Daughter of Blue Hive’s founder takes over leadership, ownership of Worcester manufacturer
Photo I Courtesy of BlueHive Exhibits
Caitlyn Correia, president, CEO, and owner of BlueHive Exhibits in Worcester
Exactly three years after being named president of her family’s trade show exhibit manufacturing company BlueHive Exhibits, Caitlyn Correia has taken over ownership, marking the Worcester company’s first proprietor hand-off since opening shop in 2005.
Though Correia officially assumed her new roles as CEO and owner on July 31, her father, BlueHive founder and former CEO Paul Hanlon, said in actuality she’s been running the family business for the past few years. She guided BlueHive through the COVID-19 pandemic and spearheaded the company’s development of a 30,000-square-foot Las Vegas facility.
Succeeding her father had come to feel like a natural next move for Correia, though she didn’t always feel that way. In fact, upon graduating from college in 2012, she had no initial interest in working for the family business. Having worked various odd jobs at BlueHive throughout her college studies, she took a job working for Robert Half, a staffing agency headquartered in California. At Robert Half, Correia worked as vision director, managing a team out of the agency’s Framingham office, but after a year, she found the work simply wasn’t a good fit.
“I enjoyed it. I liked the people that I worked with, but people being your product is really difficult,” said Correia.
So in 2013 when Correia’s father approached her with a job opportunity as an account manager at BlueHive, she took him up on the offer. For the next six years, Correia worked in account management as she began to be invited to sit in on more bigger company conversations. Through her seat at the table, Correia heard her father explain the reasons behind his decision making as owner, envisioning herself as next in line for ownership began to come into clearer view. Taking on more operations and marketing responsibilities as internal shifts were made, the pieces started falling into place for her.
“I'm very thankful that my dad and I get along really well. I am kind of a mini me of him, girl version. I’m obviously a mom and a woman. So I have different perspectives, [I am from] a different generation. But at the core we have the same ethics, the same kind of thought process of taking care of our employees; and not only our employees, but their families. So it just started clicking,” she said.
Aware of her position as the boss’s daughter, Correia made a concerted effort to make her work speak for itself, especially when it came to clients, an effort she continues now at the helm of the BlueHive ship.
“I want people to know who I am, my work ethic, before they know that my maiden name was Hanlon,” she said.
Correia’s work capabilities as a manager and leader were put to the test with the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic. BlueHive laid off 80% of its workforce as in-person trade shows came to a full stop. The company’s remaining 15 or so employees had to pivot to a digital model, a business arena they hadn’t previously explored.
“It was torture,” Correia said. “To be honest, torture. We came up with great solutions, but we were competing with agencies that [digital trade shows were] just what they do. So we were able to at least be a resource to our clients, just to keep the connections.”
BlueHive leaned on its Worcester millwork business Continental Woodcraft during that time as it was deemed an essential business during the pandemic. Continental kept the company’s lights on as it worked building out hospitals throughout the region.
Though times were strained, BlueHive has hired most of its laid-off staff back, growing its team from 80 employees pre-COVID to about 105 today. Serving around 120 customers, BlueHive executive more than 1,000 trade shows this past year.
Making it out the other side of the COVID further boosted Correia’s confidence in her ability to take over ownership in the coming years. Navigating the pandemic leveled the playing field as her father and her were problem solving together.
“Trying to survive during COVID, there's no rule book for when a pandemic happens, and we came out on the other side; and obviously thankfully we did, because of the way that my father's handled business. But really, a lot of that was kind of me in the managers,” said Correia.
In 2023, Correia took on yet another company first as she led the development of the company’s new facility in trade show mecca, Las Vegas. The 30,000-square-foot office, production, and warehouse facility opened in August 2023. From acquiring multiple business licenses and permits to mapping out the design of the facility, opening the Sin City operations was a massive undertaking Correia said had to be learned on the job. The Las Vegas team has generated $3 million in work over the past six months.
All the while Correia was leading BlueHive’s survival and subsequent expansions, conversations were building around her assuming the roles of CEO and owner in the upcoming years. An accelerant was added to the succession plans when Hanlon and Correia learned Continental Woodcraft was starting to lose out on business because the company didn’t have diversity-owned status. Now officially women-owned, BlueHive looks to become a certified diverse business through the Massachusetts Supplier Diversity Office in the coming months.
Though still a newly minted CEO and owner, Correia said her day-to-day work hasn’t really changed from her time solely as president. She still operates with her open-door policy and knows her success is reliant on the trust and confidence her team has in her.
“I walk in not really knowing what the day is going to bring,” said Correia. “But I love what I do. I love my employees, and I feel that love reciprocated. So with that, I’m just going to take it as it comes.”
Mica Kanner-Mascolo is a staff writer at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the healthcare and diversity, equity, and inclusion industries.
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