The next edition of the North Central Massachusetts Chamber’s popular Good Morning North Central breakfast series is scheduled for Friday, March 11, 2016 from 6:45 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. at the Doubletree by Hilton, 99 Erdman Way, Leominster, MA.  The March edition is sponsored by the Community Foundation of North Central Massachusetts.

Featured speakers for the March breakfast are Travis McCready, CEO of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center and Worcester County Sheriff Lew Evangelidis.  McCready joined the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center as the organization’s second President & CEO in October 2015. In this position, Mr. McCready is responsible for leading the ongoing implementation of the $1 billion Massachusetts Life Sciences Initiative, a public-private partnership that has contributed to Massachusetts’ emergence as the global leader in life sciences.  McCready directs and oversees the Center’s investment strategy, along with the agency’s operations, programs and partnerships.

Sheriff Evangelidis was elected Worcester County Sheriff on November 2, 2010, after having served eight years as a state representative. In his role as sheriff, he serves as the highest law enforcement official for the largest county in Massachusetts with 60 towns and over 800,000 residents.  Since taking office, he has focused his efforts on improving the professionalism of the department and implementing education and drug prevention initiatives as ways to keep youth out of the jails.

The Good Morning North Central series is a high-profile, fast-paced and educational program geared towards executives, senior managers, professionals and small business owners.  Each of the programs has a business-oriented focus and features popular speakers to present on topics of interest to local business and community leaders.

Don’t miss the region’s best morning gathering.  The cost is just $25 for Chamber members/$40 non-members and includes a breakfast buffet.  Season Tickets are also available for purchase.  Pre-registration is required. For more information or to register, please contact the Chamber at 978-353-7600 ext. 235 or visit www.northcentralmass.com

The North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce is pleased to announce that the Massachusetts Gaming Commission and the DoubleTree by Hilton will be the featured presenters at the next “A Chance to Meet the Buyer” program.  This installment of the quarterly series will be held on Wednesday, February 17, 2016 from 8:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m., at the Chamber offices, 860 South Street, Fitchburg, MA.

The “A Chance to Meet the Buyer” program provides small businesses the opportunity to connect with purchasing managers from larger companies or organizations.  The program provides an opportunity for large businesses in our region to showcase best practices of their purchasing agents while offering suppliers a rare opportunity to connect with those large businesses.  Each quarter, purchasing managers from two larger organizations will provide brief backgrounds of their organization, requirements for supply qualification, methods and procedures of purchasing, and what opportunities there may be for smaller businesses.  Attendees are then afforded the opportunity to directly network with presenters and leave with key direct contact information for procurement personnel from presenting organizations.

The Massachusetts Gaming Commission oversees all gaming facilities in the Commonwealth, including compliance of the sites as well as all vendors and certification of vendors.  Needs of gaming facilities can range from facility supplies, food and beverage to property maintenance. Commissioner Bruce Stebbins most recently served as Business Development Administrator for the City of Springfield.  He also served two terms on the Springfield City Council from 2006 through the end of 2009.  Prior to joining the City’s Economic Development office, Commissioner Stebbins served as Senior Regional Manager for the National Association of Manufacturers in the New England region from 1999 through 2010.

Suzanne Farias, General Manager of the DoubleTree by Hilton, has been with the hotel for more than 20 years and can speak to the intricate details of the property’s management and vendor usage.  Recently renovated, the Leominster hotel offers14,000 sq.ft. of flexible function space, including a 7,800 sq. ft. Grand Ballroom and an outdoor garden pavilion.

The cost to attend is $20 for Chamber members/$40 non-members. For more information or to register, please contact the Chamber at 978-353-7600 ext. 235 or visit www.northcentralmass.com

Located in Clinton, Massachusetts,  Nypro A Jabil Company is a world-class leader in manufacturing precision plastic products for customers in the healthcare, packaging and consumer electronics industries.  When demand exceeded the capacity of its headquarters in Clinton Massachusetts, management began looking at locations to expand. As a global company with 25 dedicated facilities in 11 countries and more than 8,000 employees worldwide, Nypro could have gone anywhere. But the company wanted to stay local to its roots in North Central Massachusetts and ultimately selected a location down the street from its headquarters in Devens, Massachusetts.

“It was important that we keep a close connection to our history as well as the technical resources at our headquarters in Clinton.” said John Witkowski, general manager, Nypro Healthcare, Clinton. “North Central Massachusetts also has the skilled workforce that we needed to continue to grow and a reputation as the center for the plastics industry in the Northeast.”

The 200,000-square-foot modern manufacturing facility features a state-of-the-art training area, metrology lab, a fully digitized machine shop, environmentally controlled chambers, and a 60,000-square-foot, Class 8 clean room. The new facility offers a full selection of Nypro Healthcare services—from product development, mold design and build, to injection molding and automated assembly—for single-use and electro-mechanical Class I, II and III healthcare devices. This additional operational space increases Nypro Healthcare’s clean-room space by 60 percent in Massachusetts and provides for 100 new jobs for the region.

The North Central Massachusetts Development Corporation, the North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce, and Hometown Bank are holding two business workshops on January 12, 2016 aimed at assisting potential and existing entrepreneurs.

The free workshops are being held in cooperation with the Massachusetts Small Business Development Center (MSBDC), SCORE, City of Fitchburg, City of Leominster, and NewVue Communities (formerly Twin Cities CDC).

Both workshops will each run approximately two and a half hours and will be held at the North Central MA Chamber of Commerce, 860 South St., Fitchburg on Tuesday, January 12, 2016.

Session I: Fundamentals in Planning, Preparing, and Financing Your Business will run from 8:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. and will focus on evaluating and understanding the fundamentals of owning one’s own business.  Information on how to get started, where and how to get financing and the loan application process will be presented.  Registration begins at 8:00. Continental breakfast will be provided for all participants.  Presented by Roland Nutter, AdviCoach

Session II: Understanding the Purpose of Financial Statements and How They Can Help Determine the Health of Your Business will run from 11:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and will focus on understanding a balance sheet, income statement and cash flow statement.  The workshop will also explain how a small business owner can anticipate financial needs in order to operate his/her business more efficiently.  Registration begins at 11:00. Lunch will be provided for all participants. Presented by Robert C. Alario, CPA

To register, please contact Sandie Cataldo at 978-353-7600 ext. 232 or Cataldo@massweb.org or register online at northcentralmass.com.