Developer Becomes 'Part Of Fabric' Of Former Textile Towns, Spurs Change

by Jeffrey Steele, Forbes

Some of New England’s once-vibrant manufacturing hubs are enduring difficult times. The Massachusetts and New Hampshire bi-state region dubbed the Merrimack Valley is dotted with gateway cities that once were major contributors to the U.S. textile industry. For generations, they stood as anchors of a regional economy, serving their local wage earners while producing the clothing and other dry goods America relied upon.

Then the industry went elsewhere, and the once-pulsating plants fell silent.

Cities like Lawrence, Mass., home to 80,000, and Haverhill, Mass., where 64,000 people reside, are undergoing societal change. Yet they possess vast economic potential, in part because of the physical properties the textile industry left behind.

That’s where Sal Lupoli comes in.

President and CEO of Lawrence, Mass.-based Lupoli Companies, Sal Lupoli grew up in East Boston and went on to earn a degree from Northeastern University. He first made his name as the young entrepreneurial go-getter who, with brother Nick, founded Sal's Pizza in 1990. The beloved pizza company remains a crowd-pleasing go-to chain of 13 locations across the states of Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

A ground-breaking leader, Lupoli's passion is creating change in communities that need it most. And he's utterly passionate about Merrimack Valley cities of his native region.

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