It's the end of an era in Marlborough, Massachusetts, a onetime big location for Fidelity Investments [profile] that now attracts a different industry.

Susanne Morreale-Leeber, the longtime president and CEO of the Marlborough Regional Chamber of Commerce, is retiring at the end of August, the Worcester Business Journal reports. Morreale-Leeber, who has led the organization for 27 years, reportedly "played an integral role in bringing Fidelity Investments to Marlborough" decades ago. She recalls that Fidelity was one of the first big companies to come to town.

Fidelity eventually had upwards of 3,000 employees in Marlborough, and in the early aughties the Boston Behemoth was expanding its presence in the Boston suburb to accommodate 5,000 employees. Yet by 2011 Fidelity's Marlborough workforce shrunk to 1,100, and in 2012 Fidelity sold the campus while shifting the jobs to existing locations in New Hampshire and Rhode Island, much to the chagrin of Massachusetts lawmakers.

Morreale-Leeber joined the Marlborough chamber in 1987 as membership director, and in 1991 she rose to president and CEO. Since then its membership has grown, from 165 organization then to 470 now. She tells the WBJ that the Chamber is in the best spot it's been in two decades. The paper notes that the area now "is home to some of the largest biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies in the Northeast," including: Boston Scientific, GE Healthcare, Hologic, Oxford Immunotec, Quest Diagnostics, RXi Pharmaceuticals, and Sunovion Pharmaceuticals.

"So, it is time," Morreale-Leeber tells the paper. "I have family across the United States and my grandchildren are growing up. I'd love to go visit them more often."

The chamber is hosting a retirement party for Morreale-Leeber on May 10 at the Best Western Royal Plaza in Marlborough. RSVPs by this coming Monday, April 30. 

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


Stay ahead of the news ... Sign up for our email alerts now
CLICK HERE