Boston’s 50 Most Powerful People: The List
⬆︎ 41. Ayanna Pressley
Boston city councilor at large
In Boston politics, it’s already assumed that Pressley—brilliant, tough, an electrifying speaker—is destined for bigger things. Last cycle, she was a favorite to run for mayor (but didn’t). Now her horizons are even brighter, with some encouraging her to seek national office.
Read more about Ayanna Pressley.
⬆︎ 42. Katie Lapp
Executive vice president and chief administrative, business, and operating officer, Harvard University
Lapp is overseeing Harvard’s ambitious 10-year development plan in Allston, and having joined Governor Baker’s MBTA advisory panel, she’ll help determine Boston’s transportation future as well.
➡︎ 43. Carol Fulp
President and CEO, the Partnership
If you’re a black power broker in Boston, you’ve been helped in some way by Fulp. She worked her way up at Gillette, WCVB, and John Hancock, and now sits on prominent corporate and public boards—quietly and powerfully keeping diversity on everyone’s agenda.
➡︎ 44. John Harthorne
CEO and founder, MassChallenge
Few people have done more to put Boston’s innovation economy on the map. His Boston-based startup accelerator program, the largest in the world, has helped launch more than 600 businesses, and nearly 5,000 new jobs, since its establishment in 2010.
⬆︎ 45. Stan Rosenberg
President, Massachusetts Senate
After 40 years of relatively anonymous public service, the Amherst state senator maneuvered to succeed Therese Murray as Senate president this year. Suddenly, he’s the guy everybody in the state wants a meeting with.
⬆︎ 46. Eileen McAnneny
President, Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation
Under Michael Widmer, Mass Tax watchdogged the state’s precarious finances for decades. His replacement, McAnneny, a Beacon Hill lobbying veteran, has picked up where he left off: See the foundation’s scathing report on the MBTA.
⬇︎ 47. Jack Connors
Cofounder, Hill Holiday; cofounder, Camp Harbor View
Connors has forgotten more about power than most people on this list will ever learn. Even in semiretirement, he’s still the go-to guy for raising money in Boston philanthropy.
⬇︎ 48. Ray Hammond
Pastor, Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church
Hammond secured his place in Boston history by cofounding the TenPoint Coalition, which helped save the city’s poorest neighborhoods from gang violence throughout the ’90s. His church remains a home to Boston’s black movers and shakers.
➡︎ 49. Anthony Pangaro
Principal, Millennium Partners–Boston
You rarely hear about this golden boy now that his biggest ally, Tom Menino, is gone. But it’s too soon to forget that the former civil servant was able to leverage his friendship with Menino to jump-start luxury residential construction in Boston.
➡︎ 50. Barbara Lynch
Founder, Barbara Lynch Gruppo
Her foundation’s second annual Toques & Tonic event was a who’s who of national restaurant glitterati. No one else has that kind of pull—and with Lynch raising major funds each year to aid low-income families in need, she’s clearly devoted to changing the city for the better.
Check out more of our Power 2015 coverage.
