Shirley Halperin Executive Editor, Music Lila Synder is CEO of Bose Corporation, the consumer audio company which is soon to mark its 60th anniversary. Founded by Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Amar Bose, its home has always been within close proximity to Boston and its abundance of student talent. Snyder was one of those grads, earning a master’s degree and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from MIT, following her bachelor’s in mechanical engineering from the University of Miami. She arrived at Bose at the top of 2020, just as the Covid-19 pandemic threw the world — and supply chains — into a tailspin. But Snyder is an expert problem solver, and like any engineering challenge, she approached her new job — overseeing all aspects of the company’s consumer electronics, automotive, and related businesses — methodically. She leads a global staff of 6,000 with a guiding principle: that “sound is not an accessory. It is everything we do; It is the most important thing and it’s in the center.”