The Boston Globe named Gloucester to the 2017 Game Changers list! “Bright ideas and breakthroughs, inventions and innovations, people and places making waves in the Boston area.” This story was in a Boston Globe real estate section because the Gloucester Marine Genomics Institute “recently received $2.7 million in state capital funding for its waterfront marine genomics research laboratory, which could be leased soon and occupied by next year, says executive director Chris Munkholm.”
Where will they land?
See the latest 2017 Game Changers list
Latest Game Changers 2017 headlines
SPORTS
Tiger Shaw is helping heat up New England’s snow sports scene
He greenlighted the US Ski and Snowboard Association’s involvement in Big Air at Fenway, and helped bring World Cup ski racing back to the region.
REAL ESTATE
Quincy Center breaks out with housing, restaurants, other development
The downtown of the South Shore makes its long-awaited comeback.
MEDIA
It takes a village to publish a book. Just ask JP bookstore Papercuts.
The shop owner and her only full-time employee founded Cutlass Press at the tiny store last year.
PUBLIC POLICY / GOVERNMENT
50 years later, City Hall Plaza is cool
With the opening of Boston Winter, the city may finally have figured out how to make the plaza a year-round attraction.
REAL ESTATE
Innovation + Design = Success
At the forefront of the transformation of the Seaport District, the Innovation & Design Building lives up to its name.
ARTS
With a renovation, BPL transforms not only the building, but its attitude
Major renovation project meant to make the library the hub of the Hub.
REAL ESTATE
Follow the money — to Chelsea
Boston’s commercial and residential development boom spills across the Tobin Bridge.
FINANCE
Harvard’s $36 billion man
The university’s new endowment head, N.P. Narvekar, needs to reverse a decade of mediocre performance.
PUBLIC POLICY / GOVERNMENT
Bright ideas for a graying population
Jan Mutchler of UMass Boston is leading the movement to make the city more conducive to healthy aging.
TECHNOLOGY
Siri, watch your back
Alexa finds voice in Massachusetts. Amazon’s increasingly popular personal assistant draws heavily on area’s technology talent.
HEALTH CARE
A Boston surgeon takes a stand
Dr. Dennis Burke was a star orthopedic surgeon at a prestigious hospital. But one of the hospital’s practices nagged at him.
ARTS
How the MFA got into the overnight dance party game
With a new director in place, the museum saw an opportunity to attract new audiences.
REAL ESTATE
Fish are Gloucester’s past — and its future
As the longtime seaport reinvents itself, the hope is to tie into local maritime history, but with year-round jobs in science and tourism.
TECHNOLOGY
Seeing the future of home security at Immedia Semiconductor
The Andover company expands beyond surveillance cameras and challenges industry leaders.
REAL ESTATE
A tiny house with an extra-large impact
In addressing the statewide housing crunch, a Nantucket resident shows the wisdom of starting small.
PUBLIC POLICY / GOVERNMENT
PharmaLogics Recruiting discovers the bonuses of big raises
The Quincy company’s CEO gave her 35 entry-level employees a 33 percent raise at the beginning of 2016.
ARTS
Artist Stephen Knapp paints with light
His work is increasingly in demand, changing what people think public space is and can be.
HEALTH CARE
Commonwealth Care Alliance’s health care solution for at-risk populations
The Boston-based insurer and care provider has begun to find success treating a complex population of patients, including those struggling with chronic diseases and addiction.
BIOTECH
In life sciences and biotech, incubators are hot
Early-stage startups find secure, well-funded launching pads in Massachusetts.
BIOTECH
In Cambridge, a step forward in the race to end Alzheimer’s
Biogen Inc. has emerged as a front-runner in the global race to make the first drug to treat the memory-ravaging neurodegenerative disease.
PHILANTHROPY
Tech startups pledge to spread the wealth
Starting at the pre-IPO stage, global movement promotes corporate philanthropy, a little at a time.
PUBLIC POLICY / GOVERNMENT
At MIT, there is such a thing as a free ride
MIT took innovative steps last year to dissuade its employees from driving to work.
