Toni G. Wolfman, executive in residence at Bentley University’s Center for Women and Business (CWB), was named to the Boston Business Journal (BBJ) Power 50, an award designed to honor the region’s 50 most influential businesspeople of 2011. Wolfman and other members of the 2011 Power 50 will be recognized in a special supplement in the BBJ on October 28.
"Boston is overflowing with power and leadership in all its business sectors," said BBJ Publisher Chris McIntosh. "Our readers weighed in with nominations this summer, and our list reflects business and civic leaders with remarkable track records who are continuing to shape our economy."
According to the BBJ, nominations for the award included men and women from every industry and profession who have made a difference in their communities, blazed a trail, and are leaving a mark on the Greater Boston community. Wolfman was noted for her professional accomplishments and community leadership, as well as awards and milestones.
“I am deeply honored to be included among some of this area’s most influential business leaders,” says Wolfman. “It reflects a recognition that power, influence and effective leadership can have varied sources and take many different forms. This is a message that is inherent in the CWB mission, which is to encourage and enable women at each stage of their lives to realize their full potential and to help the global business community to successfully harness that potential. Influencing institutional culture to facilitate the retention and advancement of women and thereby realize the social and economic benefits of inclusion and diversity is one of our primary goals, and it has been the focus of much of my own work over the past decade.”
In residence at Bentley University since 2005, Toni Wolfman is a valued resource to faculty, students and alumnae on issues affecting women in business and the professions, a critical link between the University and business leaders, and a participant in research and programming for current and future women leaders. More recently, she has been playing a key role in developing the mission and strategic plan for Bentley’s newly established Center for Women and Business. Wolfman is a well-known and effective advocate for improved corporate governance and for the advancement of women to positions of leadership in the business world. She is a former director of and leads the corporate board search effort for The Boston Club (New England’s largest organization of business and professional women), is a co-founder and former President of ION (a national network of organizations dedicated to advancing women to corporate leadership positions), founded and is co-chair of Women Corporate Directors–Boston (public company directors who meet periodically to share perspectives on corporate governance issues), and was a long-time director of the Center for Women & Enterprise (the largest entrepreneurial training organization in New England). In addition, she is a Trustee of Smith College.
From 1977 through 2004, Wolfman practiced law with Foley Hoag LLP in Boston, where she was a partner in its litigation department focusing on the resolution of complex commercial disputes. For many years she led the firm’s award winning pro bono program, severed on several committees of the Supreme Judicial Court and on the boards of various legal services organizations. She is currently a Trustee of the Boston Bar Foundation.
Wolfman has been recognized for her contributions to the legal profession and to the advancement of women by the Boston Bar Association, the Women’s Bar Association of Massachusetts, Greater Boston Legal Services, The Boston Club and the Boston Business Journal. She is a graduate of Smith College and the University of Pennsylvania Law School.