The 2025 AIM Executive Forum with Governor Maura Healey turned out to be a full-throated celebration of the Massachusetts business community.

Sure, the main event was the Governor underscoring the need for business and government to continue to make progress on thorny issues such as housing, economic development, energy and transportation.

But the gathering of some 580 business leaders was also a cacophonous networking event, a place for AIM members to greet members of the governor’s cabinet and an opportunity for the AIM Board of Directors to have productive, private conversations with the state’s chief executive.

ABC Brand Videos

The Executive Forum featured the debut of two marketing videos awarded as part of an AIM initiative to companies throughout the commonwealth as part of an effort to promote economic inclusion.

The project, funded by a generous grant from the Eastern Bank Foundation, provided videos to 11 companies run by women, people of color, veterans and LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs.

The video’s shown at the Forum featured Rozki Rides of Springfield…

…and Commonwealth Kitchen of Boston

Governor Healey recognized both companies during her remarks.

Big Footprint

In introducing Governor Healey, Leslie Storms, US President for Orthopedics at Johnson & Johnson Medtech, said that J&J has “maintained and grown a significant footprint in the state over many decades.” That may be an understatement.

J&J employs 5,000 people across nine sites in Massachusetts with more than 1 million square feet of manufacturing, R&D. distribution, training and office space. The facilities include the J&J Orthopaedics company in Raynham, which is the global headquarters of the Spine division housing R&D teams across specialties like Sports Medicine, Knees, Shoulders, and Robotics; a heart-recovery business in Danvers, Peabody and Woburn that develops and manufactures life-saving cardiovascular devices; an Innovation Center in Cambridge, where the company collaborates with other innovators in the life sciences ecosystem to find the next generation of treatments and cures; J&J Innovative Medicine R&D in Lexington, Cambridge, and Boston; and MedTech Distribution Centers in Bridgewater and Woburn.

In 2023, J&J spent $1.7 billion with Massachusetts-based suppliers. Of that, $175 million was spent through J&J’s Supplier Diversity Program with small businesses and woman-, minority-, disabled-, and LGBTQ-owned businesses in Massachusetts.

Talk to Us

Scores of members stopped by the AIM video booth with Marketing Coordinator Alexis Knights to share their feelings about the association and about…well anything. We always love to hear from members. Look for Alexis and his video camera at AIM events throughout 2025.

Governor on Brooke Thomson

“I want, in particular, to thank Brooke Thomson for her leadership. Brooke has set a tone for that recognizes what is so true – your success is Massachusetts’ success. The work of business, of government – these aren’t separate, oppositional forces. We do our best when as work together. And I think one of the reasons we are coming off of maybe the most historic session in history in terms of what got accomplished was because AIM and you all were at the table with us.”