Greater Worcester

Robert L. Thomas, the co-founder of Worcester's Martin Luther King Jr. Opportunity Center is stepping down as its director.

<I>(Updated Feb. 24 at 2 p.m.)</I> Fallon Health of Worcester has expanded the long-term-care program in Western New York it offers in conjunction with a residential community there.

Inside a 35,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in Hudson, circuit board connectors that will be launched into space as part of the Orion spacecraft mission are being prepared to withstand otherworldly temperatures and pressures. Just minutes away, in Worcester, space suits are crafted by a company that has been making similar gear for longer than the U.S. space program has been around.

When her predecessor retired last year, Karen Chapman had already been well established at the Corridor Nine Area Chamber of Commerce, having been its vice president for 12 years. At the time of her promotion, the chamber's chairman said Chapman has “a keen understanding of Corridor Nine's past, as well as proven experience in bringing innovative and visionary ideas for the future.”

It's our annual look at three business executives in Central Massachusetts - and one organization - that have made big differences. This year's honorees come from four distinct industries. Here are their stories.

Away from the bone-chilling cold outside and the snowy, frigid weather forecast for the weekend, an economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston delivered something warm Friday at the Worcester Business Journal's annual Economic Forecast breakfast: continued economic growth.

Commerce Bank and Habitat for Humanity MetroWest/Greater Worcester have been awarded a $25,000 grant by the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston, to help fund the rehabilitation of a single-family home in Worcester for a wounded veteran and his or her family.

UMass Medical School in Worcester will collaborate with Lysogene, a French biotechnology company, and Auburn University in Alabama, to develop pre-clinical studies of a rare disorder that causes neurological impairment, Lysogene announced.

The Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce has partnered with the Regional Environmental Council to study the feasibility of creating a food hub in Worcester.

Paying for extras on plane trips out of Worcester is going to get a bit easier for those with an iPhone as Jet Blue announced Tuesday that it will be the first major domestic carrier in the U.S. to accept Apple Pay during flights.