Message from MBR Staff

Thank you to the Roundtable Board of Directors for your invaluable contributions over the past few months. As we embarked on a new year coupled with a constantly evolving work environment, it felt timely to reflect on our priorities and refresh feedback based on the latest experiences of members as we work collaboratively to promote greater opportunity, equity, and competitiveness in the Commonwealth. Your leadership and input on issues ranging from workforce development and education to DEI and competitiveness to housing, transportation, energy, and healthcare has been and continues to be appreciated.

Since the start of the pandemic, one constant has remained: members enjoy and value discussing best practices, sharing what works well, and talking candidly about challenges ahead when navigating new norms in the workplace. Now, two years later, we continue to create forums and opportunities for members to benefit from these discussions and, in turn, the Roundtable staff and Board is much stronger. Thank you, Board members, for your continued engagement.

We look forward to collaborating with you during the budget process as well as the final stretch of the 2021-22 Legislative Session.

P.S. Don't forget to check out the Roundtable's 2021 Annual Report!

Best,

JD, Lauren, and Claire

The Roundtable kicked off 2022 by convening members and experts from member companies for a series of policy-related Task Force meetings. Typically, task forces meet at the beginning of a state legislative session to develop principles and priorities to guide the Roundtable’s public policy advocacy. New this year, the task forces reconvened and will meet more frequently—at least twice a year—to provide updates on the implementation of the Roundtable's policy agenda, solicit feedback and guidance from members, and conduct a deep-dive or share information on specific policy matters.

Thank you to Task Force Chairs, members, and colleagues from member companies who participated in recent Task Force meetings

Competitiveness Task Force, chaired by Howard Elias of Dell
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Force, chaired by Karan Dyson of Procter & Gamble
Education & Workforce Development Task Force, chaired by Colleen Richards Powell of American Tower
Energy & Environment Task Force, chaired by Grace Lee of People's United Bank
Healthcare & Life Sciences Task Force, chaired by Mary Anne Heino of Lantheus Medical Imaging
Transportation, Housing, & Infrastructure Task Force, chaired by Jay Doherty of Cabot, Cabot, and Forbes

The start of 2022 has been filled with even more policy highlights including action on the future of work, early childcare, and more. Read the full Q1 2022 Quarterly Roundup.

Talent Roundup

Updates on talent resources for members

Join the Massachusetts Apprentice Network

The Roundtable this month helped to launch the Massachusetts Apprentice Network, a resource to help employers address hiring challenges by investing in and training untapped talent. The Roundtable in partnership with Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce and Accenture founded the network to introduce the value of apprenticeship as a proven hiring strategy and share best practices led by companies who have effectively leveraged this hiring model.

Thank you to Roundtable members who have expressed interest in learning more! MBR staff encourage you to ask question s as you explore this resource. Apprenticeship models have worked for member companies like Beth Israel Lahey Health and Liberty Mutual as well as a growing list of companies across industries and for occupations such as financial services, advanced manufacturing, tech, healthcare, and more.

If you have questions, email Lauren Jones, EVP at the Massachusetts Business Roundtable.

Join the Mass. Apprentice Network

Hire a Youth for Summer Jobs

It's that time of year! The City of Boston and the Boston Private Industry Council (PIC) are partnering with local employers to hire and place thousands of Boston Public School high school students. Together these employers—which range from Fortune 500 companies to neighborhood small businesses—are helping to train and prepare the workforce of tomorrow.

Interested in learning about youth summer jobs? Ask Roundtable members including Beth Israel Lahey Health, Blue Cross Blue Shield of MA, Boston Children's Hospital, Fidelity, Liberty Mutual, Massachusetts General Brigham, State Street, and Vertex—companies who have long supported the program and plan to hire again this summer. The PIC can help employers create an in-person, hybrid or virtual internship program and source talented, curious, and passionate students for paid tech, office/administrative and hands on roles. Students work in 6-7 weeks, 30-35 hours per week in roles such as IT, finance, sales, research, marketing, HR, customer service, facilities, and operations.

Contact

If your company is Boston-based: Josh Bruno, School-to-Career Director for the Boston PIC.
If your company is based in Massachusetts but outside of Boston, contact Lauren Jones, EVP at the Massachusetts Business Roundtable, to get connected to local youth employment resources.

