Worcester Business Journal

Naureen Meraj is a leader in the field of digital innovation, learning and development. She is globally known for her use of gamification and design thinking to improve learning, collaboration, sales, customer loyalty, employee productivity and innovation. Her work has been recognized by InformationWeek as one of the 500 best innovations for 2012 and 2013. She was a 2015 WBJ Outstanding Women in Business honoree. 12 Worcester Business Journal | October 30, 2017 | wbjournal.com F OC U S O U T S T A N D I N G W O M E N I N B U S I N E S S Jim Notaro is the vice president of deposit operations and information management at Fidelity Bank in Leominster, where he has used data to create a unified customer relationship platform. He serves on Mount Wachusett Community College business advisory board and volunteers at Community Healthlink and SHINE Initiative. He lives in Worcester and attended MWCC, Fitchburg State University and Bentley University. He was a 2017 WBJ 40 Under Forty honoree. >>The Honorees >>This year's judges Kathryn Crockett is executive vice president at Worcester architectural firm Lamoureux Pagano Associates, work- ing on designs such as the revitalization of Mechanics Hall in downtown. Crockett has served as the president of both the statewide Massachusetts chapter and the regional Central Massachusetts chapter of the American Insti- tute of Architects. She was a 2016 WBJ Outstanding Women in Business honoree. O utstanding Women in Business remains Worcester Business Journal's most competitive award: We had 48 nominations for 42 women this year to be among the six people we honor annually. While awards like 40 Under Forty will get more nominations, those awards honor a far greater number of peo- ple. OWIB is highly selective, with less than 15 percent receiving the award. Honestly, this year – as in most years – we could have chosen to honor almost any of the 42 nominees and would have been completely justified in doing so. The nominations were that strong. Luckily, we had three smart Central Massachusetts judges with a diversity of experience and backgrounds to help us pick out the best of the best. Each of the judges scores the nomi- nees on the judge's own priorities and without influence of the others – or even knowing who the other judges are, frankly – so we end up with a wide range of scores for all the nominees, but through the collective wisdom of the three judges, we arrived at our six winners this year. Like all of WBJ's awards for both individuals and companies, OWIB win- ners are selected on their achievements and impact on the community. Outstanding Women in Business takes it a step further, though, and places an added importance on the role these women have played in creating opportu- nities for and mentoring other women in Central Massachusetts. Each of the six honorees has done this in her own way, by being an example, by reaching the top level of her organization, by creating community change, by being bold in the face of her own challenges. As we honor Margaret Briggs, AiVi Nguyen, Cheryl Eidinger-Taylor, Karen Duffy, Jill Green Lebow and Angela Bovill in this section, we also invite you to come out to our Outstanding Women in Business event on Nov. 17 at Tuckerman Hall in Worcester, to not only pay special tribute to these honor- ees but have a frank and supportive discussion about the role of women in the region's economy. - Brad Kane, editor OWIB winners provide an extra level of impact WOMEN I N B U S I N E S S O U T S T A N D I N G WBJ Worcester Business Journal Margaret "Peggy" B. Briggs Managing principal, Epsilon Associates, Inc., Maynard AiVi Nguyen Partner, Bowditch & Dewey, LLP, Worcester Cheryl A.W. Eidinger-Taylor President & chief operating officer, ERA Key Realty Services, Whitinsville Karen E. Duffy President & CEO, Worcester Credit Union Jill Green Lebow Senior vice president & chief human resources officer, Fallon Health, Worcester Angela Bovill President & CEO, Ascentria Care Alliance, Worcester 13 14 15 16 17 18

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