WBJ announces the 2021 Outstanding Women in Business

PHOTOS | MATT WRIGHT AND COURTESY OF BRISTOL MYERS SQUIBB 2021 Outstanding Women in Business

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Over the course of its 13-year history, the WBJ Outstanding Women in Business awards has evolved, changing with it who gets honored each year and why.

During the first few years, OWIB served as a sort of de facto business leader of the year or lifetime achievement awards. At the time, WBJ’s annual Business Leader of the Year awards did honor some women, but they were still largely dominated by male professionals. As the BLOY awards became more consistently gender diverse, OWIB began to honor a greater variety of women, particularly those who reached the point in their careers where they were mentoring younger professionals. Lately, those selected as winners have significant standing in their communities, and they are breaking new ground in their industries and companies.

[Click here to see the 2021 Outstanding Women in Business honorees]

This is all true of the 2021 honorees of the Outstanding Women in Business awards. This year marked one of the most competitive to date, as 64 women were nominated throughout the course of the last 12 months. The judging process is always highly competitive, but this class was particularly competitive, as nine nominees were within two cumulative judges’ points of the winners.

The women you will read about have changed the face of the construction industry in Central Massachusetts, are providing healing biopharma solutions around the globe, are expanding healthcare access, have brought the personal touch to the banking and legal industries, and are directing the billions made in revenue annually by a Worcester insurer toward community causes.

WBJ will further honor these women at the upcoming Outstanding Women in Business awards luncheon on Nov. 4 at Mechanics Hall in Worcester, which will be the second in-person WBJ event since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. If you feel comfortable attending this safe and socially distanced event, we invite you to join us. You can register here.