PHILANTHROPY
Michael Bloomberg hasn’t forgotten Boston, and his recent donations show it
The multibillionaire son of Medford gives back — and then some. Just ask the Museum of Science and Harvard University.
PUBLIC POLICY / GOVERNMENT
She brings GE to life — in Boston
Ann Klee overcame the “big hairy challenge” of the company’s relocation and is now overseeing development of its new headquarters.
MEDIA
Ed Ansin changes the channel, but still has the signal
When NBC didn’t renew its deal with Channel 7, Ansin decided to start an independent station.
PHILANTHROPY
On the waterfront, the Barr Foundation jumps in
Haphazard development along Boston Harbor has drawn widespread criticism — and, from the powerful foundation, funding to mitigate its effects.
REAL ESTATE
When tenants get into trouble, a new city office can help
Boston’s Office of Housing Stability makes a difference, one tenant at a time.
REAL ESTATE
Homes for the middle class — in Southie (!)
Developer Dave Pogorelc sets his sights on transforming the area around Andrew Square.
POLITICS
For better or worse, Corey Lewandowski broke the political mold
Donald Trump’s original campaign manager stomped on convention, rules, and protocol, wasn’t allowed to finish out the campaign, and still ended up a winner.
TECHNOLOGY
Fusing tech and construction at Suffolk
John Fish has redoubled his efforts to use technology to transform his construction company.
BIOTECH
Indigo Agriculture looks to make agriculture a growth industry
Can microbial coatings mean seeds that are drought and pest-resistant?
ARTS
Will musicians and singers make bank from a new system?
Transparency for artists — and faster payments — is the goal of the Berklee College-inspired Open Music Initiative.
MEDIA
RadioPublic looks to build a better podcast
Veteran broadcast executive Jake Shapiro brings a fresh take to the radio of the future.
PUBLIC POLICY / GOVERNMENT
A win for the little guy in battle over alcohol laws
Nashoba Valley Winery’s Rich Pelletier took on the power of the state — and got it to back down.
POLITICS
Treasurer Deb Goldberg looks to make pot golden for state
The Massachusetts treasurer wants to keep the regulatory reins over the nascent marijuana industry.
SPORTS
How ‘old school’ Dave Dombrowski boldly revived the Red Sox
The new team president follows a different path than Theo Epstein, but still delivers the wins.
PUBLIC POLICY / GOVERNMENT
How an undocumented UMass Boston student started a scholarship for others
Renata Teodoro hopes the scholarship offers more than financial support to students brought here illegally as children.
ARTS
Boston’s street art is hitting a growth spurt. Here’s the man behind it.
Whether he’s creating a public mural or pushing a mobile art wall, Cedric Douglas takes art to the streets — and the suburbs.
TECHNOLOGY
This battery has twice the power and won’t catch fire? Believe it.
A Woburn startup develops lithium-ion batteries that can’t explode, and last longer.
TECHNOLOGY
Consultants get in on the gig economy
Expertise on demand gives clients and consultants the pluses of freelance flexibility without long-term commitment.
BIOTECH
An MIT transparency advocate shakes up genetic engineering
One MIT professor fights Lyme disease with mice.
BIOTECH
What if we built our own genome?
Writing DNA from scratch is the aim of a new scientific project organized in part by Harvard geneticist George Church.
TECHNOLOGY
This Boston startup is putting us on the fast track to self-driving cars
On the streets of Boston, nuTonomy offers a look at the future, complete with autonomous vehicles.
HEALTH CARE
Fitness monitor makes the big leagues
Major League Baseball players can Whoop themselves into shape now that the device is approved for wear during games.
PUBLIC POLICY / GOVERNMENT
A pivot point for pot in Massachusetts
Legal marijuana creates opportunity for industry insiders like 4Front’s Kris Krane, but uncertainties remain.
HEALTH CARE
Virtual reality gets into the game against concussions
Several college football teams adopt Boston-based SyncThink’s diagnostic technology.
In 2014 another Boston Globe article by Billy Baker “Gloucester looks to balance fishing with tourism” and this one from 2011 by Derrick Jackson Gloucester 2.0
Good Morning Gloucester 