Directors of the Blackstone Valley Chamber of Commerce undoubtedly knew soon after hiring Jeannie Hebert as president and CEO fourteen years ago that they had made the right choice.

This has become ever more apparent since 2008, as Ms. Hebert lifted the Whitinsville-based organization to new heights.

 Ms. Hebert serves as moderator of a panel discussion on manufacturing at the Hogan Campus Center at the College of the Holy Cross on May 10.

Drawing on an already established familiarity with the Worcester-area business scene and the solid rapport she had forged with state and federal legislators, Ms. Hebert set to work raising the Chamber’s profile and influence. She put economic development at the top of her agenda, and set about reaching out to the partners across the region and the Commonwealth who would help her achieve the Chamber’s objectives.

In recognition of all that she has achieved, Ms. Hebert was honored as the Worcester Business Journal’s “Manufacturing Champion” award winner during a ceremony held in the Hogan Campus Center at the College of the Holy Cross on May 10th.

She was in good company in that regard. Also celebrated at the event were such high-octane companies as Solvus Global (Rising Star Manufacturer), Burkart-Phelan Inc. (Top Product Design & Innovation), Ascend Elements Inc. (Green Manufacturing), Bristol Myers Squib (Workforce Development & Productivity), Waters Corp. (Collaboration in Manufacturing) and Catania Oils (Manufacturer of the Year).

In her keynote address to an audience that included local titans of commerce from a variety of fields, Christine Nolan compared the ramp-up of U.S. production following the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 to a similar resurgence that took place in response to the onset of the Covid-19 virus in 2020. Ms. Nolan, who is director of the Massachusetts Center for Advanced Manufacturing with the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, noted that when the coronavirus struck, an emergency response team mobilized by Gov. Charlie Baker immediately began manufacturing “hospital gowns, masks, face shields and ventilators”—a plethora of “PPE” materials.

Ms. Hebert played an active role in this process.

The initiative that sprang from the ensuing pandemic has not slowed, but rather accelerated, Ms. Nolan told her audience. Soon, she said, the state will be launching “a new brand, ‘MassMakes,’”which she described as new technology to help for- and nonprofit companies continue to do their important work “effectively.”

Ms. Hebert and the Blackstone Valley Chamber of Commerce fit nicely as part of this scenario.

Through Ms. Heberts’s guidance, the WBJ pointed out in a pamphlet distributed at its “Summit,” the Blackstone Valley Chamber created a non-profit agency called the Central Massachusetts Center for Business and Enterprise (CMCBE) that connects businesses to organizations, state agencies and directors. The CMCBE also provides free business counseling, financial analysis and legal assistance to the small business community.

The WBJ further observed that Ms. Hebert “has been instrumental in securing over $1 million in grants to build the Blackstone Valley Education Hub.” A workforce training school located in the Chamber’s Linwood Mill building, the Ed Hub “offers classes focused on advanced manufacturing. These certificate courses in OSHA, MACWIC, NIMS, CAD, Welding, Robotics, Electronics, Shop Math, Blueprint Reading and more are offered to students of all ages throughout Central Massachusetts to help close the work-skills gap.”

Ms. Hebert’s part in the proceedings at the Hogan Campus Center was not limited to the award she received. She also moderated a panel discussion featuring Joseph Basile of Catania Oils, Eric Gratz of Ascend Elements, Odile Smith of Bristol Myers Squibb and Dan Welch of Waters Corp.

In acknowledging receipt of the Manufacturing Champion award, Ms. Hebert thanked “Melissa Kane, an amazing grant writer,” other key members of her organization, and “the many collaborators and partners and students” who have made the Ed Hub possible. The students, she said, “came to us with no confidence and they couldn’t get into the voke system.”

Dubbed “the queen of collaboration,” Ms. Hebert used the WBJ Summit to announce additional strides the Blackstone Valley Chamber will be taking in the near future.

“We will be building an electronics and robotics lab,” she said.

Reflecting on the success of her efforts to put education and workforce development at the forefront, Ms. Hebert said “one naysayer said to me ‘this is not going to happen.’ But I’m a dreamer; and, looking out at all of you, I see that you are too.”

 

Contact Rod Lee at [email protected] or 774-232-2999.