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Worcester's dual tax rates 29 WBJ editorial advocates for the Worcester City Council to move toward a single-tax rate. WBJ >> To Subscribe Central Massachusetts' Source for Business News December 7, 2015 Volume 26 Number 26 www.wbjournal.com $2.00 Central Massachusetts banks have found a way to keep their identities while increasing their reach. 6 Q&A with Christine Tieri, president of the renamed Idea Agency, Inc. Shop Talk 8 Holding company mergers Central Massachusetts POWER PLAYERS P ower comes in many forms, but from power derives influence; and how people use that influence is ultimately reflective of the power they hold. Frederick H. Eppinger has been such a major player in the Worcester business community for so long, that even after he steps down as head of Hanover Insurance next year, he still is expected to wield tremendous influence, as long as he sticks around in some capacity. At the other end of the spectrum, Amy Lynn Chase does not head a large company nor have access to a large amount of financing, but with a can-do attitude and a shoestring budget, she is reshaping retail and creating a powerful sense of place through her Crompton Collective. Timothy P. Murray leverages his political con- tacts and networking ability to supercharge the influence of the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce. Nick Capasso -- director of the Fitchburg Art Museum -- leverages his relatively small organization to convince surrounding Central Mass. communities to rethink their eco- nomic development cornerstones. This year's Central Mass. Power Players all derive their influence from different sources, but it is how they use their stature to reshape the busi- ness landscape to their vision that makes them important players in the real economic and politi- cal arenas. - Brad Kane, editor { The policy haze surrounding medical marijuana T here's something funky in the air, and it isn't the smell of medical marijuana in Massachusetts. In fact, while medical marijuana has been part of the Massachusetts landscape since a bal- lot vote passed in 2012, thanks to slow imple- mentation, there are still fewer than 14,000 active patients and only three dispensaries authorized to distribute in the Commonwealth. The funk is the confusion and uncertainty surrounding policies businesses should and can have in place when it comes to marijuana and employees. A pending Foxborough lawsuit has called into question whether employers can ban workers from using medical marijuana when they are not on the clock, and an impending BY SAM BONACCI Worcester Business Journal Digital Editor David Felper, senior partner at Bowditch & Dewey >> Continued on Page 22 (Back row, from left) Leominster Mayor Dean J. Mazzarella; Eric Dickson, president and CEO of UMass Memorial Health Care; Robert E. Johnson, president of Becker College; (front row, from left) Christina Andreoli, vice president of the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce; Amy Lynn Chase, owner of the Crompton Collective P H O T O / M A T T V O L P I N I See POWER PLAYERS Page 10 >>