MassEcon to Honor 14 Companies for Their Outstanding Contributions to the Massachusetts Economy

WATERTOWN, MA – MassEcon, the state’s private sector partner in promoting business growth in Massachusetts, today announced its Eighteenth Annual Team Massachusetts Economic Impact Award winners, recognizing 14 companies for their outstanding contributions to the Massachusetts economy. The companies were selected for establishing new operations in Massachusetts or expanded existing operations. Each employer added new jobs and facility investment; pursued social impact through community involvement/philanthropic efforts; and embraced equity, diversity & inclusion practices.

The winners will be honored at Gillette Stadium on April 7, 2022, with Citizens as presenting sponsor.

The winning companies (listed below) were selected after site visits by teams of judges and a Finalists Showcase in November 2021. The company expansion projects resulted in $3.9 billion in new investment, 1.375 million in additional square feet of facilities, and approximately 975 new jobs in Massachusetts.

“The commitment of these companies to innovate, invest and grow in Massachusetts is emblematic of the broader vitality of our economy and the workforce that drives it,” stated Peter Abair, Executive Director of MassEcon.  “We are incredibly honored to recognize these companies and their achievements.”

“To all the winners of Economic Impact Awards, thank you for your commitment to Massachusetts and the influence you have had on the local economy through job creation and facility expansion,” said Denise McGeough, SVP Middle Market, Citizens, and Chair of MassEcon’s board of directors. “Citizens is proud to partner with Mass Econ to recognize the innovation, and resilience of the award winners. These past two years like no other have required a special quality of leadership to thrive, creating a model for the next generation of business owners.”

EIGHTEENTH ANNUAL TEAM MASSACHUSETTS ECONOMIC IMPACT AWARD WINNERS 

About the Winning Companies

Greater Boston Winners

Gold: Boston Sword & Tuna of Boston – Priding itself on being “America’s One-Stop-Shop for Seafood,” Boston Sword & Tuna (BST) invested $21.5 million in a 50K SF expansion in Boston’s Seaport District that, at the time, employed 140 employees, and one year later, added 44 new employees. With roots going back over 80 years, and now working as a fifth generation Seafood company, BST partnered with Larry Dore with over 38 years of experience. The new, state-of-the art facility has a continuously controlled temperature monitoring system for maximum efficiency, a completely automated ozonated water system with both on and offsite monitoring for the proper sanitation of all rolling equipment, and several new safety features. The building is SQF certified, which is one of the highest standards in the industry. BST is now adding an 8,500 SF expansion that will be done in 2022 or early 2023, and the company hopes to hire another 15 employees.

Silver: Prodrive Technologies of Canton – Founded in The Netherlands in 1993, Prodrive Technologies is a developer and manufacturer of high tech electronic and mechatronic systems, and has become a global player in various markets such as semiconductor, medical, and mobility. In 2020 Prodrive officially opened its North American headquarters in Canton after investing more than $10 million into 53K SF of its facility. Prodrive has added more than 55 new jobs since 2019, with plans to expand its local R&D, service, and manufacturing adding another 54K SF, beginning within 2022. 

Bronze: General Dynamics of Dedham – General Dynamics Mission Systems, a business unit of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD), provides mission-critical solutions to defense, intelligence and cyber-security customers across all domains. Slated to be completed in September 2021, the company invested $9.6 million in its 140K SF location in Dedham, renovating 19K SF of existing space and 18K SF of new space. Throughout this year, the company added 45 jobs through acquisition of new contracts. 

Central Winners

Gold: Lykan Bioscience of Hopkinton – Lykan Bioscience is an innovative, cell therapy focused contract development and manufacturing organization headquartered in Hopkinton, MA. With decades of biopharmaceutical industry experience, Lykan offers a full range of development and manufacturing services to leading biotechnology companies. Lykan is proud to have invested more than $20 million in a 64,000 SF renovation and customization of its world-class, purpose-built, multi-product cell therapy manufacturing facility that includes eight independent ISO 7 cGMP manufacturing suites, cGMP warehousing, and full-service cGMP quality control labs, all of which are surrounded by an innovative workspace for the Lykan team and partners. Lykan will be adding a 1,700 SF innovation lab and eight additional cGMP suites in 2022. Since January 2020, the company has added approximately 60 new jobs and is involved in the community by organizing employee volunteer programs, initiating student internship programs, and actively supporting local programs and organizations. Additionally, the company has an employee engagement team consisting of diverse nationalities, religions, and genders which is tasked with cultural awareness activities, an annual equity review and a biannual review of company demographics.

