2021 Power 50: The most influential people in the Central Mass. economy
Photo | Matthew Wright
The 2021 Power 50 included (from left) Winfield Brown from Heywood Healthcare, Debora Jackson from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and Bo Menkiti from the Menkiti Group
Power dynamics in the Central Massachusetts business community made two major shifts in 2021, due to the two major events upending the entire global community.
First came the coronavirus pandemic, which placed new emphasis on health care, public health, and attempts to prevent the most vulnerable in a time of crisis, all while business and industry found ways to survive and thrive under tight restrictions.
Then, the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police brought the complex problem of institutional racism to the forefront of the public consciousness, which led Central Massachusetts business leaders to think more about diversity, equity and inclusion in their own workplace cultures, as well as to address the larger problems plaguing society.
This turmoil rewrote the story of who holds the power in the Central Massachusetts economy and – most importantly – who effectively wielded that power in the past year to have an outsized influence on the community.
[To see the entire list of the Power 50, Class of 2021 click here]
Certainly, healthcare executives and diversity & inclusion advocates rose in prominence and position in the past 12 months, but even moreso, these issues seeped into every aspect of life in the region.
As a result, WBJ’s Power 50 this year reflects perhaps the biggest year-over-year change in who the power brokers and influencers are in the region since WBJ started doing a version of this feature back in 2013. Eric W. Dickson, MD – the head of UMass Memorial Health – is on the list this year, per the usual, but he is joined by first-time Power 50 Lou Brady and Steve Kerrigan, who lead Worcester’s two community health centers and whose work was important in helping disadvantaged populations. Fred Taylor’s inclusion this year marks the first time WBJ has recognized the long important work of the NAACP, and he is joined by people who advocate for better gender and racial diversity in the workplace, including Celia Johnston Blue, Stacey Luster, and Valerie Zolezzi-Wyndham.
In line with previous years, the WBJ Editorial team considered more than 800 local professionals for the Power 50 this year, in deciding how to tell the story of how power is held and used in the Central Massachusetts economy. Each profile contributes to the larger picture of power dynamics in the region, and how those are constantly shifting.
See the entire list of the Power 50, Class of 2021
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