January 2007
Volume 30, Number 1
January 2007
On January 4, 2007, Deval Patrick was inaugurated as the Commonwealth’s 71st governor with a populist celebration that mirrored an inclusive campaign. Gov. Patrick also becomes the 7th different governor with whom the High Tech Council has worked since our founding 30 years ago.
In his inaugural address, Patrick laid out a positive—if unspecific—vision for Massachusetts. However, the first real indications about his governing style can be seen in the building of his administration’s cabinet.
While many of the details of the Patrick-Murray Administration will need to be hammered out with the Legislature, Patrick intends to restructure the executive branch to better address his priorities. He has indicated an interest in merging state economic development and housing agencies, as well as those overseeing energy and environmental issues. Patrick reportedly also has designs on changes to the state’s public education delivery system.
O’Connell Named to Top Economic Post
Patrick’s economic development team will be led by Daniel O’Connell, most recently an executive with Boston commercial real estate firm Meredith & Grew. In the newly-created cabinet post of Secretary of Housing and Economic Development, O’Connell’s job is to tie together agencies and policies that touch on economic development and housing. He told the Boston Globe that the top economic development challenge for the state was to create a strategy to retain talent in Massachusetts, much like the Council has proposed through support of Mass Insight’s Global Mass 2015 initiative.
Patrick had extended an offer to state Representative Dan Bosley to join his economic team, but two weeks into Patrick’s new term Bosley elected to keep his house seat and remain co-chair of the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies.
Mohler-Faria to Advise Patrick on Education
Patrick also named Dana Mohler-Faria, the current President of Bridgewater State College, as his education adviser. Mohler-Faria will serve in a part-time capacity, at least for now, and remain at the helm of Bridgewater.
At a January 9 meeting of Mass Insight Education’s Great Schools Coalition, attended by Council President – and state Board of Education Chairman – Christopher Anderson, Mohler-Faria said his charge from Patrick was to take six months to develop a new structure and set of priorities for education – early education, K-12 and higher education – that will be implemented by the administration over the next four years. While rumors of the creation of an education secretary and a reconstitution of the BOE have been swirling in education circles in recent months, Mohler- Faria emphasized that nothing had been decided and that he would not recommend changes that would “derail” the progress of successful ongoing reform efforts. Mohler-Faria praised Anderson for his collaborative work on the BOE, particularly for taking the lead on international student benchmarking and for creating the pathway for struggling schools to convert to pilot schools.
Fiscal Reins Handed to Weld Vet Kirwan
Patrick drew on an experienced hand in Leslie Kirwan as his first Secretary for Administration & Finance, the state’s top fiscal officer. Kirwan will be on familiar ground in returning to the secretariat for which she served as Chief of Staff under former A&F Secretary Charlie Baker, who now runs Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, and former Governor Bill Weld. Kirwan’s biggest immediate challenge is to produce a balanced state budget for legislative action by the end of February. During his first week in office, Patrick predicted a $1 billion budget deficit for fiscal year 2008 and then reinstated nearly $300 million in funding for programs cut by Governor Mitt Romney last fall.
Bowles Energized for New Cabinet Post
In anticipation of more cabinet restructuring, Patrick named former MassINC President & CEO Ian Bowles as Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs. In this new post, Bowles will oversee departments like the Department of Energy Resources, which under Romney reported to the economic development secretariat. Patrick has indicated a willingness to grow the state’s clean energy sector, which includes fuel cells, photovoltaic and wind power.
Anderson Leads Education Board on Road Show
In an effort to build a stronger connection between the state Board of Education and technology employers, educators and the general community, Council President Chris Anderson, who is BOE Chair, is taking the show on the road. Traditionally, the BOE holds all of its monthly meetings in its Malden headquarters, save one meeting a year in the hometown of its student board member. Some in the education field believe that for too long, a disconnect has existed between the BOE and the constituents it is designed to serve and supply with skilled workers. By holding meetings at sites around the state hosted by employers, schools (traditional, pilot and charter), higher education institutions and other venues, BOE members can witness for themselves challenges and best practices in the education delivery system as well as learn about specific workforce pipeline needs of Massachusetts employers.
First Stop: Microsoft
The first stop on the road show will be January 23 at Microsoft’s Massachusetts headquarters in Waltham. Microsoft has significantly grown its Massachusetts workforce in recent years and has been a strong supporter of public education in the Commonwealth. Microsoft is working with the Massachusetts Department of Education to deliver free software products to all of the state’s K-12 schools, which represents a market value of up to $40 million according to a Boston Globe report. Microsoft has been a strong supporter of the University of Massachusetts, with more than $10 million of support through financial and product donations.
Microsoft’s commitment to education is delivered, in part, through its Partners in Learning (PiL) program, which is scheduled to deliver grants of $500,000 in 2007 to fund STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) after school programs, with potential for more grants in the future. PiL is an international program and Microsoft takes lessons learned and best practices from across the globe to help improve STEM education in the U.S. and Massachusetts. Another PiL project at the University of Virginia helps train principals and other administrators in turnaround – or lower- performing – schools. Anderson is exploring a potential training partnership with the program and the DOE to help deliver leadership techniques and skills for principals of the chronically underperforming schools that are converting to the pilot school model.
Council Launches 30th Year Campaign
Two thousand and seven will mark 30 years of the Council working to make Massachusetts more competitive for technology employers. The Council is celebrating this historic landmark with a year long public campaign to reflect on the Council’s accomplishments and chart a course to more success in the future. The celebration will culminate with a gala event on October 23 to recognize the official anniversary of the Council. (See below for more details)
Elements of the campaign will include an advertising campaign on WBZ-AM 1030 and a monthly opinion editorial in Mass High Tech; The Journal of New England Technology. The WBZ radio spots are already running and will be updated each month. They will also feature guest voiceovers at certain points throughout the year. To listen to the ads, and for regular updates on the 30th anniversary celebration, please visit www.mhtc.org.
Boulanger Thanked for Service to Council
After six years at the Council, Vice President Cort Boulanger departed the Council’s staff to start his own communications and public policy shop, Boulanger Public Affairs. Since early 2001, Boulanger has been an important contributor to the strategy and development of the Council’s public relations, political and public policy agenda and has been pivotal to some its most historic achievements. “Cort has been very effective in helping deliver positive results for the Council’s policy agenda and has greatly raised the profile of the Council in political, policy and media circles,” said Anderson.
One of the most significant highlights of Boulanger’s tenure occurred during the Council’s leadership of the state’s Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) strategy between 2003 and 2005, for which he was awarded a 2006 Bell Ringer Award for spearheading the critical communications strategy. Boulanger also took a strategic lead role in the Council’s BioPharma Initiative and in the creation of MassTrack, the Council’s online government assessment tool.
“It’s been a very rewarding six years and I have been honored to work with great colleagues and technology CEOs to make Massachusetts more globally competitive,” said Boulanger. “Now, more than ever, the results-based focus and independent voice of the Council are critically important.”
Boulanger’s new venture will continue to keep him an integral part of the Council team. In a consulting role, he will provide strategic public policy and communications strategy for the Council to help support the Council’s policy agenda. He will also support specific initiatives for the Massachusetts Defense Technology Initiative (MassDTI) as it enters its second year as an independent subsidiary of the Council. He can be reached at ccb@boulangerpa.com.
Save the Date- MHTC’s 30th Anniversary Celebration
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Newton Marriott
Newton, Massachusetts
Additional details will be provided when available.
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