Issue link: https://nebusinessmedia.uberflip.com/i/1447908
wbjournal.com | February 7, 2022 | Worcester Business Journal 3 Editor, Brad Kane, bkane@wbjournal.com Senior Staff Writer, Monica Benevides, mbenevides@wbjournal.com (Health care, diversity & inclusion) Staff Writers Katherine Hamilton khamilton@wbjournal.com (Real estate, higher education) Sloane M. Perron perron@wbjournal.com (Banking & finance, manufacturing) Contributors Susan Shalhoub, Sarah Connell Sanders Photographers Matt Wright, Edd Cote Lead Researcher, Timothy Doyle, tdoyle@nebusinessmedia.com Research Assistant, Heide Martin, hmartin@nebusinessmedia.com Production Director, Kira Beaudoin, kbeaudoin@wbjournal.com Art Director, Mitchell Hayes, mhayes@wbjournal.com Senior Accounts Manager Christine Juetten, cjuetten@wbjournal.com Senior Special Accounts Manager Mary Lynn Bosiak, mlbosiak@wbjournal.com Marketing & Events Manager Kris Prosser, kprosser@wbjournal.com COO, Mary Rogers, mrogers@nebusinessmedia.com Accounting Assistant, Rae Rogers, rrogers@nebusinessmedia.com Account Receivable Specialist, Patty Harris, pharris@nebusinessmedia.com Human Resources, Jill Coran, jcoran@nebusinessmedia.com Director of Audience Development, Valerie Clark, vclark@nebusinessmedia.com Operations Assistant, Leah Allen, lallen@nebusinessmedia.com Publisher, CEO, Peter Stanton pstanton@nebusinessmedia.com Associate Publisher, Mark Murray mmurray@wbjournal.com President, Tom Curtin tcurtin@hartfordbusinessjournal.com Worcester Business Journal (ISSN#1063-6595) is published bi-weekly, 24x per year, including 4 special issues in May, September, October, and December by New England Business Media. 172 Shrewsbury St., Worcester, MA 01604. Periodicals postage paid at Worcester, MA. Copyright 2022. All rights reserved. Postmaster: Please send address changes to: Worcester Business Journal, PO Box 330, Congers, NY 10920-9894. Subscriptions: Annual subscriptions are available for $72.00. For more information, please email wbjournal@cambeywest.com or contact our circulation department at 845-267-3008. Fax: 845.267.3478 Advertising: For advertising information, please call Mark Murray at 508-755-8004 ext. 227. Fax: 508-755-8860. Worcester Business Journal accepts no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts or materials and in general does not return them to the sender. Worcester Business Journal 172 Shrewsbury Street, Worcester, MA 01604 508-755-8004 tel. • 508-755-8860 fax www.wbjournal.com Worcester Business Journal WBJ A s the three women who comprise the totality of WBJ's reporting staff, we understand all too well what it's like to work in an industry where leadership positions are disproportionately filled by men. In Central Massachusetts, where all editors and editorial leads at organizations which provide daily news coverage of the region are white men, it's par for the course. WBJ's annual Women in Leadership edition, then, puts us in an odd position. We find ourselves covering an equity is- sue where, in our own careers, leadership equity does not apply. In this issue of WBJ, and as part of our ongoing diversity, equity, and inclusion coverage, we cite research showing gender disparities in company boardrooms and executive offices. We quote businesspeo- ple and academics extolling the virtues of cultivating a diverse leadership team. We platform women who break through glass ceilings, all the while sharing these findings and stories from our very own bell jar. is leaves us grappling with uncom- fortable truths. e thing about women in leadership, as a topic, is it's only part of the story. It assumes women are a monolithic group with fundamentally similar experiences and, oen, ignores the intersectionalities of identity and lived experience separat- ing women – including the three of us – from each other. Additionally, for every man holding an executive or boardroom-level position, likely a fleet of non-male subordinates prop him up. e 2021 Women in the Workplace report from international consultancy McKinsey & Co. found while nearly half of entry-level positions at surveyed companies are filled by women, they comprise less than a quarter of C-suite roles. And for every 100 men promoted to first-level management po- sitions, only 86 women receive the same boost. So while we applaud women leaders in business, we can't help but ask: What about all the others? What about women workers like us? We can explain until we're blue in the face, citing studies from every corner of academia and beyond, the positive impact diverse leadership has on workplace cul- ture, company morale, business practices, community standing, and deliverables. But if we're still using the value of diver- sity in leadership as a means to argue for equity in the first place, we've already lost. In the same way we do not consider ourselves to be "women writers," we aspire to a professional culture where- in women in leadership is de facto, so mundane and matter of fact the idea of celebrating it at all would be considered absurd. - Monica Benevides, Katherine Hamilton, and Sloane M. Perron, WBJ staff writers View from inside W O M E N I N L E A D E R S H I P 4 Central Mass. In Brief 17 The List: Highest-paid nonprofit chief executives 18 Column: Outside the Box, with Bonnie J. Walker 19 Know How 20 Movers & Shakers 21 Opinion 22 Shop Talk: Mellowes & Paladino Architects 6 The nuances of leadership In the very male-dominated industry of manufacturing, Aimee Peacock has become FLEXcon's first female president. 8 Leading the field The president of the largest physician group in Central Mass. has spent her career advancing science and diversity in ophthalmology. 10 The Boardroom Gap investigation, part 5 Over the past five years, WBJ has studied the gender diversity at 75 prominent business organizations. This latest examination shows progress is still slow. 10 The Boardroom Gap: Barriers The pipeline to professional advancement still has not yielded a significant uptick in women business leaders, with companies trapped in informal and outdated thinking. 14 The Boardroom Gap: Power in numbers Even as gender diversity in Central Massachusetts union leadership significantly lags national averages, the power of women in organized labor is rising, fueled by the industries impacted most by COVID-19. D E P A R T M E N T S A division of: I N T H I S I S S U E W Monica Benevides Katherine Hamilton Sloane M. Perron