Leverage HireNow Funds

The Baker-Polito Administration recently launched a new hiring and training employer grant called “HireNow” to help employers quickly hire and train new workers and get more people back to work. Eligible employers will receive a $4,000 per employee grant, which can be used to cover training costs or a signing bonus for new employees. The program is open to all Massachusetts employers including both for-profit and non-profit entities (excluding federal, state, and municipal governments). Learn more.

Quarterly Board of Directors Meeting

FEATURED GUEST SPEAKER

The Need for Talent

February 2, 2022: The Roundtable hosted an Open Forum featuring presentations and an engaging discussion on the Commonwealth's economic outlook and workforce needs with Secretary Michael Heffernan of Administration & Finance and Undersecretary Jenn James of Workforce Development. Read the Open Forum Recap.

Welcome Our Newest Members

Please join the Roundtable in welcoming members who joined the Roundtable this past quarter.

Dr. Atyia Martin

CEO & Founder

All Aces, Inc

Darlene Rodowicz

President & CEO

Berkshire Health

Kathryn Graddy

Dean

Brandeis International Business School

Jeniffer Carson

Managing Partner

CMBG3

Pat Brophy

Senior Director, External Affairs

Suffolk

Benjamin Metcalf

Regional Director, New England

Lyft

Matthew Marek

President & CEO

SeniorLink

Jeff Sanchez

CEO

Sanchez Strategies

Paul Ferraro

President, Air Power

Raytheon Technologies

Dr. Ray Kruger

President & CEO

Southcoast Health

Jim Hunt

Executive Vice President, Corporate Relations & Sustainability / Corporate Secretary

Eversource

Roundtable Guest Blog

An opportunity for a member to share perspective on a timely topic

Featuring The Lazu Group and State Street

Roundtable members The Lazu Group and State Street are collaborating to provide a platform for conversations at State Street and among employees to promote racial and social justice in the workplace. As part of this series, the two organizations first explored the diversity, equity, and inclusion through the lens of Black history in February 2022 followed by a second forum on Women’s history in March 2022. The Roundtable invited The Lazu Group and State Street as guest contributors to its blog, reflecting on learnings from the forum in celebration of Black history. Read the guest blog by The Lazu Group and State Street.

Going Around the Table

Sharing a few highlights from member companies!

Leading Women Awards: Congratulations to Roundtable member and DEI Task Force Chair Karan Dyson of Procter & Gamble for being recognized by the Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts as a 2022 Leading Woman. Karan accepted the award at the 29th Annual Leading Women Awards, which was sponsored by Roundtable members including MFS Investments, Procter & Gamble Gillette, Raytheon Technologies, Eastern Bank, PwC, Rockland Trust Charitable Foundation, Suffolk, and All Aces, Inc. with support also from the Roundtable. In addition to honoring women empowering girls in the community, Suffolk was recognized with the Corporate Changemaker Award for their commitment to girls in STEM and construction.

BFIT Secures $12.5 Million Donation, a Transformative Gift for the School: Congratulations to Roundtable member Aisha Francis, President & CEO of the Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology (BFIT) for securing a $12.5 million donation from The Cummings Foundation. This gift will be transformative for BFIT and the students the school serves—for perspective, BFIT currently has a $3 million endowment and $14 million annual operating budget. As a minority-serving institution, BFIT students are primarily students of color and also from low-income households in Boston and the Greater Boston region. Read more on this news in the Boston Globe.

Perspective on Returning to the Office: Roundtable member John Capone of KPMG shared in a Boston Business Journal op-ed perspective on the value of flexibility provided by employers as companies, especially startups, return to the office. In the op-ed, John writes: “To reinforce company culture and retain employees, flexibility with purpose is key… While flexibility has not been a hallmark of some industries, including the professional services space within which we at KPMG operate, the opportunity has always been there. It just took a pandemic for many industries to see it through… For non-shift workforces, there is a demand for flexibility in the mornings and evenings that must become precedent.” Read John’s op-ed in the Boston Business Journal.

Board Leadership: Roundtable member Takeda celebrated this quarter the appointment of Ramona Sequeira, President of Takeda’s US Business Unit & Global Portfolio Commercialization, for being named the new Board Chair of PhRMA, a mission-driven organization focused on advocacy for public policy that encourages the discovery of new medicines for patients by pharmaceutical and biotechnology research companies. Ramona also published a recent article in STAT titled “Pharma in 2022: Building Trust and Extending Collaboration. Read the STAT article.

