Christine Tieri founded the advertising agency smith&jones in 1994 in Worcester and operated under that brand for 21 years, mostly out of a building Tieri owned at 76 Main St. in Sturbridge. On Sept. 1, the company moved into a new, more open space at 420 Main St. in Sturbridge, under the new brand Idea Agency, Inc. to symbolize its shift toward an integrated brand development company.
Very few people could plan to leave a job as head of Worcester's largest publicly traded company and still retain an outsized influence on the region, but such is the pull Frederick H. Eppinger has had on the region since 2003.