Gail Carberry: President, Quinsigamond Community College, Worcester

Gail Carberry knows and loves community colleges. Now she’s now using her position to preserve and protect as much of system’s independence as possible.

The state has been pushing all 15 community colleges to centralize their reporting and accountability to Boston to better align them with workforce needs.

However, QCC’s STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) program has already been hailed by state officials as a model to prepare students for jobs in the rapidly changing workplace — especially in manufacturing. So the part of the centralization efforts that removed local governing boards and limited degree-transfer programs were seen as unnecessary changes for a school already delivering at a high level.

In her seventh year as QCC president, Carberry has managed record growth and expansion. She oversaw the opening of a now-robust Southbridge campus in 2009. In 2012, QCC announced plans to expand to downtown Worcester, with a health-careers campus in the former Telegram & Gazette building on Franklin Street.

“My mother herself persevered through a lifetime of debilitating rheumatoid arthritis, Carberry told the WBJ in 2010. “She inspired me to move forward.”

John Prosser: Chairman, Seven Hills Foundation, Worcester

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

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

Mary DeFeudis: Philanthropist and Volunteer, Northborough

P. Kevin Condron: Chairman and CEO, The Granite Group LLC, Concord, N.H.

Ralph Crowley Jr.: CEO, Polar Beverages, Worcester