Charles Monahan: President, MCPHS University, Worcester

Monahan

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The presence of MCPHS — formerly the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences — is unparalleled in downtown Worcester. And the local power and influence of its president, Worcester native Charles Monahan, may be unrivaled in higher education.

Over the past 14 years, the Boston-based graduate school has almost singlehandedly catalyzed a revitalization of downtown Worcester. Because the Worcester campus has less than 400 housing units and most MCPHS students aren't from the area, about 800 rent nearby. So last year, MCPHS bought 29 condominiums at North High Gardens on Salisbury Street and agreed to lease 26 under-development micro-apartments on Main Street.

Then last January, the school acquired a 3.5-acre property adjacent to its buildings in Lincoln Square and formerly owned by Morgan Construction Co., for $2.9 million. The school is redeveloping the site — which has two attached buildings totaling more than 90,000 square feet — into housing. Because of those moves and the school's $10-million renovation of the former Crowne Plaza Hotel, MCPHS is often viewed as both a school and an economic-development business.

Under Monahan's leadership the school has become a huge community resource. Because of Monahan's outstanding business and community leadership, the Worcester Business Journal named MCPHS the Corporate Citizen of the Year for 2013 in Central Massachusetts.

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James Paulhus: President and CEO, UniBank for Savings, Whitinsville

Michael O'Brien: City Manager, City of Worcester (Until Jan. 5, 2014)

Tim Murray: President and CEO, Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce

Jim McGovern: U.S. Rep., Worcester

David ‘Duddie’ Massad: Chairman, Commerce Bank & Trust, Worcester

William Manley: Founder and CEO, Calare Properties, Hudson

Gordon Lankton: Founder, Museum of Russian Icons and Gallery of African Art, Clinton

Warner Fletcher: Partner, Fletcher Tilton, Worcester

Gerald Fels: Trustee Emeritus, Nichols College, Dudley

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