MetroWest495 Biz

22 MetroWest495 Biz | August 2015 dispensaries slated to open in Brookline and Northampton. NETA has invited public safety and town officials to see how they keep the operation secure. The number of jobs the company has brought to town is also looked upon favorably, Arbelaez said. NETA em - ploys about 50 in Franklin, and that will grow to 75 when operations are at full capacity, he said. Eventually, NETA ex- ecutives would like to join local business groups, such as chambers of commerce. "We want to be in this community for many years to come and we want to be a good neighbor," Arbelaez said. The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) crafted the guidelines for approving projects and regulating the industry after the ballot question was approved. Lawyer: Kudos on state regs Valerio Romano, an attorney who had represented medical marijuana business clients in California, where people are allowed to band together to grow for themselves under a collective model — causing controversy around cultivation practices — said the DPH has been able to quell the potential for that in Massachusetts by issuing the strictest regulations of all the states that have legalized medical marijuana. "There's a lot of talk about mitigat- ing negative impact but it turns out, in a well-regulated marijuana jurisdiction … (proposals) don't really contribute to negative impact at all," said Romano, who now practices in Massachusetts and represents the Rosenfelds, as well as a few other medical marijuana licensees . Recreational use ahead? Meanwhile, medical marijuana busi- nesses will likely continue to blend in with the corporate landscape as a new round of applicants adds more estab- lishments to the region and beyond, and as public attitudes about marijuana use in general become more relaxed. While those in the business of pro - viding the drug for medicinal purposes are adamant that medical marijuana is a world unto itself and won't lead to wider legalization for recreational use, it's at least an interesting coincidence that two ballot initiatives have been filed this year seeking to do just that. But for now, medical marijuana estab - lishments are focusing on launching. The state's first dispensary just opened in Salem in June. Many attribute a lag in openings to the red tape-laden process first-round applicants faced. But the Salem dispensary will soon have company. According to Milford Town Administrator Richard Villani, a dis - pensary and cultivation facility in town, Milford Medicinals, is slated to open in early 2016. The business will operate in an office park on Commercial Way. "We expect them to be an addition to the town (business mix)," Villani said. n Marijuana continued from page 20 s in an email. Another small business working on new ideas for the military is Reactive Innovations LLC, a Westford firm with just seven full-time employees. Founder and President Michael Kimble said the company specializes in research and development of chemical-based systems. Kimble said its recent and current proj - ects for defense agencies include a way of cleaning biomass gas for use as fuel, traps to look for insects carrying disease, and a method to concentrate oxygen for medical purposes. Unlike huge defense contractors that are best suited to fulfilling contracts for proven technology worth hundreds of millions of dollars, Kimble said Reactive can take a shot at a brand new solution to a problem that may or may not work out. With dozens or hundreds of companies like it working on the same problems, the military is more likely to end up with something really groundbreaking and effective. "We get to push the envelop with new technology development," he said. "It may not solve a particular immedi - ate problem for the military, but it gives people a foundation to build upon." Civilian trickle-down Ultimately, those new technologies often find their way into civilian life as well. Biocchi, the MetroWest chamber president,noted that many mainstream products like exercise gear that wicks away moisture were developed through military initiatives to help servicemen and women in the field. "Everybody likes to have clothing that wicks away sweat," she said. At SEM, Mike Paciello said that's just the process that's happening now with the company's data security offer - ings. Five to eight years ago, he said, 95 percent of the company's business came — directly or indirectly — from the gov- ernment. Now it's only about 80 percent. The growing slice of the pie comes from big commercial players in industries like finance and health care that want to have military-level security standards to pro - tect information. They're buying SEM devices to shred misprinted credit cards or zap reams of patient data beyond the best hacker's reconstruction abilities. "With all the recent breaches of pri - vacy, they too now are making informa- tion security an important component of their business," Paciello said. The technology that lets them do that—and other innovations that let them do all sorts of other things they might never have figured out on their own—is made possible by the constant collaboration between the military and a huge array of little businesses churning out new ideas. n Defense continued from page 18 s by Attorney General Maura Healey. The state expects to award the final license, for a casino in Southeastern Massachusetts, in 2016. Meanwhile, Greanier wonders whether a full resort casino in the Southeastern part of the state could hurt Plainridge Park's profits, pushing it to ask for reduced property taxes or seek state permission to open gambling tables. Collins down- played concern about future competition, saying Penn National is not focusing on that right now. She's also worried about pawnshops and payday lenders popping up in her old neighborhood to appeal to desperate gamblers. For now, though, everyone is watching closely to see what happens next. For Greanier, that means hoping that her worst fears will prove unfounded. Mean- while, supporters of the slots parlor , such as Town Manager Fernandes, are waiting for more data to see if their views will be vindicated or if they'll have more headaches than they expected to contend with. The slots parlor's impacts will probably be "more observable over the course of time," Fernandes said. n Plainridge continued from page 16 s "It's sometimes surprising," Davis said. "You might have someone up top who doesn't see what the market looks like; there is a salary budgeted. They're yelling at HR to say, 'We're not seeing resumes.' It looks like they aren't producing." Getting in front of it Another crucial step for GE Healthcare Life Sci- ences was to begin to wrap things up at the closing New Jersey site. Long before site selection began in Massachusetts, the company started notifying employees in New Jersey of jobs being eliminated, changed or added, said Bell. The goal was transparency. "They knew for six to seven months," she said. "Some had long GE careers, some were looking for something different. We had to make sure we met those needs." Then came time to build teams in Marlborough. "We formed a Team Building Engagement Commit- tee," said Bell, "with a handful of employees from (the) Marlborough and Westborough sites." To fill remaining positions at GE Healthcare Life Sciences, Bell said, the company continues to inter- view each week and bring new employees on board every two weeks. The company has temporary digs across the street from its permanent, 160-thousand- square-foot facility in Marlborough, while renova- tions are underway. GE hopes to be in its new space by the end of 2015 or early 2016. Other obstacles Though Bell said GE Healthcare Life Sciences has had luck hiring in Massachusetts, Davis said that the STEM skills gap is still an issue for many companies. His firm invests in "crunching big data," to target where the talent is. For every 10 CNC (computer numerical control) machinist positions, for example, Davis says there is one candidate, on average. Cabrera calls one remedy "looking past the paper": focusing not on what a candidate's resume lacks, but on how to get the candidate trained in needed skills. Some GE job-seekers, of course, have come from competitors. This, says Davis, is again where market- accurate salaries come into play. Employee engagement, too, is important during transitions such as GE Healthcare Life Science's move to MetroWest, said Bell. "It's really how you treat employees." n GE Healthcare continued from page 21 s An artist's rendering of the GE Healthcare Life Sciences building in Marlborough's Forest Park office complex. P H O T O / E D D C O T E P H O T O / C O U R T E S Y

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