About the Massachusetts High Technology Council

Discover Our Unique Value Proposition & Principled Leadership

About the Council—Principled Leadership

The Massachusetts High Technology Council tagline includes an essential quality about our members that differentiates us from many other business organizations in Massachusetts: “…Committed to Action.” That’s where you and like-minded business leaders committed to the Commonwealth come in, and where we historically have found our key differentiating characteristic from most other organizations, chambers, and foundations.

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The Council is an organization of CEOs and senior executives representing tech-driven businesses, professional services firms, and research institutions who are dedicated to creating and sustaining conditions that support investment, job growth, and improved quality of life in Massachusetts.

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Our members are executives with principled leadership qualities representing growth-oriented, knowledge-intensive businesses and institutions that develop, deliver, and depend on technology and scientific products, services, and innovations to advance their organizational objectives—a definition that covers just about all business enterprises in Massachusetts today.

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The Council advocates for the tech-driven economy in Massachusetts by providing members with opportunities to connect with peers, and by facilitating cooperative relationships and results-focused strategies among senior leaders from industry, finance, academia, and government.

The Council’s Achievements—Unmatched Leadership

Founded in 1977, the Council has consistently led the development and implementation of strategies that shape the most important state, local, and federal policy issues facing technology-focused organizations. The Council’s impact-focused model ensures we are focused on policy issues that are most critical to CEOs and senior executives.

Consistently, the Council steps up (often in a void) to create, execute, and lead critical statewide competitiveness strategies in the courts, in the Legislature, at the ballot box, and in first-in-the-state achievements which include:

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1980: Proposition 2 ½
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1986: Drafted and managed the voter-approved state tax revenue growth limit that returned $3B to taxpayers in 2022
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1992: Wrote the law approved by the Legislature creating the state R&D tax credit
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1996: Conducted the first state-wide retail electricity pilot program for businesses
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2003-2005: Led the federal Base Realignment and Closure strategy at the request of Sen. Kennedy and Gov. Romney to preserve the mission of Hanscom Air Force Base and the Natick Soldier Systems Center
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2007-2008: Council President Chris Anderson appointed to serve as chair of the Massachusetts Board of Education
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2015-2018: Won a Supreme Judicial Court challenge to the proposed new tax amendment to the State Constitution
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2020-2022: To help senior executives and policymakers understand COVID and make the best decisions possible for businesses, employees, and communities in support of a safe and sustained economic recovery, developed the Massachusetts COVID-19 Recovery and Return to the Workplace Framework that shaped the COVID response plan by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and businesses across the state
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2023: Launched MassVision 2050, a multi-year collaboration between private, public, and academic leaders to advance Massachusetts’ global economic leadership. Join colleagues in creating and delivering member-led initiatives across three workstreams
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2024: Launched the Mass Opportunity Alliance (MOA) in September 2024, a first-in-Massachusetts initiative: conceived to create a cross-organizational convening space for the development and execution of research-based communications and public awareness campaigns and strategies to protect and strengthen the competitiveness of the Massachusetts business climate