Investor Watch: October 16, 2025

If you only know them for the JBS diamond on manhole covers, there’s a lot to learn about John Bouchard & Sons.

MASSACHUSETTS

Managing Editor Kelly Barraza talks with a public policy expert about the $2 billion Mass Leads Act and interviews the senior vice president of Bostik North America about the company’s big expansion in Middleton.

UPPER MIDWEST

By attracting talented young workers, this 6-state region is shaking off the rust.

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In a LinkedIn post this week fresh from attending the 2025 conference of the Economic Developers Association of Canada in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Marta Russell, regional sales director for Site Selection saluted connecting with old friends and new ones, marveled at the “absolutely stunning” Canadian side of Niagra Falls, paid a memorable visit to Wayne Gretzky’s Winery & Distillery (“No. 99 delivers — highly recommend,” she wrote) and learned about the area’s large wine region just south of Toronto. “Here’s to continued learning, stronger partnerships and more cross-border collaboration,” she wrote.

Editor in Chief Adam Bruns had the pleasure of visiting that region as part of the Americas Competitiveness Exchange – ACE event that took place there in fall 2016. From that trip, he wrote about one of the area’s biodynamic vintners, Southbrook Organic Vineyards, and he wrote about Canada’s comparatively open immigration policy in the November 2016 story “Come On Over.”

Where opportunity takes off. Titusville’s workforce is shaped by aerospace and advanced manufacturing. Strong training partnerships produce talent ready for launch, and a coastal lifestyle keeps professionals here. In Titusville, your company gains more than employees. You gain a workforce built for growth, built for speed, and built for tomorrow. This is where business finds its momentum.

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Maps courtesy of DSIRE Insight

DSIRE, the Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency maintained by North Carolina State University’s NC Clean Energy Technology Center whose data are part of Site Selection’s annual Sustainability Rankings, this week announced a new Nuclear Energy Policy Dataset in order to keep up with the blossoming commercial nuclear business and policy scene nationwide.

“State-level momentum in nuclear energy continues to build in 2025, making it essential to have clear, accessible tracking,” said NCCETC Senior Policy Analyst Justin Lindemann. “Federal leadership sparked this growth, and now state governments and utilities are driving new action nationwide that is gaining by the year.”

Meanwhile, one of the issues nuclear energy may help solve — unprecedented large-load power demand — was the subject of a late September blog by NCCETC Senior Policy Analyst Rebekah de la Mora entitled “Large Load Customer Treatment: Recent State Action on Load Growth, Data Centers, and Generation Capacity.” The analysis features the map below showing the varied intensity of state actions and a breakdown of specific major actions in more than a dozen states. “Across the first half of 2025, the DSIRE Insight team found 33 states took some sort of action on large load customer treatment,” she writes, “with over 85 discrete actions.”

Photo courtesy of SmartFlower Solar

Tuesday, September 23, saw the debut of the SmartFlower solar installation as an anchor feature of the new Henderson Innovation Park in the East Texas town of Henderson. The five SmartFlowers are designed to track the sun throughout the day, opening and closing like a real flower. “Beyond renewable energy production, it serves as an inspirational branding beacon for prospective tenants and their employees and a STEM learning tool for local schools,” a release stated.

“We are proud to see Henderson lead the way by placing SmartFlower at the heart of its Innovation Park,” said SmartFlower President Mark Conroy. “It’s a statement to every company and visitor: Sustainability and innovation are not side projects — they’re front and center.” Henderson Economic Development Corp Executive Director Bret Gardella said, “The SmartFlower is more than a solar system — it’s a powerful symbol of what Henderson Innovation Park represents: energy, creativity and opportunity.”