Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | September 26, 2016 | Worcester Business Journal 3 Editor, Brad Kane, bkane@wjournal.com Digital Editor, Sam Bonacci, sbonacci@wbjournal.com (Real estate, construction, retail) Staff Writer Laura Finaldi, lfinaldi@wbjournal.com (Manufacturing, energy, technology, higher education, finance, nonprofits) Contributors Susan Shalhoub Livia Gershon Research Director, Stephanie Meagher, smeagher@nebusinessmedia.com Research Assistant, Heide Martin, hmartin@wbjournal.com Production Director, Kira Beaudoin, kbeaudoin@wbjournal.com Associate Art Director, Mitchell Hayes, mhayes@wbjournal.com Senior Accounts Manager Matt Majikas, mmajikas@wbjournal.com Custom Publishing Project Manager Christine Juetten, cjuetten@wbjournal.com Marketing & Events Manager Kris Prosser, kprosser@wbjournal.com Events and Sales Assistant Clare Hyland, chyland@wbjournal.com COO, 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 President, Joseph Zwiebel jzwiebel@nebusinessmedia.com A hallmark of an effective lead- er is someone who can con- vince others to take up a cause or project as if it were their own and let them run with it the best way they know how. In this vein, I've always referred to WBJ's publisher, Peter Stanton, as Inception (a nickname I've never shared with anyone until now). Stanton, who has been in business-to-business publishing for 30 years and our publisher and CEO for nearly a decade, has a way of planting small ideas in your head and sitting back as they grow to fruition, while throwing in some guidance along the way. When I was interviewing for the WBJ editor position a year ago, Stanton men- tioned during the process he was thinking the design of the print publication was getting a little old, as others in the indus- try had switched to a more modern, visual storytelling style. This one comment began to blossom a few months later when Associate Art Director Mitch Hayes and I began talking about the layout of the publication and how it fits within the suite of WBJ products. The mantra of our this entire redesign has been "Staying Power." No longer WBJ's forum for breaking news – an honor that belongs to WBJournal.com and our enewsletters – we wanted the print edition design to be reflective of the insightful, in-depth publication it has become, offering timely intuitive articles on the Central Massachusetts business community. The design is meant to deliver a news magazine to stay around offices for the two weeks between issues. The main change is the switch to more visual storytelling, embodied in our image-only cover. Rather than starting stories on the front page, we are using the cover to display the wonderful fea- tures inside, so you can read each one as its own individual package, rather than flipping back and forth between pages. The feature story layouts, too, rely more heavily on charts, graphics, photos and photo captions, so we are delivering more market intelligence without writing longer stories. This is in direct response to studies of reader habits and feedback from WBJ's audience saying people are more likely to be engaged in a story with The art of modern storytelling Worcester Business Journal (ISSN#1063-6595) is published bi-weeky, 24x per year, including 5 special issues in April, July, September, November and December, by New Engand Business Media. 172 Shrewsbury St., Worcester, MA 01604. Periodicals postage paid at Worcester, MA. Copyright 2015. All rights reserved. Postmaster: Please send address changes to: Worcester Business Journal, PO Box 330, Congers, NY 10920-9894. Subscriptions: Annual subscriptions are available for $54.95. For more information, please email wbjournal@ cambeywest.com or contact our circulation department at 845-267-3008. Fax: 845.267.3478 Advertising: For advertising information, please call Mark Murray at 508-755-8004 ext. 227. Fax: 508-755-8860. Worcester Business Journal accepts no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts or materials and in general does not return them to the sender. Worcester Business Journal 172 Shrewsbury Street, Worcester, MA 01604 508-755-8004 tel. • 508-755-8860 fax www.wbjournal.com A division of: NEWS & ANALYSIS DEPARTMENTS 4 Briefing 6 Ticker 14 Focus on Business & the Law 18 The List: Top Insurance Agencies 19 The List: Top Law Firms 22 The Rainmaker 8 Manufacturing anniversary Spencer adhesive manufacturer FlexCon celebrated its 60th anniversary this year, while looking to grow its profit margins and continue to serve its markets. 16 Horse-trading tax payments The Leominster firm Exchange Authority helps clients use a clause in the tax code to avoid paying taxes by offering unique and mundane trades. Read more in the Focus on Business & The Law. I N T H I S I S S U E Worcester Business Journal WBJ 23 Know How 24 On the Move 27 Photo Finish 28 Business Leads 29 Opinion 30 Shop Talk: Meredith Harris P H O T O / M I T C H H A Y E S more compelling entry points (like graphics and photos). From front to back, the entire publica- tion is meant to be consumed like a meal. Up front, you have the appetizers: short snippets of local business news in our Central Mass In Brief section, fol- lowed by shorter feature stories. Then comes the entree: our cover feature sto- ries and the focus section, which offer the meatiest insight. After the entree comes the dessert: our shorter recurring elements less tied to the latest news but offering information on the region, like Movers & Shakers and the Calendar. Finally comes the cherry on top: the reg- ular Shop Talk feature, which is a Q&A with a business leader making noise in Central Massachusetts. Despite these changes in design, WBJ's mission remains the same: delivering market intelligence to help you, the WBJ reader, run the best possible business. - Brad Kane, editor W

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