Since 2005: More than you really want to know about Wellesley, Mass.
Top employers in Wellesley, Mass., not including the town itself. In 2024, the top 5 employers remained the same as 9 years ago, and most of the employers on the top 10 list have more or about the same number of employees as they did 9 years ago (Roche Bros. had the biggest decline). This data comes from the town’s FY24 financial report.
The town of Wellesley had 1,314 full-time equivalent employees, a number that has risen by close to 90 over the past 10 years.
The Wellesley Organized Academic Workers (WOAW-UAW), the union representing Wellesley’s non-tenure track faculty, has agreed to end its strike, while continuing negotiations toward a final contract. The 300 non-tenured academics walked off the job on March 27. Their demands include maintaining a four-course workload for its members, and an increase in both salary and job security.
Striking faculty will return to classes on April 25.
“We are grateful to the WOAW-UAW’s bargaining team and members for coming to this decision. While the strike is ending, the critical work of negotiating a final contract that recognizes the significant contributions of our NTT faculty is continuing. Our next bargaining session is April 28,” College administration leaders said in a memo on the College’s unionization website.
For the past few weeks, union members and supporters that included tenured faculty and students held signs in front of Wellesley College’s pedestrian entrance at the corner of Central Street and Weston Road. The College maintained a visible police presence there, and at other entrances to the highly selective women’s college.
Union bargaining committee leadership in an update letter said, “As the semester comes to a close, we are ending our current strike and will return to the classroom tomorrow for the last week of class, with our strength established and our community stronger than ever. While we are returning to work, the fight is not over. We have yet to reach a final agreement, and we will not be worn down by Wellesley’s anti-worker tactics.”
MORE: Wellesley non-tenured faculty member strike begins (March 27, 2025 coverage)
His name is Dwight Rogers, but everyone calls him “Smitty.” He’s worked with the Town of Wellesley for 50 years, clocking in for the first time on Jan. 8, 1975, when he was 21 years old. And today the Water and Sewer Division general foreman was celebrated for his long tenure with a breakfast at the Department of Public Works attended by family, friends, and co-workers.
Just don’t call it a retirement breakfast. No way. Smitty has worked hard every day and has no interest in kicking back. Simply put, he loves his job. What he doesn’t like is the limelight, and didn’t want to be quoted for this story. That’s OK, there were plenty of people willing to weigh in on the consummate professional and workhorse extraordinaire.
Beth Hinchcliffe says those who know him call him “a townie in the absolutely best sense—he was born and grew up here, went to Wellesley High School, married fellow WHS-er Denise Montanari, and (at 71) they still live here in the same neighborhood where he grew up. He loves Wellesley.”
Town executive director Meghan Jop, who has known Smitty since she started working for the town 23 years ago, counts him and his wife Denise as family and say he’s, “One of the nicest, kindest people you’ll ever meet.”
Dave Cohen, DPW director, chimes in, “Congratulations to Smitty on this impressive milestone! It’s my pleasure to recognize Smitty for his 50 years of service, dedication and loyalty to the Town of Wellesley and for his ongoing commitment to ensuring successful operation of our water and sewer systems.”
And Denise, who always keeps it real, says 52 years of marriage with Smitty have “been a true adventure. He always thinks of everyone else but himself. Anyone who needs help, he’s always there.”
Smitty has also been everywhere the water is. A proclamation read by Jop during last night’s Select Board meeting outlined his accomplishments over the years. From his start in 1975, he rose through the ranks to become Wellesley’s water treatment plant operator in 1981. From there he became general foreman in 1988. In every capacity he’s worked in, Smitty has provided front-line supervision, oversight, maintenance, and on-call service for all town water treatment issues. (“Some say he’s never without a wrench in his hands,” Jop said.)
During his tenure as “Clerk of the Works,” Smitty oversaw the construction of three water treatment plants from 1997-1998 at Morses Pond, Longfellow, and Wellesley Ave., and he currently oversees all Town wells including four new ones at the Morses Pond water treatment plant. He was a key contributor to connecting Wellesley to the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority in 1988, and was instrumental in upgrading the MWRA Hegarty booster station, increasing the capacity by over one million gallons per day.
Remember the Blizzard of 1978? Smitty does, and he’s the last remaining DPW employee who worked that historic storm. And all the other storms to follow, getting up and out on the roads at 2am to plow whenever needed. He’s even received an award from the Massachusetts Water Works Association as an outstanding water employee.
“He is very humble,” Hinchcliffe said, “but I think it’s really extraordinary, in these times of people moving from town to town and not creating roots, that he is so happy with ‘the privilege’ of working for his hometown and its people.”
“He’s very, very, proud, in a good way,” Denise said.
Humble. Hardworking. Proud. Still waters run deep, indeed, in the soul of Smitty Rogers.
A good place to work is hard to find. If you’re looking for employment in a beautiful suburb close to Boston, consider Wellesley.
The Town of Wellesley is seeking candidates for 10 part-time, full-time, and seasonal positions across multiple departments. The town is currently seeking school crossing guards for the 2024-25 school year; a transportation and mobility manager; a 911 dispatcher; and more.
The Wellesley public schools system has a job board separate from the town’s listings, which currently describes. 50 part-time and full-time positions across multiple departments. A school district registrar; special needs van drivers; and a crisis interventionist are needed.
Both job listing boards are updated frequently, so if you don’t immediately see a position that meshes with your skill set, check back soon.
The Town of Wellesley is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. Prospective employees will receive consideration without discrimination because of race, creed, color, sex, age, national origin, disability, veteran status or sexual orientation.
Two local organizations are celebrating recent grants that will help them fulfill their missions to aid STEM job seekers and to feed the hungry, respectively.
Thanks to a state Workforce Competitiveness Trust Fund grant worth $1,245,292, Wellesley’s STEMatch will provide training and placement services to 130 unemployed and underemployed participants for Computer and Information Analyst, Computer Support Specialist, Software and Web Developer, Programmer, and Tester positions. STEMatch will partner with the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Azenta Life Sciences, Mimecast, MKS Instruments, Vest Technical Solutions, the Massachusetts High Technology Council, the Advanced Cyber Security Center, Franklin Cummings Technical Institutes Bay Community College, North Shore Community College, and Northern Essex Community College.
The Healey-Driscoll Administration announced $15.9 million in workforce development grant funding for 22 initiatives across Massachusetts.
Centre Street Food Pantry, a regional food relief agency located in Newton, has announced that it received a community investment grant from The Greater Boston Food Bank. The $9,525 grant will allow CSFP to purchase new refrigerators, which will have an immediate impact on Centre Street’s “No Child Hungry This Summer” campaign.
Through the campaign, Centre Street will provide its clients with children an additional bag of fresh food suitable for children’s lunches each time they visit the pantry. The additional bag will include milk, sandwich rolls, cheese, deli meat, and fruits.
Food insecurity in the region remains stubbornly high and continues to grow. Even after the exponential growth during the pandemic, Centre Street is now serving 20% more people this year than last year. Centre Street Food Pantry is available to residents of Brookline, Needham, Newton, Waltham, Watertown and Wellesley, serving an average of 1,100 households per month that includes over 4,000 people.