Silver: Olympus Corporation of Westborough – Marking its transformation into a global medical technology company, Olympus Corporation invested $45 million in a 150K SF expansion in Westborough that will serve as the world headquarters for its therapeutic solutions division, marking the company’s first world headquarters outside of Japan. Olympus Westborough is well positioned to advance the new business direction of the company with its proximity to educational and medical institutions, an educated workforce, an innovation culture, and sector strength. Already, Olympus has created new economic opportunity within the region with the creation of 20 new jobs. The company’s inclusive corporate culture is based on programs and policies that include 11 colleague affinity networks (CANs), mandatory D&I training, leadership training, racial conversation workshops, bias and allyship sessions, along with a D&I task force. Olympus is building on its foundation as a 100-year-old company that has developed innovative optic and digital technologies for the medical and life sciences industries.

Bronze: Mustang Bio of Worcester – Mustang Bio, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Worcester, has a multi-disciplined team translating medical breakthroughs in cell and gene therapies into next-generation treatments for hematologic cancers, solid tumors, and rare genetic diseases. Since January 2020, the company has added 56 new jobs (50% women, 50% minority in 2020; and 53% women, 26% minority in 2021). Seventy percent of Mustang Bio’s employees are engaged in the manufacturing process. The company invested approximately $2.5 million in a 6K SF expansion in Worcester where it has the manufacturing expertise to develop and commercialize cell and gene therapies on a broad scale. Mustang Bio is committed to Worcester because of the GMP/life sciences environment and the desirability of the area to its employees. The company anticipates growing into a larger facility over the next 5-10 years. 

Northeast Winners

Gold: Analog Devices of Wilmington – Analog Devices is a leading global high-performance semiconductor company dedicated to solving the toughest engineering challenges. As a premier edge processing company, Analog Devices connects the physical and digital worlds, where data is born. Analog Devices technologies transform physical phenomena into digital intelligence that ignites human breakthroughs.  The Company’s technology solutions span a range of industries, including industrial, communications & automotive, and serves more than 125,000 customers worldwide. Completed in January 2021, Analog Devices expanded its Wilmington campus by 447K square feet, where it constructed a new worldwide corporate headquarters with 1.4 MW of solar panels, state-of-the-art office and lab space, community hub, and parking garage. This brings most of its Massachusetts employees together onto one campus while supporting new job growth. Analog Devices has a long history of community involvement and is dedicated to supporting programs that make an impact at the local and global level. During the global pandemic, the Company dedicated manufacturing lines to increasing production of critical healthcare components and technology needed for the treatment of COVID-19 patients, launched the Analog Devices Foundation which provides support to COVID-19 relief efforts, and donated $500,000 to the Massachusetts General Hospital’s Vaccine & Immunotherapy Center to help advance vaccine development and novel point-of-care testing technologies for COVID-19.  

Silver and Workforce Innovation Award – Gloucester Marine Genomics Institute of Gloucester – Launched in 2013, the Gloucester Marine Genomics Institute (GMGI) addresses critical challenges facing our oceans, human health and the environment through innovative scientific research and education. By bringing world-class science and transformative workforce development to Gloucester’s historic waterfront, GMGI is catalyzing the regional economy. GMGI has an entirely-female leadership team in their Board Chair, Executive Director and Science Director. In 2020, GMGI created an active and empowered DEI Committee, and has remained committed to bringing awareness to the organization. Since its founding, GMGI has enjoyed strong state, local and philanthropic support and recently invested $1.546 million in a 3,200 SF expansion of its Gloucester Biotechnology Academy, completed in June 2021. Through the cutting-edge Academy program, GMGI prepares career-compromised young adults in the growing biomanufacturing, life sciences and biotechnology fields, filling a critical workforce gap in the Commonwealth. The recent expansion enables GMGI to grow the annual cohort from 20 to 40 students per year, and required the addition of several new staff members. 

Southeast Winners

Gold: Alnylam Pharmaceuticals of Norton – Alnylam Pharmaceuticals is the industry leader in the field of RNA interference therapeutics – making a positive impact on the lives of patients all over the world. Alnylam invested $200 million in a 200,000 SF manufacturing facility in Norton and has committed to adding 125 new jobs by 2025. Several of Alnylam’s pipeline programs are manufactured in the Norton facility. Whether in the creation of a new class of medicines or in taking the lead on issues that impact their daily lives, Alnylam empowers people to innovate. The company launched Alnylam Challengers in 2021, a signature community impact program that will support bold and diverse organizations in their pursuit of developing new and sustainable solutions to address challenges in health equity. They nurture the next generation of professionals through work with Project Onramp and the Posse Foundation which both work with under-served communities in MA. Bloomberg selected Alnylam to their prestigious Gender-Equity Index in 2021 and 2022, and the company was recognized by the Eos Foundation in 2020 for gender parity and fair representation for Women of Color (WOC) rankings at Executive and Board Leadership level. In 2021 they were named a Deloitte Technology Fast 500 winner which recognizes growth and innovation, a Fast Company Best Workplace for Innovators, and as a Best Workplace for both Working Mothers and Working Fathers by Seramount. They have been a Science Magazine Top Employer three years in a row and a Boston Globe Top Place to Work seven years in a row.

