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

Many of the region’s locally operated banks have been growing and thriving over the past few years. But with James Paulhus at the helm, the fast-growing $1.4-billion UniBank for Savings has regularly topped them.

Under his leadership, UniBank has also continued doing a remarkable job of giving generously back to the community. Paulhus has headed UniBank since 2009, when he took over from long-time CEO Kenneth Redding. Before joining UniBank in 2005, Paulhus had been Central Massachusetts market president for Bank of America.

Paulhus has used his experience, power and influence to lead UniBank to total asset growth of more than 50 percent since 2009 — leading all other banks based in the region in asset gains. In a 2012 interview with the Worcester Business Journal, he cited tremendous growth in deposits as the reason. “We have grown deposits in every category by double digits,” he noted.

Capitalizing on this success, UniBank opened two new branches in 2012 and its 10th location this year in Grafton. Given his stellar performance over the past four years, expect Paulhus and UniBank to look for more new locations and continued asset and lending growth.

Joseph Salois: CEO, Atlas Distributing Inc., Auburn

John Prosser: Chairman, Seven Hills Foundation, Worcester

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

Charles Monahan: President, MCPHS University, 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

Fred Eppinger: President and CEO, The Hanover Insurance Group