PENTA CEO named to Governor Baker’s Transition Team

WESTBOROUGH _ Deborah Penta, CEO of PENTA Communications, Inc., was appointed to Governor Charlie Baker’s Transition Team.

To prepare for his transition, Governor Baker formed a team comprised of over 100 business and community leadership advisors targeting key areas that included State of the State, Human Resources, Better Government, Community, Schools, Healthcare, Jobs and the Economy.

Penta and six other Central Massachusetts business leaders were tapped for the 51 member Jobs and Economy Team Committee co-chaired by Jay Ash, Secretary of Housing and Economic Development, and Karen Kaplan, CEO of Hill Holiday, Boston.

Members from the Central Massachusetts regional business community included: Deborah Penta, PENTA Communications, Inc. Westborough; Sumner Tilton, Jr., Attorney and  Director at Fletcher Tilton, Worcester; Kate McEvoy-Zdonczky, Vice President Corporate Community Affairs and for Central and Western MA Markets, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Auburn; Kevin Delbridge, Senior Adviser to Harbourvest Partners LLC, Hopkinton; Gregg Lisciotti, Founder, Lisciotti Development Corp., Leominster; Rajendra Melville, Executive Director, Deshpande Foundation, Marlborough and R. Joseph Salois, President, Atlas Distributing, Sutton.

As the CEO for PENTA Communications, Inc., Penta leads the most long-standing and recognized full service strategic marketing firm in the region. PENTA is in the top 1% of all women-owned businesses nationwide, and was voted the Best of Business Advertising Agency and Website Development Firm by Worcester Business Journal readers.  For over 25 years, the Firm has worked with numerous corporations and organizations throughout the Northeast, helping them achieve growth. As a vested community stakeholder, the Firm has contributed nearly $2 million to a myriad of   charitable organizations in the region since its inception.

In August 2014, Penta was named Chairman of the Westborough Economic Development Committee (EDC). She is the first woman to hold this title and the third person to serve in this capacity. She has served on the Board of Directors for the Workforce Investment Board of Central Massachusetts for many years. She was one of seven women to serve as Chair of the Board of Directors for the Corridor Nine Area Chamber of Commerce, and was one of a few women who served as Chairman of the Board for the Worcester Community Action Council in the Agency’s 50-year history. She is also the Chairman of the Board and Founder of FLIC®. In addition, she has served on over a dozen other boards and numerous committees during her tenure as CEO of PENTA Communications, Inc.

In 2013, she received the prestigious YWCA’s Katharine F. Erskine Award in Business and Law, is the recipient of the first Outstanding Woman in Business Award from the Worcester Business Journal, and has received numerous other recognitions for her work in fostering economic development and the creation of stronger communities.