First Birthday Celebration: The Massachusetts Business Coalition for Early Childhood Education turned one year old in February 2022, marking a year of coordinated advocacy within the business community to pursue an affordable, accessible, and improved childcare and early childhood education system in Massachusetts. Led by five co-chairs including Bob Rivers of Eastern Bank and Jon Bernstein of PNC Bank, the Coalition convened employers actively engaged in early child care advocacy and planning during the Coalition’s inaugural year.

Promoting Health & Wellness: Roundtable member Jon Bernstein of PNC Bank started the year on a healthy note bringing together employees of PNC Bank to launch a New Year Fitness Challenge powered by Boston.com. The fitness challenge tasked participants to complete at least 10 minutes or 1 mile of fitness activity each day in January. This challenge is a great example of team building coupled with promoting health and wellness among employees. Participants fundraised as well with funds benefitting United Way and RACE Cancer Foundation.

Expanding the Table

Roundtable member companies promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace

Incorporating Black History to Advance DEI in the Workplace: On the heels of its newly launched website in late 2021, the Roundtable is excited to welcome its first guest contributors to the Roundtable's blog—and in time to honor Black History Month! In collaboration with Roundtable members The Lazu Group and State Street, please check out this inaugural guest blog demonstrating an example of how an employer incorporated Black History as a framework to discuss diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in the workplace.The Roundtable welcomes future contributions to expand voices especially on topics aligned with the Roundtable's guiding principles of opportunity, equity, and competitiveness. Read the guest blog.

Celebrating International Women's Day: Many Roundtable members and leaders from member companies celebrated International Women’s Day on March 8, sharing stories, personal reflections, and allyship for women in the workplace and community. Roundtable member Joan Christel of State Street shared a blog from her colleague, Dr. Connie Cabello–VP of Equity Programs at State Street. In her blog, Connie reflected on her own journey as a woman, person of color, and immigrant. Stories like these are inspirational and we thought to share within the MBR community, too. Read the blog post.

Verizon's 2022 Women's History Month—Providing Healing, Promoting Hope: In March, Verizon hosted conversations to celebrate Women's History Month and focused this series on paying tribute to the work of caregivers and frontline workers during the pandemic and recognizing ways women from all backgrounds have provided healing and hope throughout history. Watch the series recap.

Engaging on Racial Justice in the Workplace: Since 2020, Roundtable President & CEO JD Chesloff served first as a fellow and now as an advisor for CEO Action for Racial Equity, a fellowship of more than 100 companies that mobilize a community of business leaders with diverse expertise across multiple industries and geographies to advance public policy in four key areas: healthcare, education, economic empowerment, and public safety. Building on the Roundtable's interest and effort to increase equity as well as opportunity and competitiveness in Massachusetts, the Roundtable will host fellows from CEO Action for Racial Equity for its next Open Forum on Wednesday, April 6 from 12:00–1:00 PM. The session will convene members and member companies to learn national best practices shared by the fellows and applicable for strengthening Massachusetts' economy.

Upcoming Events

Virtual and in-person events coming soon!

National Robotics Week: April 2–10

Join Roundtable member iRobot and companies around the country to celebrate National Robotics Week April 2-10! Celebrate robots with us by showing us how you use robotics in your work. Engage on social media by sharing photos, videos, and more by tagging #RoboWeek and checking out updates on nationalroboticsweek.org.

Turmoil in Ukraine—Hear from CEOs on the Ground: April 7

The Harvard Business School Association of Boston invites Roundtable members and friends of the Roundtable to join for conversation hosted by CEO Club Ukraine to share the extraordinary experiences and measures Ukrainian CEOs are doing to keep their companies viable, employees safe, and engaged on the changing needs of the Ukranian people. Learn more and register to hear from CEOs on the Ground in Ukraine.

Annual STEM Summit: April 28

Registration is open for the 2022 Annual STEM Summit on April 28, featuring both in-person and virtual events for educators and employers across the Commonwealth. The Roundtable continues to serve as a co-sponsor of this annual summit in collaboration with the Baker Administration and Governor’s STEM Advisory Council. New this year, regional convenings will be organized to provide opportunities for employers to connect in-person and in partnership with their regional STEM Network comprised of key STEM stakeholders. Learn more and register for the Annual STEM Summit.

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