By Brooke Thomson
President & CEO

Massachusetts business leaders navigating an increasingly uncertain world must remain focused on innovating, collaborating and exerting the type of leadership that lifts up workers and brings them along on a company’s journey.

That was the common thread as 500 Massachusetts business leaders gathered on Thursday for the 110^th AIM Annual Meeting. The event celebrated the role of employers in creating economic opportunity for the people of Massachusetts.

AIM honored Julie Kim, President of Takeda’s U.S. Business Unit and U.S. Country Head, with the 2025 Vision Award for contributions to the cause of economic opportunity in Massachusetts.  The association also recognized House Speaker Ronald Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka for their efforts to pass Massachusetts’ new wage equity and transparency law, and Way Finders, which has built more than 800 affordable housing units in 24 developments across western Massachusetts.

“We are in a moment at which the landscape is shifting at such a dizzying pace due to both positive and negative forces that some days it feels hard to steady ourselves, let alone our employees and those who rely upon the products and services produced by the 3,400 companies affiliated with AIM,” Ms. Kim said in a keynote address.

“The external pressures on our businesses are immense, from executive orders to continued global instability to rapid technological advancements. These are not factors we can control yet we need to devise paths forward despite them because we will all be impacted by them either directly or indirectly.”

Ms. Kim said that managing through disruption requires thee “Cs” – caring leadership, clarity of purpose and courage to innovate. Regarding innovation, she said the current uncertainty “might require us to think about more non-traditional public/private partnerships, potentially with organizations that we may not normally consider. It could involve leveraging ideas across sectors. And it will certainly require us to utilize advanced technology, such as applied artificial intelligence, one of three core growth areas of investment in the MassLeads Act.”

Senate President Spilka and Speaker Mariano led the Legislature last year in passing a law that made Massachusetts a leader nationally in pay equity and transparency – all without overburdening employers. The law requires public and private employers with 25 or more employees to disclose pay ranges in job postings and employers with 100 or more employees to submit wage data for aggregate wage reports.

AIM and other major business organizations supported the law. Speaker Mariano and Senate President Spilka deserve tremendous credit for passing a balanced law that will help Massachusetts attract talented workers who want to know they will be treated fairly.

The Latimer Award cited Springfield-based Way Finders for bringing home stability to people across Western Massachusetts.

Founded in 1972, the organization provides a range of services from emergency financial housing assistance and support for renters to help for those facing foreclosure. Way Finders also enables economic mobility by helping individuals reach their goals for employment and homeownership.

“We talk about housing, but it’s really about homes. It’s where we start each day, where we end each day. It’s where we go for comfort, it’s where we go to heal. It’s where we go to grow. It’s where we go to learn. And so our homes are essential to our success, our economic success, our wellbeing, our success in life overall,” said Way Finders CEO and AIM board member Keith Fairey.

Lt. Governor Kim Driscoll delivered opening remarks and said Massachusetts would continue through changes to federal policy to pursue the excellence that has led to top rankings in areas such as health care, education and innovation. She noted that the Mass Leads Act is already creating good jobs in climate technology, biosciences and artificial intelligence.

“The bottom line is that these companies are going to be about big solutions and good jobs,” Ms. Driscoll said.