🔒That’s what they said!: Central Mass. business quotes from the last 35 years

Since its founding in 1989, the pages of Worcester Business Journal have been filled with memorable quotes about the business happenings of Central Massachusetts. Here's some highlights from the last 35 years.

1990

“[CityPlaza] is a great project. Maybe that’s the one we end up with, and maybe what we do is, we give them a little kick in the tail and get them moving, or maybe we find something else. But we lose nothing by looking, by asking and by opening up our options.”

– RAYMOND MARIANO, then-city councilor and eventual four-term mayor, expressing impatience at the lack of progress at Lot 44 and CityPlaza, the doomed precursor to CitySquare

1993

“I think it’s to [New England Development]’s advantage to promote downtown development and not just the mall. The mall is the linchpin to a successful downtown, and a healthy, vital downtown is a very important element to a successful mall.”

– JANET SLOVIN, executive director of Target Worcester, an advocacy group akin to Discover Central Mass.

1995

“To keep good people, you have to grow, because everybody wants to move ahead.”

– GORDON LANKTON, president & CEO, Nypro Inc.

1999

“Be a little careful in characterizing [$300 million] as a lot, or a premium or overpay. Those are judgments that are awfully difficult to support. … If you take $215 million, [Chronicle Publishing Co.’s] initial investment here and you just increase that at inflation … you get up over $300 million anyway. So who says that’s high?”

– T&G publisher BRUCE BENNETT answering a question from WBJ editor Steve Jones-D’Agostino about why the newspaper fetched such a substantial purchase price from The New York Times Co. (John Henry sold the T&G in 2014 for a reported $17.5 million, a year after paying $70 million for both the T&G and Boston Globe.)

2005

“It’s not just about the millions you can make, it’s about what you leave behind. I want to be able to drive by every one of my projects 25 years from now and feel good about them – I consider it a privilege to live in a day where I can do what I do.”

– PETER BOVENZI, Leominster developer and co-founder of Leominster Land Trust

2009

“I love this business. I get up every day, including on the weekends, and I can’t wait to get on the computer and see how we’ve done and what we can do better.”

– LAURA SEN, CEO of Natick-based BJ’s Wholesale Club

2014

“There’s something very interesting about this job that people want to have their picture taken with you. It’s so sweet.”

– LAURIE LESHIN, then president-elect of Worcester Polytechnic Institute, about the number of selfie requests she’d gotten on campus

2018

“We know they wanted to be treated like the legitimate businesses they are. You can’t do that when you’re wandering around with all kinds of cash all over the place.”

– GFA Federal Credit Union CEO TINA SBREGA, on the institution’s decision to become the first bank to service marijuana business in Mass.

2020

“We literally turned this on in two days. It was thrust upon them very quickly and they adapted to it.”

– DR. LARRY GARBER, Reliant Medical Group director for informatics, on the use of virtual telehealth technology at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic

2021

“Sometimes it’s the small project that makes no economic sense that unlocks the authenticity and the energy of a neighborhood.”

– BO MENKITI, founder of The Menkiti Group, a real estate developer that quickly became a major landlord in downtown Worcester

2023

“For innovation to thrive at Waters, we must continue to nurture an inclusive workplace where our LGBTQIA+ colleagues feel valued and encouraged to bring their whole selves to work.”

– UDIT BATRA, president and CEO of Milford medical device maker Waters Corp., on receiving a perfect score from Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index

- Compiled by Fred Hurlbrink, Jr.