A Familiar Face To Take Over At MetroWest Chamber | Welte exits after 20-year career at the business group
PHOTO/COURTESY
Ted Welte
PHOTO/COURTESY
Bonnie Biocchi
When Ted Welte began his 20-year tenure as president of the MetroWest Chamber of Commerce, General Motors had just announced plans to close a plant in Framingham, taking with it hundreds of jobs.
Soon after GM left, Prime Computer vacated industrial space in MetroWest, too.
The recession of the early 1990s left huge spaces empty across the region, Welte recalls.
"All those companies moving out created opportunities for new companies to move in," he said.
Now names like Boston Scientific and Genzyme have replaced those companies and ushered in a new era of high-technology industries that is thriving in the region.
An Ending, A Beginning
As Welte prepares to retire at the end of this month, the chamber will welcome a new president and CEO, Bonnie Biocchi , who has spent the last three years working for the state's Office of Business Development in Devens.
Biocchi said she hopes to foster continued investments in the region and hopes to strengthen the character of the business community. She's eager to get back to the business networking functions of a chamber of commerce leader. She used to head the Nashoba Valley Chamber of Commerce, which includes Devens and other North Central Massachusetts communities.
"I think chambers serve a very unique and important function of being that first connection a business has to the community," Biocchi said.
MetroWest is an area of "explosive" growth in population and business, she said.
With that comes the responsibility to help promote further development while working with municipal leaders to ensure there is a mutually beneficial relationship between the businesses and government.
Biocchi hopes to continue the role of the chamber as an advocate for the MetroWest region and she said she would like to help business leaders learn about public policy issues at the state and federal levels.
Biocchi will not be the only new face at the chamber this year either.
Francis Colantonio, owner of Holliston-based contracting company Colantonio Inc., recently took over as the president of the chamber's board of directors last month.
He said he looks forward to working with Biocchi and continuing chamber programs. He said he's constantly impressed by the character of the MetroWest region.
"I think the beauty of MetroWest is that you have a good number of businesses located here that are some very large companies that give you a solid base of employment," he said.
Those businesses in turn spur smaller businesses development, he said.
"As the environment around you grows and expands all these other smaller companies around will benefit," he said.
To continue that, he said the most important thing will be to have an accepting business community.
"We need to all work together, all the cities and towns and businesses, and welcome new businesses with open arms," he said. "When you see that you'll see MetroWest as an area that will continue to grow."
As for Welte, he said he's looking forward to retirement.
"I'm counting not the days, but the events," said Welte.
One of those events includes this Friday when the chamber will host state Treasurer Timothy Cahill, an independent candidate for governor, at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Natick.
Biocchi is set to take over as president at the end of the month just before Welte leaves.
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments