Dr. Zorica Pantić is the fourth, and first female, president in Wentworth's century-long history and the first female engineer to lead a technical college in the U.S. She leads and manages operations related to 3,600 students and 377 faculty and staff, and oversees the Institute's operating budget of $74 million and endowment of $100 million. Since arriving at Wentworth in 2005, President Pantić has spearheaded efforts to develop graduate-level programs, establish biomedical engineering and environmental science programs at the undergraduate level, and continue to prepare Wentworth to compete within an increasingly diverse and globalized market. She is strongly committed to increasing diversity in the student body and in the faculty; female enrollment in the freshman class has increased from 18 percent in 2006 to 22 percent in 2007.

Throughout her 30 years in academia, Dr. Pantić has been an agent of change and a champion for excellence and diversity. As the engineering dean at the University of Texas at San Antonio (2001-2005), she spearheaded the university's efforts to become a flagship university in the state of Texas and a top-tier research university in the U.S. She developed three doctoral programs and one master's program, doubled the number of faculty, increased research funding tenfold to $7 million, and raised more than $5 million through strategic partnerships. She increased the overall enrollment by 75 percent, and increased female enrollment by 83 percent. As the director of the School of Engineering at San Francisco State University (1997-2001), she helped the school climb into the country's top 50 undergraduate engineering programs and cooperated with fellow California State University engineering deans on a $10-million California Workforce Initiative.

Dr. Pantić’s leadership has been recognized with honors and awards from numerous organizations including the 2007 Leading Women Award by the Girl Scouts, Patriots’ Trail Council, the 2006 Women of Excellence Award by the Boston National Association of Women Business Owners, and the 2003 Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Award by the San Antonio Women's Chamber of Commerce. Dr. Pantić earned her bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Niš in Serbia.