Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | October 16, 2017 | Worcester Business Journal 25 Zubretsky, the interim CEO The Worcester Business Journal welcomes letters to the editor and commentary submissions. Please send submissions to Brad Kane, editor, at bkane@wbjournal.com. T he City of Worcester contends with blighted buildings in our inner city neighborhoods fallen to foreclosure or with building owners without the expertise required to be a landlord. These boarded-up and dilapidated buildings bring a variety of illicit activities to neighborhoods. The years of disinvestment have chal- lenged our inner city neighborhoods. Community Development Corporations have helped to change that cycle. Often considered the developer of last resort, in reality the CDC's role is imperative to our neighborhoods. The economic impact is paramount. CDCs leverage state dollars with Worcester's federal HOME and Community Development Block Grant funds. Both sources are required by the federal govern- ment to be re-invested back into the poor neighborhoods of Gateway Cities, rebuild infrastructure, and utilize towards workforce housing. When blight is rebuilt by a CDC, the building is back on the tax roll. All CDCs pay property taxes despite nonprofit status. For Worcester Common Ground, Inc. this equates to $237,570 in taxes paid annually, including our subsidiaries. It provides workforce housing for residents to live and work in Worcester. It lessens safety concerns as it now becomes a well-managed site. Additionally, Worcester Common Ground, Inc. (WCG) has created 25 first-time homeownership opportunities and those homeowners pay taxes to Worcester in an amount upwards of $100,000 per year. Having homeown- ers living on the premises stabilizes the neighborhood. Finally, transforming these buildings into safe, clean and affordable workforce housing in turn creates further investment from surrounding homeowners and private developers. All working together, our efforts begin to transform a neighborhood that remains diversified. Changing the perception of a neighborhood is no easy task. Bricks and mortar are not the single answer. CDCs stimulate resident-driven decisions bringing neighbors together. In neighborhoods dense with housing, it is most important to revive open spaces in which families, espe- cially our children, can call their own. This, in turn, gives residents the option to become involved in a community effort. WCG takes great pride in working with our resi- dents to secure open spaces. This year, we unveiled our bioshelter at our urban orchard located on Jaques Avenue. This has allowed our neighborhood to become part of something that will grow. We intend to involve our surrounding elementary schools, YMCA of Central Massachusetts and the city to partake in the evolving educational experiences. All of this will generate an impact that will change old neighborhood perceptions. CDCs are the eyes and ears of the neighborhoods they serve. CDCs are approaching close to 30 years of service to the City of Worcester. The city and CDCs need each other. Yvette Dyson is executive director of Worcster Common Ground, Inc. CDCs create stronger cities V I E W P O I N T E D I T O R I A L BY YVETTE DYSON Special to the Worcester Business Journal Yvette Dyson WO R D F R O M T H E W E B Comment of the issue "If it was my gun shop, I wouldn't have been selling them anyway, nor would I sell automatic weapons of any kind. No civilian needs them." - Anonymous commenter, Oct. 10, on a WBJ poll asking readers if they would sell bump stocks aer they were used in the Las Vegas shooting WBJ Tweet of the week "It's a start....." - Debbie Amorelli (@djamorelli) on a story about proposed state legislation to ban bump stocks after the Las Vegas shooting W Facebook feedback "You're going to ruin my parents." - Christopher A. Dame Oct. 10, on Chick- fil-A opening a location in Worcester. "This is great news!!" - Diane Demoga, Oct. 4, on a story about a UMass Medical School alumnus donating $2 million for ALS research When he departs on Nov. 3, Zubretsky's legacy after 16-month tenure as leader of Worcester's larg- est publicly traded company will be marked by a corporate reorganization, layoffs, perhaps a modest financial improvement, and almost complete radio silence toward the community. In all fairness, the bar for community involve- ment was set extremely high by his predecessor, Frederick Eppinger, who served as Hanover CEO for 13 years. During Eppinger's tenure, Hanover not only went from a down-on-its-luck insurance company to a global player in the property and casualty business – with its stock price rising some 250 percent – but it became a major contributor to a variety of Worcester projects, including $70 mil- lion in the CitySquare downtown development, $3 million to resurrect the now renamed Hanover Theatre for Performing Arts, and even $480,000 for improvements to the baseball field at Holy Cross, home to Worcester's amatuer team the Bravehearts. Seen by many as the godfather of the city's renewal, Eppinger was a regular fixture at business and community events through Central Massachusetts, and a hard act to follow. Zubretsky, on the other hand, remained just a name to most in the business community, and Hanover, while a steady contributor, did not extend its community engagement on his watch. His main legacy will likely be his Hanover 2021 plan to reorganize the company for the future, but those efforts are in their infancy and could be redi- rected by Zubretsky's replacement. The firm cut 160 jobs in August and in February said its 2016 profits of $155 million were less than half of 2015. Hanover does appear to be doing better this year, as second quarter operating income was 34 percent better than 2016, and Hanover's stock price is up 20 percent from the day Zubretsky took over. As someone who came from the Hartford insur- ance market to lead the Worcester organizations, perhaps Hanover was always going to be a stop- ping point before the next big gig came along. While the focus of any business should be on its financial sustainability and growth, we are encour- aged the company pegged John Roche, an 11-year Hanover veteran, as its next CEO. Roche rose to further prominence in the company once Zubretsky reorganized, leading the remade Agency Markets division. Yet, Roche was at Hanover for nearly all of Eppinger's tenure, so he knows well the mantra Eppinger operated by: The best way for Hanover to become a world-class company and attract the best employees was for Worcester and Central Massachusetts to thrive. He put his and the company's money where his mouth was, and hope- fully Roche inherited those same values. Zubretsky's reorganization may have set Hanover on the right path to continue its growth in the future, which could help Roche. The period between Eppinger's announced departure and the arrival of his replacement was a lengthy eight months. A quick decision by the board to go with a strong internal candidate to replace Zubretsky speaks well for the company's bench strength. We hope John Roche will be around for the long run, and see the fruits of his labor. W T he Hanover Insurance Group's announcement last week of the planned departure of President and CEO Joseph Zubretsky for a large California healthcare organization comes as a bit of a surprise. It feels like he was an interim CEO.

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