Governor Baker welcomes 13 companies at the 11^th annual MassEcon Corporate Welcome Reception

Cambridge, MA Governor Charlie Baker has welcomed 13 companies, including seven from locations outside Mass., now doing business in the Commonwealth, at the 11^th annual MassEcon Corporate Welcome Reception.

The companies recognized at the offices of Sanofi Genzyme at 50 Binney St. represent 500-plus new jobs and expansion of more than 130,000 s/f of space, located in multiple regions of the state and involving life sciences, manufacturing, technology, beverage, printing, and health care.

It was the fifth year that Baker has welcomed the new companies at MassEcon’s event, which has been held by MassEcon for 11 years and sponsored by Sanofi Genzyme eight times.

“As I listened to the companies that were being welcomed, I could tell many of them are here because of the incredibly rich and diverse community of intellectual thinkers that we have,” governor Baker said. “A big part of our success as a Commonwealth has been this ability to retain the strength and the vitality and the vibrancy of local communities at the same time we continue to grow all these terrific intellectual assets that make us unique in many cases around the world.”

MassEcon executive director Peter Abair welcomed Baker, other state officials including secretary of Housing and Economic Development Michael Kennealy, and about 100 representatives of the companies being honored at the late-afternoon event overlooking the Charles River and Boston’s skyline from Kendall Sq. Alexandrea Real Estate, which owns the Sanofi Genzyme building among 6.4 million s/f of commercial lab and office space in the Commonwealth, and the engineering firm VHB were co-sponsors of the event.

“Wherever you see our MassEcon logo we were part of this incredible team of state partners,” Abair said, including the Massachusetts Office of Business Development, MassDevelopment, the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, and others.

MassEcon Chairman Stephen Flavin, vice president for Academic and Corporate Engagement at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, introduced Baker, noting that the Administration’s motto, “…making Massachusetts the best place to live, work, and raise a family,” is “a very powerful statement. His administration has worked hard to improve the economic prospects of families across Massachusetts.”

William Sibold, executive vice president and Head of Sanofi Genzyme, recalled that the company was a startup in Massachusetts in 1981 and said it is now the largest life sciences employer in the state.

“Part of being in a community is getting engaged in the community,” Sibold said. “We support over 90 nonprofit organizations in the Greater Boston area.”

The 13 companies honored yesterday were Aetna, of Connecticut, located in Wellesley; ePac Flexible Packaging in Boston; Festo, of Germany, in Billerica; Gelato, of Norway, in Waltham; Ground Effect Brewing Co. in Hudson; Humana, of Kentucky, in Boston, Kano, of the United Kingdom, in Framingham; Kephera Diagnostics in Framingham; ONTOFORCE, of Belgium, in Cambridge; Quarizmi, of Spain, in Cambridge; Quantexa, of the United Kingdom, in Boston; Salary Finance, of the United Kingdom, in Boston; and Servier Pharmaceuticals in Boston.