Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | October 11, 2021 | Worcester Business Journal 13 O U T S TA N D I N G W O M E N I N B U S I N E S S FOCUS O ver 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. is is all true of the 2021 honorees of the Outstanding Women in Business awards. is year marked one of the most competitive to date, as 64 women were nominated throughout the course of the last 12 months. e judg- ing process is always highly competitive, but this class was particularly competitive, as nine nominees were within two cumulative judges' points of the winners. e women you will read about in the following pages 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 Busi- ness 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. – Brad Kane, editor What it takes to be OUTSTANDING Kimberly M. Salmon ..........................14 Assistant vice president of community relations and president of foundation e Hanover Insurance Group and e Hanover Insurance Group Foundation, in Worcester Betsy R. Landry .................................. 15 Director of human resources Mirick O'Connell, in Worcester & Westborough Cathryn A. Shaw-Reid, Ph.D ..............17 Vice president, global drug substance biologics operations Bristol Myers Squibb, in Devens Kristine Bostek ...................................19 Vice president, Summit ElderCare & Fallon Health Weinberg Fallon Health, in Worcester Stacy Wu, MD ....................................20 Vice president, head of global clinical research, CNS (central nervous system) Sunovion Pharmaceuticals, in Marlborough Lisa M. Colombo, DNP, MHA, RN ......21 Executive vice chancellor Commonwealth Medicine, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, in Shrewsbury Donna L. Boulanger ............................... 23 CEO North Brookfield Savings Bank Sandra Olson ......................................25 Assistant vice president for facilities operations and planning Worcester State University Dr. Moses Dixon is the president & CEO of the Central Massachusetts Agency on Aging, Inc., in Worcester. He is the youngest and first person of color to lead the nonprofit, connecting older adults and caregivers to elder services, serving more than 150,000 people in 61 Massachusetts communities. Kate Roy Alexander is the president & CEO of Southbridge Credit Union, which has more than $204 million in assets and 39 employees spread across six locations in Central Massachusetts communities. She has been a long-time member of the Tantasqua School Committee, serving the Sturbridge region. Carolyn Stempler is the interim president and CEO of the Greater Worcester Community Foundation, which distributes a portion of its $177 million to community causes annually. She was GWCF board chair, and previously worked as chief information officer for WR Grace, a Fortune 500 firm. 202 1 Outstanding Women in Business W [ Unless otherwise noted, all photos by Matthew Wright ] is year's judges

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