Chris Coghlin bio box
Updated: March 4, 2024
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2024 Business Leaders of the Year
Business Leaders of the Year: Coghlin leads a fourth-generation company with heart and a focus on adaptability
Photo | Matt Wright
Chris Coghlin, president, CEO, and chief culture officer of Coghlin Cos.
By Sloane M. Perron
Coghlin Cos. has been at the forefront of innovation and technology since 1885 when J.P. Coghlin founded the company and helped invent an electrical generator known as the dynamo. Four generations later, Coghlin Cos. has grown exponentially to include Columbia Tech in Westborough and Cogmedix in West Boylston and is now a global leader in the commercialization of products found in the medical life science, semiconductor, robotics, food service, automation, and energy sectors.
Chances are if you have used a cell phone, needed a medical device, gone through security at an airport, or even had laser treatment at a spa, you have interacted with a Coghlin product.
Coghlin Cos. is constantly fostering the most cutting-edge technologies, but its leader, Chris Coghlin, has never lost sight of his great-grandfather’s humble beginnings and puts building relationships with both clients and employees, known as caring associates, at the forefront of his business.
“Success to me is doing such a great job for customers that they see the true value of our service rates and offerings and are willing to refer us to others,” Coghlin said. “When we are referable, we grow, and when we grow, we are able to successfully generate profitability from these relationships that enable the advancement of our people and reinvestment into our community. It’s an ongoing process we are proud of.”
Coghlin Cos. helps clients with proven technologies and prototypes bring their products to market by building supply chains and creating designs for manufacturability.
“Our purpose is to work intelligently and collaboratively with our clients to successfully commercialize some of the most innovative lifesaving and life-changing products in the world,” Coghlin said.
Over the decades, Coghlin Cos. has faced historical events such as the Great Depression, World Wars, recessions, natural disasters, and the coronavirus pandemic. Coghlin credits the company’s survival to fiscally conservative choices and the willingness to be adaptable. Coghlin Cos.’ client base nearly doubled during the pandemic as it facilitated medical supplies, touch-free security, and robotic products rapidly needed during the crisis. Coghlin Cos. built 10,000 ventilators, bringing 200 of its employees back to work and saving their jobs.
“During hard times, we always focused on the retention of top talent and the versatility of our people first, never overextending on real estate investments, and doing our very best to drive a positive, accountable, and energetic culture regardless of the economic times we are experiencing,” Coghlin said. “My dad taught me at a very young age in my career that when things are great, they are never as great as they seem, and when things seem terrible, they are never as bad as they seem.”
Self-described as an open-book realist who is friendly, transparent, and approachable, Coghlin tries to lead by example.
Coghlin Cos. is headquartered in Westborough, with 10 other facilities, including a new 100,000-square-foot facility in West Boylston, which is on the horizon. A resident of Shrewsbury, Coghlin understands the positive ripple effect of creating business in the local economy.
“The fact that our Central Mass.-based company is integral in the commercialization of so many technologies that travel all over the world is beyond rewarding to all of us! As we continue to grow and thrive, our success will provide tremendous advancement opportunities for our people and allow us to continue reinvesting into the community that we all know and love here in Central Massachusetts,” Coghlin said.
Coghlin’s genuineness and the way he goes out of his way to help others is a rare quality that makes him stand out as not only a business leader, but also as a community leader, said John Heald, the general manager of the Funeral Home Channel at Legacy.com, who has known Coghlin since childhood.
“I've never met anyone like him, honestly, in all my life. He is one of the most positive, optimistic individuals, and he is just a great person to have in your life. I say that, from a personal perspective, and as someone who has watched him grow Coghlin Cos. to what it is today,” Heald said. “Its success is largely due in part to who Chris' as a person, his attitude, his willingness to do anything for anyone.”
Heald serves with Coghlin on the boards for two nonprofits: Shrewsbury Pitches In and DetectTogether. Shrewsbury Pitches In is a charity card tournament co-founded by Coghlin raising money for local families in need. DetectTogether was created by the Coghlin family and focuses on early cancer detection by providing education and awareness.
As someone personally impacted by cancer, Heald says, “I am living proof that what they're doing with DetectTogether is working, and it’s meaningful.”
Coghlin deserves WBJ’s Family Business Leader of the Year award because of the respect he has for others, Heald said.
“He deserves the award for the company that he's built, and the way he treats his employees … He took the values that his family instilled in him and has excelled upon them to create his own personal leadership style, and a way of going about things that has made him one of the leaders in family-run businesses in Central Massachusetts,” he said.
“But most importantly, he is just a stand-up person in our community.”
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