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The Power 50 Class of 2019
Every year, WBJ compiles a list of the 50 most influential people in the Central Massachusetts economy. Those named to the list must not only hold a significant amount of power, but they must wield it in a way to have an outsized influence on the community. Members of the Power 50 can be CEOs, small business owners, college presidents, nonprofit leaders, volunteer heads of community projects and anyone who can use their influence to make change in Central Massachusetts. This year's Power 50 is detailed below. - Brad Kane, editor
2019 Power 50: Larry Lucchino
Lucchino, the former president and CEO of the Boston Red Sox, was all but given the keys to the city when the club’s Triple-A affiliate Pawtucket Red Sox and Worcester jointly announced last August the team would move to the Canal District in 2021
2019 Power 50: Cliff Rucker
Rucker became an instant major player in the Central Mass. economy in 2015 when he announced the return of Worcester minor league hockey, and he hasn’t let up since.
2019 Power 50: Troy Siebels
Siebel’s vision for a pedestrian-friendly, culture-centric downtown Worcester took another step closer to reality in March when the city began the remaking of Carroll Plaza.
2019 Power 50: Stephanie Ramey
As the second-ever executive director of Discover Central Mass., Ramey is tasked with the difficult proposition of turning a good idea into a great agency.
2019 Power 50: Angela Bovill
Ascentria has come a long way since Bovill joined the formerly named Lutheran Social Services nonprofit more than a decade ago, including the last six as its leader.
2019 Power 50: Tarek Elsawy, MD, FACP
If it seems like Reliant Medical Group has added new facilities across Central Massachusetts every few months, that’s because it practically has.
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2019 Power 50: Richard P. Burke
Fallon insures more people than ever, 22% more than it did when Burke became its leader in 2016.
2019 Power 50: Eric W. Dickson, MD
As the head of the largest employer in Central Massachusetts, Dickson has an ability to affect the livelihoods of thousands of people, to say nothing of all those who are treated at UMass Memorial Health Care hospitals in Worcester, Clinton, Leomi
2019 Power 50: Milka Njoroge, PharmD
As healthcare patients – and their insurers – want to age at home, agencies like Century Homecare have become an increasingly important part of the healthcare landscape.
2019 Power 50: Swati Elavia
Elavia is the reigning Small Business Person of the Year in Massachusetts for the U.S. Small Business Administration, due largely to the growth potential at Monsoon.
2019 Power 50: Mike Mahoney
Since 2012, Mahoney has been at the helm of medical device giant Boston Scientific, one of the largest companies in Mass., with 2,300 employees in the state and 32,000 worldwide.
2019 Power 50: Shacey Petrovic
Petrovic has taken a publicly traded company valued at $6.2 billion to new heights in a short amount of time.
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2019 Power 50: Valentin P. Gapontsev, Ph.D.
Despite a challenging year, Gapontsev's company IPG Photonics increased its revenues by 16% in 2018, hitting a record $1.46 billion.
2019 Power 50: Shantanu Gaur
At the 100-employee company Allurion, Gaur is leading a firm that’s already developed a weight-loss product used in 12 countries in Europe and the Middle East and treated 10,000 people.
2019 Power 50: Bruce Platzman
Platzman has led furniture manufacturing firm AIS for 30 years, including its move to a formerly vacant 537,000-square-foot building in Leominster in 2017 after operating out of several smaller buildings in Hudson.
2019 Power 50: Liora Stone
Liora Stone studied to become a nurse, but after she and husband Peter Stone founded Precision 31 years ago, she left the healthcare field to run the business operations of the sheet-metal component manufacturer.
2019 Power 50: Christina Andreoli
Andreoli has long combined her plethora of powerful contacts with an affable style to have a typically behind-the-scenes influence on the workings of the Central Massachusetts economy, whether it was in her early work at the City of Worcester or a
2019 Power 50: Charles F. “Chip” Norton
A significant player in downtown Worcester for the past four years, Norton expanded his reach over Central Massachusetts in the past year with the master planning and redevelopment of the 1.3-million-square-foot Southbridge Innovation Center, a 15
2019 Power 50: Denis P. Dowdle
Unlike virtually anyone else on this list, Dowdle’s power comes on how much he’s being relied on: by Worcester’s government, its taxpayers and the soon-to-be Worcester Red Sox.
