to fall and multinationals were
investing more outside their homelands.
The better-heeled Saint-Gobain has
since expanded to other parts of Central
Massachusetts. Today, Saint-Gobain is the
third-largest manufacturer in the region
— behind EMC and Genzyme — employ-
ing close to 1,900.
Saint-Gobain
6
Building communities
for 109 years, and
counting.
"At Consigli, volunteering is
just company culture."
- Worcester Business Journal, 2014
"Saint-Gobain" still translates
to "Norton Co." for many
longtime local residents.
Since 1990, Saint-Gobain has
upheld a strong manufacturing
tradition.
>> Continued on Page 20
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