Power 2008: The Power Wiki

Traditionally, our Power issues have contained a ranking of the city’s most influential people as judged by our staffers (following an endless succession of meetings, lunches, drinks, and phone conversations). For this installment, we decided to leave it to the power brokers to work it out for themselves. Stressing that all answers would be anonymous, we surveyed a cross section of more than 50 honorees of our past power rankings, asking them to name the 10 people, in order, who they feel have the most juice in Boston right now. Then we crunched the numbers, and got back the following self-portrait of the current Hub pecking order.

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1. Thomas Menino, mayor of Boston

2. Sal DiMasi, speaker of the state House

3. Jack Connors, chairman, Partners HealthCare (etc.)

4. Deval Patrick, governor of Massachusetts

5. Therese Murray, president of the state Senate

6. John Fish, CEO, Suffolk Construction

7. Ted Kennedy, U.S. senator

8. Gloria Larson, president, Bentley College

9. Anne Finucane, chief marketing officer, Bank of America

10. Marty Baron, editor, Boston Globe

11. Bob Kraft, chairman and CEO, Kraft Group; owner, New England Patriots

12. John Henry, principal owner, New England Sports Ventures

13. Ned Johnson, chairman and CEO, Fidelity

14. Drew Gilpin Faust, president, Harvard University

15. Cleve Killingsworth, chairman and CEO, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts

16. Ted Kelly, chairman, president, and CEO, Liberty Mutual Group

17. Joe O’Donnell, chairman and CEO, Boston Culinary Group; co-owner, Suffolk Downs

18. Paul Grogan, president and CEO, the Boston Foundation

19. Martha Coakley, Massachusetts attorney general

20. Doug Rubin, chief of staff for Governor Patrick

21. Andrea Cabral, Suffolk County sheriff

22. Jim Pallotta, vice chairman, Tudor Investment; co-owner, Boston Celtics

23. Abigail Johnson, vice chairwoman, Fidelity

24. Reverend Ray Hammond, pastor, Bethel A.M.E. Church

25. Larry Lucchino, president and CEO, Boston Red Sox

26. Charlie Baker, president and CEO, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care

27. Harry Collings, executive director, Boston Redevelopment Authority

28. Barbara Lee, chairwoman, Barbara Lee Family Foundation; philanthropist

29. Tom Glynn, COO, Partners HealthCare

30. Ralph Martin, managing partner, Bingham McCutchen; chairman, Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce

31. Peter Meade, chairman, Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy

32. Maureen Feeney, president, Boston City Council

33. Arline Isaacson, chairwoman, Massachusetts Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus

34. Alan Solomont, chairman and CEO, Solomont Bailis Ventures; Democratic fundraiser extraordinaire

35. Karen Kaplan, president, Hill, Holliday

36. Cardinal Seán O’Malley, archbishop of Boston

37. Ronald Logue, chairman and CEO, State Street Corp.

38. Susan Hockfield, president, MIT

39. Elaine Ullian, president and CEO, Boston Medical Center

40. Barbara Hostetter, president, Barr Foundation; philanthropist

41. (Tie) Joan Vennochi, columnist, Boston Globe; Joe Fallon, president and CEO, the Fallon Company

43. Tom Brady, quarterback, New England Patriots

44. Paul La Camera, general manager, WBUR

45. Michael Kineavy, chief of staff for Mayor Menino

46. Catherine D’Amato, president and CEO, Greater Boston Food Bank

47. (Tie) Pat Purcell, publisher, Boston Herald; Robin Brown, partner, CWB Boylston; developer of the Mandarin Oriental Boston; Mario Nicosia, president, GTI Properties; South End developer

50. Janice Loux, president, Boston Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union

To see the full extended version, including the rest of the people who were nominated, click here!

More on our methodology

A first- or second-place nomination was worth 5 points; third through fifth place got 4; sixth through eighth place got 3; ninth or tenth place got 2. When more than one person had the same overall score, we gave the advantage to whoever received the most individual nominations; if there was still a tie, the edge went to the person whose nominators had given him or her the higher average ranking. In all, 232 people received at least one nomination. Finally—and this bears repeating if only because some of them were nearly hysterical about securing this guarantee—each of the respondents to our poll was granted anonymity.

The Democratic process does have its quirks…

—Menino won, with 130 points total. DiMasi earned 89. Theo Epstein, tied for 190th, received 2.

—Fifteen of our respondents nominated themselves—which was allowed—but none wound up making it into the top 10.

—One of the biggest surprises: Cabral’s 21st-place ranking, which put her ahead of the lieutenant governor, the Suffolk DA, and city councilor and mayoral aspirant Michael Flaherty—none of whom cracked the top 100
.

—Tom Brady at number 43? Really? Don’t ask us—as we’ve made clear, we didn’t make these picks. But we will say this: Not enough love out there for Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck, who, despite turning the C’s from a source of embarrassment into a bona fide contender, comes in at number 54. (Ingrates.)

—Dear , if you’re going to name Cam Neely as one of the most powerful people in Boston, at least spell his name right.

—MBTA chief Dan Grabauskas tied for 137th. He may do better next year if he can make his bus drivers stop screaming at everybody.