Silver: Waters Corporation of Taunton – For more than 60 years, Waters Corporation has been improving human and well-being through innovations in chromatography, mass spectrometry, thermal analysis instruments and software that serve the life, materials, and food sciences industries. In April of 2018, Waters announced a $215 million investment to expand their precision chemistry manufacturing facility in Taunton, MA. Upon its completion in 2023, the facility will triple in size from its original footprint, add 33% more jobs, and will provide Waters with a 30-year capacity for growth. The significantly modernized facility will also decrease the annual volume of hazardous waste shipped off-site by 50%.  In addition to their efforts in Taunton, Waters was recently recognized for their commitment to diversity and inclusion, receiving a perfect score of 100 on the 2022 Corporate Equality Index, the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s annual scorecard for LGBTQ workplace equality.

Bronze: NN, Inc. of Taunton – With a global scale, high-precision manufacturing, and comprehensive portfolio that consolidates supply chain and offers true one-stop shopping, NN, Inc. takes product from design through production, and provides total lifecycle support, to reduce costs and make it easier to do business. NN, Inc.’s products are found in commercial and military aircraft, general aviation, and defense systems. The company invested $20 million and expanded its aerospace defense manufacturing plant from 25K to 100K SF. Being located in Taunton, offers a central location for its 81 employees and access to the local talent pool with vocational schools. 

West Winners

Gold: Big Y Foods of Springfield – Founded in 1936 by brothers Paul and Gerald D’Amour, Big Y Foods, Inc. was named after an intersection in Chicopee, where two roads converge to form a Y. Now, it is one of the largest independently owned supermarket chains in New England with almost 12,000 employees and 85 locations throughout Massachusetts and Connecticut. Since January 2020, the company added 52 new jobs and invested $50.9 million in a 232K SF expansion in Springfield for its “Fresh & Local Distribution Center” that provides local farmers and producers with an efficient, one stop location that saves time and expenses related to delivering to individual stores. It also has the state-of-the-art technology and temperature controls to help Big Y maintain and deliver the peak of freshness to customers. Big Y partners with the Food Bank of Western Mass, Worcester and Boston, has numerous equity, diversity, and inclusion practices. It has been recognized by Forbes as a Best-in-State Employer in Massachusetts and Connecticut, and Employer of Choice by the Employers Association of the Northeast. 

Silver: The White Lion Brewing Company of Springfield – The White Lion Brewing Company is a black-owned brewery that reactivated 8K SF of space that sat vacant for 15+ years and on-boarded an additional 3K SF of storage, marking a total expansion of 11K SF in Springfield and the first craft beer brand to go to market in Springfield. More than a brewer, White Lion intends to serve as a catalyst for Springfield’s revitalization. While still a small and growing company, White Lion added 13 new employees (69% women and 46% persons of color), donated close to $25,000 to the community, and its ownership sits on a number of local and statewide boards or commissions. While there are more than 230 breweries in Massachusetts, White Lion is one of only six minority-owned breweries in the state, and nationally, there are over 8,300 breweries and less than 1% are black-owned. The Brewery was part of the international Black is Beautiful Campaign and committed a portion of the Campaign’s beer sales to the Healing Racism Institute of Pioneer Valley. White Lion also hosted a collaboration beer to bring attention to the trade in the communities of color, with a portion of proceeds committed to Holyoke Community College to seed an annual scholarship program. Additionally, the company co-hosted a Sexual Harassment & Sensitivity Training for regional breweries. 

Bronze: United Aircraft Technologies of Pittsfield – United Aircraft Technologies (UAT) is a veteran, minority, and female led business that is creating a new class of Smart Clamps for electrical wire harness management that is designed to reduce weight, improve safety, and simplify maintenance through the use of Augmented Reality and Artificial Intelligence. The company currently plans on investing in around 7,000 SF of vacant office space in Pittsfield and is looking to hire four new team members in 2021 in addition to the five already onboarded earlier this year. UAT is also providing STEM-based programs within the community, partnering with MCLA on future internship opportunities and further job creation. For vehicle manufacturers in aviation, navy, or ground vehicles who have a problem with weight and maintenance, UAT’s Interconnecting Clamp (ICC) is 65% lighter than the current metal standard and can reduce maintenance and installation time by up to 80%. Different from other wiring fasteners, UAT’s Smart ICC has sensing capabilities which allows customers to easily localize and diagnose faults within the wiring system, improving fault diagnostics by 150% and minimizing the reliance of visual inspection and risks of human error. Since founding in 2016 with seed funds, the company has won numerous innovation awards, most recently including two NASA iTech innovation challenges, and recently raised $1.7 million in venture funding to support development activities and, with development partners, is a recipient of additional government contracts totaling over $1 million this year alone. The company works with another Massachusetts company, Sinicon Plastics in Dalton, to manufacture its products.