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2019 Power 50: Timothy P. Murray
You can’t really talk about business in Worcester without mentioning Murray, who simultaneously serves as advocate, go-between and powerbroker.
2019 Power 50: Arthur G. Vigeant
With Vigeant’s pro-business tone, more than 20 companies have either expanded or moved to Marlborough in the past year.
2019 Power 50: Nick Capasso
Capasso has leveraged his position leading a respected cultural institution in a long-struggling city to push for a new type of redevelopment centered around his passion: art.
2019 Power 50: Edward M. Augustus Jr.
As CEO of Worcester’s municipal government, Augustus has for five years used his influence to encourage development and policy to fulfill his vision of the second biggest city in New England becoming worthy of that title.
2019 Power 50: Sam Barber
When traffic and cannabis enthusiasts descended upon Leicester after the recreational side opened, Barber weathered the NIMBY storm and quelled those concerns after a few rough days.
2019 Power 50: Maureen & Robin Fabry
As craft breweries eye geographic and output expansions, the Fabrys focus on what brought consumers to the industry in the first place: high-quality beer.
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2019 Power 50: Paul Sellew
For his third act, Sellew led the creation of Little Leaf Farms in Devens, which has attracted widespread attention for its year-round technologically advanced, hands-off, nearly completely automated leafy greens growing facility.
2019 Power 50: Alec Lopez & Sherri Sadowski
Some of the best beer in the world is found in Worcester, and that’s thanks in large part to Lopez and Sadowski.
2019 Power 50: Shaleen Title
Title has quickly become one of the most recognizable figures in the Massachusetts cannabis industry.
2019 Power 50: Damien Goudreau, Nate Lanier & Dean Rohan
Although the founders of Tree House Brewing Co. prefer to stay out of the spotlight, their beer and business model have been making headlines for a few years now.
2019 Power 50: Carolyn Stimpson & Ralph, Jeff, Chris & David Crowley
Led by their fearless leader Ralph, the Crowley siblings are the braintrust behind Central Massachusetts’ most iconic manufacturer in Polar Beverages.
2019 Power 50: F. Javier Cevallos
Ecuador-born and Puerto Rico-raised, Cevallos has been proactive in bringing more diversity to Framingham State in a city that itself is much more diverse than it used to be.
2019 Power 50: Susan West Engelkemeyer, Ph.D.
As the pool of traditional college applicants has dwindled, the business-focused college has held its own under the leadership of Engelkemeyer, its president since 2011.
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2019 Power 50: Laurie Leshin
Leshin has led WPI since 2014, a time during which the school has built the $49-million Foisie Innovation Studio and Messenger Hall.
2019 Power 50: Roy M. Nascimento, CCE, IOM
As the head of the second largest chamber of commerce in Central Mass., Nascimento has built up clout with his 800 member businesses.
2019 Power 50: AiVi Nguyen
When she was promoted to a partner at age 31 in 2016, Nguyen became the youngest partner in Bowditch's 105-year history.
2019 Power 50: Luis G. Pedraja
If any of QCC’s 13,000 students need a figure to exemplify the educational and career path many will take, they can look to their president.
2019 Power 50: Alan Ritacco
Ritacco is the dean of Becker's 600-student-plus School of Design & Technology, making him the leader of a program putting Becker on the forefront of a new era of video games.
2019 Power 50: Mike Angelini
Angelini’s defining quality may be he doesn’t like to sit on the sidelines.
2019 Power 50: Ernie Herrman
Take a look at TJX’s performance these days under Herrman, and you’d never know brick-and-mortar retail is facing nearly an existential crisis.
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2019 Power 50: Stephen MacMillan
The board of directors at Hologic knows it has a star executive in MacMillan.
2019 Power 50: Sue Mailman
ailman employs more than 550 people, and her 134-year-old firm has a reach extending throughout New England and into New York.
2019 Power 50: Robert J. Morton
Banks are still looking to take advantage of size efficiencies, and Morton is leading one such merger now.
2019 Power 50: Tina M. Sbrega
In September, GFA became the first – and remains the only – financial institution to offer banking services to the legal marijuana industry.
2019 Power 50: Doug Petersen
Eight years after becoming Workers Credit Union’s president and CEO, Petersen has taken the Fitchburg-based institution to $1.8 billion in assets.
