Boston's Most Powerful People in 2005

[sidebar]MERGERS. ACQUISITIONS. SCANDALS. POLITICS. They’ve dramatically altered the power structure of this city in an astonishingly short time. Along with Fleet, Gillette, and Hancock — all snatched up by out-of-towners — have vanished top executives who did what needed doing in this town. Many of the CEOs whose companies remain — State Street’s Ronald Logue, Biogen Idec’s Jim Mullen — are busy shoring up their own businesses. Since the last time we produced our power list four years ago, a state Senate president and House speaker both have left those posts. The cardinal has gone. The junior senator has fallen short in his reach for the White House. The president of Harvard has suffered self-inflicted wounds.

But there’s a New Guard marching in to fill this vacuum. Their rise parallels the increasing importance of their industries — healthcare, for example, entertainment, real estate, and sports. Individual philanthropists are rising up the list as corporate donors fall off it. Others possess the clout that comes with having interests in the forever-on-the-brink Seaport, or because of their involvement in the Rose Kennedy Greenway to be built (eventually) where the Central Artery once stood.

The seeming deadlock in those all-important projects is a symbol of what happens when there’s no one to take charge. Who will push them forward? Maybe it will be one of these 100 people who run our town now.
 

1. Joseph O’Donnell
Chairman, Boston Culinary Group
 
2. Robert Travaglini
Senate President
 
3-5. Bob, Myra, and Jonathan Kraft
New England Patriots
 
6. Edward M. Kennedy
Senator
 
7. Jack Connors
Chairman, Hill, Holliday; Chairman, Partners HealthCare
 
8-9. Ned Johnson and Abigail Johnson
Fidelity Investments
 
10. Tom Menino
Mayor
 
11. William Van Faasen
Chairman and CEO, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts
 
12. Salvatore DiMasi
Speaker of the House
 
13. James Mongan
President and CEO, Partners HealthCare
 
14. Margaret Marshall
Chief Justice, Supreme Judicial Court
 
15. Mitt Romney
Governor
 
16. Larry Lucchino
President and CEO, Boston Red Sox
 
17. Charles Baker
President and CEO, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care
 
18. Paul Grogan
President, the Boston Foundation
 
19. Craig Coy
CEO, Massport
 
20. Edmund “Ted” Kelly
Chairman, President, and CEO, Liberty Mutual Group
 
21. Kathleen O’Toole
Police Commissioner
 
22. Kevin Phelan
Executive Vice President, Meredith & Grew
 
23. Cathy Minehan
President, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
 
24. James Mullen
President and CEO, Biogen Idec
 
25. Nancy Leaming
President and CEO, Tufts Health Plan

26. Mark Maloney
Director, Boston Redevelopment Authority
 
27. Ronald Logue
CEO, State Street Corporation
 
28. Donna Cupelo
Regional President, Verizon
 
29. Peter Meade
Executive Vice President, Blue Cross Blue Shield
 
30. Gloria Larson
Cochair, Government Practices Group, Foley Hoag; Chair, Massachusetts Convention Center Authority
 
31-32. Amos and Barbara Hostetter
Philanthropists
 
33. William Swanson
Chairman and CEO, Raytheon
 
34. Bob Popeo
President and Chairman, Mintz Levin
 
35. Barbara Fish Lee
Philanthropist
 
36. Martin Baron
Editor, the Boston Globe
 
37. Anne Finucane
Northeast President, Bank of America
 
38-39. Mike Sheehan; Karen Kaplan
CEO, Hill, Holliday; President, Hill, Holliday Boston
 
40. Lawrence Fish
Chairman, President, and CEO, Citizens Bank

41. William Galvin
Secretary of the Commonwealth
 
42. Ron Druker
President, the Druker Company
 
43. Joseph Campanelli
President and CEO, Sovereign Bank New England
 
44. Elaine Ullian
President and CEO, Boston Medical Center

45. David Mugar
Philanthropist

46-47. Michael Ruettgers; Joseph Tucci
Chairman; President and CEO, EMC

48. Robert Beal
President, the Beal Companies

49. Martha Coakley
Middlesex County District Attorney

50. John Fish
President and CEO, Suffolk Construction

51. Patrick Lyons
Principal, the Lyons Group

52. Paul Fireman
Chairman and CEO, Reebok

53. Steve Weiner
Founder, S.R. Weiner & Associates

54. Pat Purcell
Publisher, the Boston Herald

55-56. Chris Myers and Michael Schlow
Restaurateurs

57. Paul Guzzi
President and CEO, Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce

58. Tom Reilly
Attorney General

59. Julie Kahn
General Manager, WEEI and five other stations; Vice President and Market Manager, Entercom Boston

60. Ted Cutler
Philanthropist

61. Michael Sullivan
U.S. Attorney

62. Ed Eskandarian
CEO, Arnold Worldwide

63. Steve Bailey
Business Columnist, the Boston Globe

64. George Regan
President, Regan Communications


65. Larry Rasky
CEO, Rasky Baerlein Strategic Communications

66. Frank Doyle
CEO, Connell Limited Partnership

67. Tom Finneran
President, Mass-achusetts Bio-technology Council

68. Malcolm Rogers
Director, Museum of Fine Arts

69. Stephen Lynch
Congressman

70. Steve Karp
Developer

71. David Lamere
Chairman and CEO, Mellon New England

72. James Pallotta
U.S. Equities Manager, Tudor Investment Corporation

73. Alan Leventhal
Chairman and CEO, Beacon Capital Partners; Chairman, Boston
University Board of Trustees

74. Paul Kirk
Chairman, John F. Kennedy Library Foundation

75. John Hynes III
Managing Partner, the Gale Company

76. Drew Murphy
President, Broadway in Boston

77. Joan Vennochi
Op-Ed Columnist, the Boston Globe

78. Jay Cashman
Chairman, Jay Cashman Incorporated

79. Wyc Grousbeck
Managing Partner and CEO, Boston Celtics

80. Josiah Spaulding
President and CEO, Wang Center for the Performing Arts

81. David Fialkow
Managing Director, General Catalyst Partners

82. John F. Kerry
Senator

83-84. Gayle Fee and Laura Raposa
Gossip Columnists, the Boston Herald

85. Don Law
Chairman of Global Music, Clear Channel Entertainment

86. Roger Berkowitz
CEO, Legal Sea Foods

87. Richard Friedman
President and CEO, Carpenter & Company

88. Regina Pisa
Managing Partner, Goodwin Procter

89. Michael Kineavy
City Hall Chief of Policy and Planning

90. Paul La Camera
President and General Manager, WCVB-TV, Channel 5

91. Curt Schilling
Pitcher, Boston Red Sox

92. Robert Walsh
Chairman and CEO, R.F. Walsh

93. John Drew
President, Drew Company

94. Lawrence Summers
President, Harvard University

95. Jill Medvedow
Director, Institute of Contemporary Art

96. David D’Alessandro
Vice Chairman, Boston University Board of Trustees; Chairman, Wang Center for the Performing Arts

97. The Reverend Eugene Rivers III
Cofounder, Ten Point Coalition

98. Ed Ansin
Owner, WHDH-TV, Channel 7

99. Maryann Gilligan Suydam
Senior Vice President, Equity Office

100. Sean O’Malley
Archbishop of Boston
 

Photo by Charles Gauthier