Latest news with #Kavoogian

Boston Globe

Lasell president Eric Turner opens virtual reality lab to prepare students for the real world

Lasell also recently joined the CyberTrust Massachusetts nonprofit coalition, to offer students experience by exposing them to simulated cyberattacks. And the college is expanding training partnerships for surgical technologists that started with nearby Newton-Wellesley Hospital in 2022 and now includes 10 hospitals. Advertisement As someone whose career has been primarily in business, not academia, Turner understands the importance of providing students with a springboard for private-sector jobs. He was a State Street executive (and longtime Lasell board member) before striking out on his own as a business consultant for nearly 15 years. Then-president Michael Alexander asked him to join the college staff in 2017 to head up graduate studies. He eventually was promoted to provost and then was picked to replace Alexander when he retired in 2023. New undergrad enrollment rose 8 percent last fall from the previous year, in part because of the new career training options and a significant tuition reduction. (Total undergrads today: around 1,200.) Lasell is also expanding its career training programs for people who already have a college degree. 'We will continue to evolve our offerings to meet the needs of the market,' Turner said. 'We're small but we're agile, and that's our strength. That, and it's that we've got a culture here that's pretty entrepreneurial.' Advertisement Changing of the guard at Newton firm National Development just named its first chief executive, after more than four decades in business. New CEO Brian Kavoogian , one of five managing partners, said the firm is adopting a more traditional corporate management structure to coincide with the retirement in March of Ted Tye , the last of the three founders to leave. With Tye's departure, the transition to the next generation of managing partners will be complete. Cofounder Jack O'Neil retired in 2020 and Tom Alperin , who departed in 2022, died after a long illness last year. Kavoogian's responsibilities will essentially stay the same, and all corporate decisions will still be made by the managing partners. The remaining four will be Kavoogian, Ed Marsteiner (now president), Andrew Gallinaro (now chief investment officer), and Steve Kinsella (who will remain chief financial officer). Kavoogian said his job will still include maintaining relationships with investors and public officials and overseeing corporate and investment strategy. The managing partners wanted to adopt a more formal corporate structure to better reflect their current roles and responsibilities. 'It's a more clear message to the marketplace,' Kavoogian said. The Newton-based firm employs about 250 people, including roughly 75 who work for its Cranshaw Construction affiliate. National's Boston projects include the Ink Block complex in the South End and the tower on the Fort Point Channel occupied by Eli Lilly and Co. The firm will ramp up its senior housing development efforts this year, which include a project that will start soon in New Jersey, as well as some continued work on apartments and warehouses, while steering clear of lab buildings. Kavoogian said senior housing is ripe for growth after that sector came to a virtual standstill in the pandemic. Advertisement 'We expect to be very active developers of senior housing in the Northeast to meet the demand we see out there,' Kavoogian said. 'We're going to seize the moment.' Biogen CEO worries about 'policy risk' Running a biotech company means taking risks — deciding where to invest, for example, or what scientific targets to chase. However, the sector faces another kind of risk, with a new administration in charge in Washington. That's the message Biogen chief executive Chris Viehbacher conveyed to Governor Maura Healey during a Q&A session following her speech on Thursday at an Associated Industries of Massachusetts event in Waltham. The National Institutes of Health and other federal health agencies had just 'I guess instead of a question, maybe just a plea: You know, we face a lot of scientific and commercial risk, but we're now facing a lot more policy risk, particularly now with the uncertainty at the national level,' Viehbacher told the governor. 'Just yesterday, a number of critical meetings at the FDA, NIH, and CDC were canceled.' Viehbacher, who started out by thanking Healey for her support of continuing the state's funding for his sector, noted that Massachusetts is a big recipient of NIH research funds. He then added: 'It's a plea for ... regulatory and legislative stability in Massachusetts but we need your help in Washington because it's a pretty uncertain environment for our sector today.' Healey's response: 'We are here, 110 percent behind our life sciences companies. It's been an economic engine. It will continue to be an economic engine. And notwithstanding anything that happens at the federal level, know that we're all in.' Advertisement Takeda tops off new tower Bone-chilling temperatures couldn't keep the crowds away from Takeda 's Kendall Square campus last week to celebrate a milestone for the Japanese drugmaker's new R&D tower. More than 250 people braved 14-degree temps to witness the topping-off: A crane raised a ceremonial girder to rest 228 feet above the street, as a sole bagpiper played a majestic tune. Beyond being a big deal for Takeda, which is the state's largest life sciences employer and is relocating its Central Square workforce to Kendall Square, It also represents a resolution for one of the last empty parcels in or around Kendall Square. The site had been held back from development for close to two decades because of BioMed Realty finally Global Arts Live . After the obligatory cheers, the crowd was ushered into the lobby of one of Takeda's nearby buildings for speeches from BioMed executive and event emcee Sal Zinno , state Senator Sal DiDomenico , Takeda US president Julie Kim , Suffolk Construction chief executive John Fish , and Global Arts Live chief executive Connie Chin . Kim talked about the life-saving medicines that will likely be discovered someday in the roughly 600,000-square-foot building after her company moves in next year. Advertisement They didn't miss the opportunity to comment on the frigid temps. Fish praised the construction crews who are there six days a week, 18 hours a day, regardless of the weather, getting the job done. DiDomenico also praised all the 'brave souls' who came to cheer on the girder-raising during such extreme conditions. He was one of the few attendees who were not wearing a winter coat outside — just a suit jacket. Zinno, who wore warmer attire, took note of DiDomenico's sartorial choice, telling the crowd: 'He's a lot tougher than I am. He's the tough Sal in the room.' Jon Chesto can be reached at