Jack Connors: Heir Band

John Fish
CEO, Suffolk Construction
HOW HE’S LIKE JACK: Fish speaks often about Connors being a mentor. He sits on roughly a dozen local boards, is a bigtime player in the business community, and can get Mayor Menino on the horn whenever he wants.
WHY HE’LL NEVER BE JACK: Doesn’t have anywhere near Connors’s sway in higher ed.

Gloria Cordes Larson
President, Bentley University
HOW SHE’S LIKE JACK: Larson came to Bentley from Foley Hoag, where she cochaired the law firm’s Government Strategies Group. She’s a former member of the Weld administration, and cochaired Deval Patrick’s transition team. In other words, she works well with both sides of the political aisle.
WHY SHE’LL NEVER BE JACK: She’s a successful lawyer, runs a dynamic college, and sits on a wide range of boards. But unlike Jack, she doesn’t have hundreds of millions of dollars to put her money where her influence is.

Paul Grogan
President, The Boston Foundation
HOW HE’S LIKE JACK: Grogan oversees an endowment that tops $630 million, and awarded almost $50 million to Boston charities this year alone. He’s changed TBF from a classic (and passive) Brahmin charity to a rigorous urban-planning outfit, issuing policy papers that are often put into action.
WHY HE’LL NEVER BE JACK: Two words: Tom Menino. Grogan has gotten so good at addressing the city’s problems that the mayor doesn’t really like him; he’s long thought that Grogan wants his job. Grogan says he doesn’t, but doesn’t seem to mind irritating Menino, either.