WBJ names the Power 100, the most influential Central Mass. professionals in 2024

It’s not about having power; it’s about using it.

Every year when the WBJ newsroom staff begins the lengthy process to determine the power players in the Central Massachusetts business community, we ask ourselves one key question: Who most effectively wielded their power to influence the economy in the last 12 months? It doesn’t matter how much power they hold, or whether they wielded it for good or ill. Being included in WBJ’s Power 100 is all about leveraging your power to have outsize influence on the region, whether you’re a small business owner or the CEO of a global operation with thousands of employees.

[Read the profiles for the entire Power 100 list for 2024 here.]

This year’s Power 100 is an expansion of previous years’ Power 50 lists. The hardest part about determining the power players each year was whittling the hundreds of ideas of people to include on the list down to just 50, and we left dozens of very-worthy professionals off the list entirely. This year’s expansion gives us space to include more people. More importantly, this extended edition provides more information for you, the reader, to understand how the Central Massachusetts business community operates, the major events in the past year, the upcoming trends in the economy, and who are the high-profile people making major moves. You’ll want to get to know them.

[For an alphabetical list of the Power 100 for 2024, click here.]

As in previous years, people who were on the power player list in 2023 were held to a higher standard in order to repeat on this year’s list. This standard is essentially, “What have you done for me lately?” meaning they couldn’t be on the Power 100 list in 2024 for the same reason they were on the list last year. For example, Julie Bowditch from the nonprofit CASA Project Worcester County was on the 2023 list because of her high-profile advocacy of the Worcester community. This year, she is on the list because of the way she has grown CASA since becoming executive director, setting new records in fundraising.

One editorial note before you dive into the Power 100 profiles: Each person on the list this year was asked to fill out a questionnaire about their organizations and achievements. If the stories about them contain a direct quote, that quote was taken from the questionnaire, unless otherwise noted.

Lastly, special thanks to Mechanics Hall for accommodating the Power 100 photo shoot.

Read the profiles for the entire Power 100 list for 2024 here.

For an alphabetical list of the Power 100 for 2024, click here.