North County

As lawmakers and officials seek to crack down on the snowballing opioid crisis that has claimed hundreds of lives in 2015, Spectrum Health Systems President and CEO Charles Faris has been an important voice for the substance abuse treatment industry and the patient.

Marlborough Savings Bank reopened its Sudbury branch inside the Roche Bros. supermarket after $2 million in renovations....

If you are looking for the true economic and political power in Central Massachusetts, you should start by walking into the Worcester city manager's office at 8:30 a.m. every Friday.

MetroWest Medical Center is another hospital in the region that's seen a stark financial improvement, and leading the ongoing turnaround is Barbara Doyle, the president and CEO of the Tenet Healthcare-owned hospital, with a main campus in Framingham and another in Natick.

Fostering a business-friendly atmosphere takes a village, but leading the charge in Marlborough are two key players: Mayor Arthur Vigeant and Susanne Morreale Leeber, president and CEO of the Marlborough Regional Chamber of Commerce.

At first glance, anyone holding the title of director of the Fitchburg Art Museum wouldn't seem to have much influence outside the cultural community. But Nick Capasso isn't just anyone.

Ralph Crowley Jr. is not only the president and CEO of Worcester's most visible company, the $450-million Polar Beverages, but he is also a true believer in the city.

Inside Route 128, incubators for early-stage companies are numerous, but in MetroWest and Greater Worcester, the options are far more limited. But two local nonprofit leaders, Kevin O'Sullivan, president and CEO of Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives in Worcester, and Barbara Finer, CEO of TechSandBox in Hopkinton, have been pioneers on the incubation frontier and are leading ongoing efforts to increase resources to help local startups thrive.

Douglas Petersen was a fixture in North Central Massachusetts business circles before last year, but his status hit new heights when his Workers' Credit Union announced it hit the $1-billion asset mark, which led the firm to pay out $2 million in dividends to its members, the first ever give-back program in its 101-year history.

Community banks -- striving to compete against multi-billion conglomerates while maintaining their strong local ties -- are taking a creative approach to combine their power while retaining their identities.