WBJ expands influential list to Power 100, seeks ideas from readers

A collage of nine of the WBJ Power 50 for 2023

Collage | Brad Kane The Power 50 for 2023 included (top row, from left) Parth Chakrabarti, Shruti Miyashiro, Joshua Croke; (middle row, from left) Tuyet Tran, William Kelleher, IV, James Umphrey, Meredith Harris; (bottom row, from left) Patrick Dwyer, Grace Elton, Girish Navani

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Worcester Business Journal’s annual list of the most influential professionals in Central Massachusetts is doubling in size.

The annual Power 50 feature will become the Power 100, starting in 2024. The feature identifies the region’s leaders who most valuably wield their power to have an outsized influence on the economy and community.

WBJ is now soliciting ideas from readers on who to include in the Power 100 for 2024. Email those ideas to Editor Brad Kane at bkane@wbjournal.com by Jan. 31.

“Since WBJ first developed its power players list in 2014, this annual feature has become the authoritative resource detailing the main people shaping the Central Massachusetts economy,” Kane said. “Whether they are a CEO of a Fortune 500 company, a small business owner with important community connections, or an entrepreneur working on the next big thing, the Power 100 are the people you need to know in order to most effectively do business in the region.”

The list is doubling in size for 2024 and the foreseeable future due to its popularity and to give more opportunities to include worthy movers and shakers in the region's business community, said Kane.

"The hardest part about developing the Power feature every year are the many, many influential professionals who are left on the cutting room floor," he said. "We consider thousands of people each year, and making those final cuts down to the top 50 is excruciating. The expansion to Power 100 also gives us the opportunity to highlight often overlooked professionals and sectors of the Central Mass. economy."

Professionals previously listed as the most influential include:

Michael Angelini, attorney from law firm Bowditch & Dewey in Worcester
Shruti Miyashiro, president and CEO of DCU Digital Federal Credit Union in Marlborough
Timothy Murray, president and CEO of the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce
Amy Chase, owner of the Worcester small businesses Crompton Collective and Haberdash
Girish Navani, co-founder and CEO of eClinicalWorks in Westborough
Karim El-Gamal, co-owner Rail Trail Flatbread in Hudson
Philip Shwachman, owner of development firm First American Realty in Hopedale
Marieke Cormier, owner of Roots Natural Foods in Leominster
Anh Vu Sawyer, former executive director of Southeast Asian Coalition of Massachusetts
Fred Taylor, business representative of the North Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters union in Worcester

The Power 100 for 2024 will be published on April 29.