Greater Worcester

After 12 years as chief executive of Unum Group, Thomas R. Watjen retired at the insurance company's annual shareholder meeting today in Chattanooga, Tenn. Richard P. McKenney, Unum's former chief financial officer, assumed the role of CEO.

There are a lot of exciting things about starting your own business, but the isolation many entrepreneurs feel when they start out can be debilitating, said Venkat Kolluri, the chief executive of Internet advertising firm Chitika in Westborough. He remembers working alone in his home back in 2003 when he was trying to get Chitika off the ground. After the first few days, he said he started talking to himself because there was no one else to kick around ideas with. “How well can you be motivated when you're alone?” Kolluri said.

In a continued bid to expand the college's focus on nonacademic career paths, Becker College has appointed the president and CEO of the Seven Hills Foundation as the school's first Professor of Practice in Social Innovation.

Hospitals have been feeling the heat from the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services since 2012, when the federal insurer — the largest single payer in the country — began penalizing hospitals with excessive readmission rates for Medicare patients.

Pharmaceutical giant AbbVie, which has operations in Worcester, is extending by another week its offer for all outstanding shares of Pharmacyclics to Friday afternoon.

Spectrum Health Systems of Worcester has been awarded a contract by the Virginia Department of Corrections to provide therapeutic community programming at three state facilities, the private, nonprofit substance abuse treatment and mental health service organization announced.

Compliance with new provisions of the Affordable Care Act were cited as factors in the first-quarter losses reported by four major Massachusetts health insurers Friday.

It's our annual list of 10 change makers from MetroWest who are making a difference in their businesses, industries and communities.

If you're shopping for property in MetroWest, does shopping influence your decision? Retailers that are considered more upscale brands — such as Cabela's in Berlin and Wegmans in Northborough — may bring with them a lot more than their products, experts say.

When Howard Grossman of Southborough was asked what people might not know about him, he pointed out...