Editorial: Who will be our next EMC?
In his story “The incredible shrinking EMC”, WBJ Managing Editor Eric Casey partially confirms what’s largely been an open secret in the Central Massachusetts business community: The tech company EMC Corp. started 46 years ago in MetroWest is a shadow of what it once was before Texas-based Dell Technologies announced plans to purchase it in 2015. Since then, the company has sold more than $100 million of EMC’s Central Massachusetts properties, and its workforce is down at least 30%.
Even though Dell EMC still has a substantial presence in the region, particularly in Hopkinton, the company is a far cry from when EMC was being run by its founders and was a more engaged partner in the community. Hard driving co-founder Richard Egan was a highly visible leader, as was his college roommate at Northeastern University, Roger Marino. They were the E and the M of EMC, and company officials of all stripes served on a variety of boards for community organizations over the years.
Some industries transform more quickly than others, and the computer business is rife with big names that have risen high, but later fallen by the wayside (remember Wang and DEC?). Once synonymous with the communities in which it was founded, EMC remains a significant local player, but it is now part of a much larger tech company headquartered in Texas, with the need to evolve at warp speed to stay up with the competition. At one time, the Norton Co. was deeply woven into the fabric of Worcester’s identity, and while its successor Saint-Gobain has done a solid job of remaining a corporate citizen in the region, today’s manufacturing facilities don’t employ nearly the numbers they did half a century ago, as its 50+acre Worcester campus today is undergoing a complete reinvention.
But when one community leader recedes in its impact, another rises to take its place. Fred Eppinger, the former president and CEO of Hanover Insurance Group, made it a personal mission not only to turn around the company’s fortunes, but to get the Worcester insurer involved in the community, notably helping to revitalize its downtown. As EMC has stepped back, major MetroWest employers like Natick software company MathWorks have taken up the mantle. For example, the MathWorks Foundation is the largest grantmaking foundation in Central Massachusetts, with about $270 million in assets and $10 million in annual grants, according to Guidestar.
And behind the Hanovers and MathWorks is the next wave of high growth companies with the promise of becoming solid corporate citizens: Founded in 2015 using technology developed at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, the electric vehicle battery recycling company Ascend Elements is building out a global footprint while maintaining its local connections. Commonwealth Fusion Systems in Devens is looking to solve the world’s energy problems, while showing a healthy engagement with its neighbors. Growing companies provide the jobs we need to keep our regional economy booming, but we also need those organizations and their leaders to be part of the fabric of the community.
This editorial is the opinion of the WBJ Editorial Board.
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