Who's next?

Chad Gifford may cede his post as this city's top banker with little fanfare, but his role as the go-to guy in the Boston business community could prove tougher to fill.

The veteran banker takes with him a legacy of civic leadership, philanthropy, and political dealmaking that won't easily be replaced, according to business and nonprofit chiefs across the city. And while Gifford, 62, will remain a director at Bank of America Corp., his retirement as a full-time executive with power at his fingertips is spurring a fresh round of speculation over who will take up the voice of Boston's business community in civic affairs.

"Boston has to reinvent the civic realm," said Paul S. Grogan, president of the Boston Foundation, "because there's no going back to the vanishing world that Chad represented."

Grogan, who holds a prominent place at the civic table as head of the $650 million nonprofit, and others see a new Boston shaping up, with greater participation from the heads of the top universities and teaching hospitals. The city is less and less able to rely on the corporate sector, and its deep pockets, in an era of megamergers that have wiped out the likes of FleetBoston Financial Corp. and John Hancock Financial Services Inc. The new generation of technology and biotech executives are often too consumed with their fiercely competitive industries to engage in broader issues.

If there is one name rising to the top of the list, it is Edmund "Ted" F. Kelly, chief executive of Liberty Mutual Group, a large insurer with 38,000 employees and nearly $17 billion in revenue. Kelly fits the historic affinity for financial executives to take the spotlight in Boston, and is already active in local matters, recently putting his stamp on the city's famous July 4 fireworks event with a $10 million, five-year sponsorship by Liberty Mutual.

Kelly's roots don't hurt his candidacy. He hails from Ireland and speaks with a thick Irish accent. He has been adopted by Boston, not least because of his doctorate in mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

"The next guy up is Ted Kelly," said one of Boston's top movers and shakers, Jack Connors Jr., chairman of the Boston advertising firm Hill Holliday. "He's watched everybody. He knows how to do it. He's smart, successful, and Liberty's going to be a big player in this town."

But many observers of the Boston scene lament a decline in the pool of private-sector executives willing to take a public role. Gifford has had a hand in a wide array of matters, from helping keep the Patriots football team in town and working behind the scenes on the possibility of a new Fenway Park, to lending support to bringing the Democratic National Convention to Boston last summer.

At Fidelity Investments, Edward C. Johnson III and his daughter, Abigail P. Johnson, are hugely philanthropic and have led such efforts as the development of the downtown seaport area. But they shun publicity and the attention that comes with Gifford's role.

Grogan and others note that the nonprofit world needs to step into the void left by corporate mergers that have claimed such executives as David D'Alessandro, the former chief of John Hancock They point to Dr. James J. Mongan, chief executive of Partners HealthCare System Inc. -- owner of Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women's hospitals -- who is chairman of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. From the old guard, there is William C. Van Faasen, chief executive of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Inc., and an active player in Boston affairs.

Van Faasen's deputy, president Cleve Killingsworth Jr., is seen as an up-and-coming player in Boston. And Charles D. Baker, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care's chief executive, is more and more at the table in civic matters.

Harvard president Lawrence H. Summers and MIT's new president, Susan Hockfield, are being asked to engage in local affairs as much as bankers or investment magnates do, Grogan said. The universities play a key role in attracting life-science researchers to the area, and Harvard is about to embark on an ambitious effort to build a second campus in Allston. The business community is looking for more input from the top of large employers like EMC Corp., Staples Inc., and Gillette Co. In some cases, business pressures get in the way: James Kilts, the chief executive of Gillette, was hired to handle a turnaround of the consumer products maker and commutes home to New York on weekends.

Alan G. Macdonald, executive director of the Massachusetts Business Roundtable, said it will take a strong personality and the time to think about more than the next quarter's earnings. The roundtable lobbies the Legislature on issues of interest to the business community, such as healthcare, tax policy, and public pension reform. "We need leaders who care a lot about the region, from a business and societal basis," Macdonald said.

Beth Healy can be reached at bhealy@globe.com.