Chamber will honor distinguished Bostonians
The Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce said it will induct four people into the Academy of Distinguished Bostonians and welcome its first first woman chair - Bentley College president Gloria Larson (left) - at a ceremony set for tonight.
The inductees to the academy include Micho Spring (right), who was chief of staff for former Boston Mayor Kevin White and deputy mayor; Spring now heads the New England office of Weber Shandwick, a public relations firm.
Also set to be honored at the chamber's 99th annual meeting and dinner tonight at Boston Marriott Copley Place is Ted Cutler, president of GWV Vacations of Needham; he is a noted philanthropist who currently serves as chairman of Hebrew College and has served as chairman for Emerson College, Combined Jewish Philanthropies, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and other organizations.
Another inductee is Lawrence K. Fish, chairman of the Citizens Financial Group, a Providence company that operates Citizens Bank. Under his leadership, Citizens has grown into one of the largest banking operations in the country. Fish serves as a director of Citizens' parent company, Royal Bank of Scotland Group, as a member of the MIT Corp., and as an overseer of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Rounding out the foursome is Peter Meade, who currently serves as chairman of the Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy, which manages the parks created as a result of the Big Dig construction project. He is a former executive vice president of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, the state's largest health insurer and, before that, he was the host of a talk show on WBZ-AM radio for a decade.
The chamber created the academy in 1983. Since then, 79 members have been inducted, ranging from sports figures such as Celtics greats Arnold "Red" Auerbach and Bill Russell (right) to politicians such as US Senators Edward M. Kennedy and Paul E. Tsongas to business leaders such as business leaders such as Digital Equipment Corp. founder Kenneth Olsen.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)
