www.wbjournal.com July 20, 2015 • Worcester Business Journal 3
When you begin a new year, you know when the holidays fall. Many businesses even spell out their
"observed" holidays in an annual memo to their employees. Better to plan ahead, after all. You want to know
when those three-day weekends will come up so you can plan your work if you're going to be away from
the office an extra day.
For the last decade, Massachusetts has made it an annual event to deliberate — and deliberate a bit more
— about an unannounced holiday: the annual sales tax holiday, or, to be more accurate, the sales tax
"holiday weekend" that has come just before the kids head back to school.
Out of the last 11 years, there has been only one in which we have not enjoyed that "freedom" from the now 6.25-percent sales
levy, and that was the year in which the Great Recession was ravaging state coffers and lawmakers approved an increase in the
sales tax from 5 percent.
So, like, what's the big deal? Can we just call a tax holiday and get ready to hit the stores on some weekend in August? (As of
press time, the 2015 holiday appeared headed toward approval on Beacon Hill.) Maybe the bigger question is: Can we make it a
permanent annual holiday?
~ Rick Saia (rsaia@wbjournal.com)
This Week In The WBJ
Worcester Business Journal (ISSN#1063-
6595) is published bi-weeky, 24x per year,
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A division of:
WBJ on the Web
From news to information about events and awards, we have it all at WBJournal.com.
Call for nominations:
Outstanding Women in Business
This fall, we'll once again
honor a group of women
who play critical roles in the
Central Massachusetts
economy. Nominate a senior-level executive who deserves to be
recognized, by Friday Aug. 7. Fill out a nomination form at
www.wbjournal.com/womeninbusiness.
NEWS & ANALYSIS
9 Fair thee well?
For some Central Massachusetts entrepreneurs, fairs and farmers markets
have become a proving ground for what they have to offer.
Health care forum
Our Power Breakfast series will continue Wednesday,
Aug. 12 when we host a forum on health care. The
keynote speaker, Delia Vetter of EMC Corp., will address
how a company should develop its health care strategy.
The event will take place at the Beechwood Hotel in
Worcester. Register today at
www.wbjournal.com/healthcareforumattend.
Happy holiday! (assuming we have one)
DEPARTMENTS
12
12 Killing cancer, a patient at a time
Researchers and life sciences firms in
Central Massachusetts engage in
personalized therapies to help treat
cancer patients.
13 Forget the lawsuits:
Full speed ahead!
Despite a recent court verdict and
product liability settlements, Boston
Scientific has a strong product line to
fuel more growth, say analysts who
cover the Marlborough firm.
CORRECTIONS:
• Our Page One story in the June 22 print edition, Alternative medicine meets the mainstream,
incorrectly identified the year in which Simonds-Hurd Complementary Care Center in Fitchburg
opened. It opened in 2010.
• Our list of Highest-paid nonprofit chief executives, which appeared on Page 79 of our 2015 Book
of Lists, incorrectly characterized the total fiscal year 2013 compensation of Robert V. Antonucci
(number 17 on the list), recently retired president of Fitchburg State University, relative to the
annual revenue of the listed organization. The revenue for that organization, the Fitchburg State
University Foundation, was correctly listed at $1,590,046. Antonucci's salary also included his role
as president of the university, whose fiscal 2013 revenue was $97.5 million.
• On Page 4 of the Book of Lists, we incorrectly stated the digital formats in which the lists are
available off our website, WBJournal.com. They are available only in Excel.
Life sciences
FOCUS
18 Accolades & Honors
4 Briefing
21 Editorial
20 Flash Poll
9 Fresh Beginnings
15 Incorporations
17 Knowhow
19 Movers & Shakers
18 Networking/Events
22 Photo Finish
5 Real Deals
8 Ticker
21 Viewpoint
ON PAGE ONE
Reaching for the rainbow
Last month's U.S. Supreme Court decision to affirm gay marriage has broadened
businesses' efforts to reach out to the LGBT community in Central Massachusetts.
The next health insurance battle
Smaller health insurers and their small-business customers are awaiting state
action on the insurers' proposed premiums for 2016. At stake is how much
businesses and their subscribers will have to pay.
COLUMN
16 Are you looking for the clearest picture of where your business is and
where it needs to go? Ken Cook has the answer in The Rainmaker.
Editor, Rick Saia, rsaia@wbjournal.com
Web Editor/Columnist
Christina H. Davis, cdavis@wbjournal.com
Staff Writers
Sam Bonacci, sbonacci@wbjournal.com
(Banking & Finance, Real Estate,
Manufacturing, Technology)
Emily Micucci, emicucci@wbjournal.com
(Health Care)
Staff Writer/Copy Editor
Carol McDonald, cmcdonald@wbjournal.com
(Education)
Contributors
Susan Shalhoub, sshalhoub@wbjournal.com
Livia Gershon
Alanna Moriarty, amoriarty@wbjournal.com
Christina P. O'Neill
Research Director, Roger Magnus
rmagnus@nebusinessmedia.com
Research Assistant, Heide Martin
hmartin@wbjournal.com
Production Director, Kira Beaudoin
kbeaudoin@wbjournal.com
Associate Art Director, Mitchell Hayes
mhayes@wbjournal.com
Manager of Video/Multimedia Services,
Matthew Volpini
mvolpini@nebusinessmedia.com
Director, Major Accounts
Bonnie Leroux, bleroux@wbjournal.com
Senior Accounts Manager
Matt Majikas, mmajikas@wbjournal.com
Accounts Manager
Rena Barbieri, rbarbieri@wbjournal.com
Custom Publishing Project Manager
Christine Juetten, cjuetten@wbjournal.com
Marketing & Events Manager
Kris Prosser, kprosser@wbjournal.com
Controller, Mary Rogers
mrogers@nebusinessmedia.com
Accounting Assistant, Valerie Clark
vclark@nebusinessmedia.com
Collections Manager, Raki Zwiebel
rzwiebel@nebusinessmedia.com
Human Resources, Kim Vautour
kvautour@nebusinessmedia.com
Publisher, CEO, Peter Stanton
pstanton@nebusinessmedia.com
Associate Publisher, Mark Murray
mmurray@wbjournal.com
Group Publisher, Joseph Zwiebel
jzwiebel@nebusinessmedia.com
Business
Women In
2009
Business
Women In
2009
Business
Women In
2009
Business
Women In
2009
Business
Women In
Outstanding
SHOP TALK
8 Q&A with Michael Detarando, president and CEO of Incom Inc.,
in Charlton
THE LIST
14 Top biomedical companies in Central Massachusetts
