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Gregory P. Bialecki, Chair

Secretary, Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development

Gregory P. Bialecki is Massachusetts’ Secretary of Housing and Economic Development. Prior to serving in this capacity, Mr. Bialecki had been Undersecretary for Business Development. He has more than 20 years’ experience as a real estate development and environmental lawyer at the law firms of Hill & Barlow and DLA Piper Rudnick, where he focused on major urban redevelopment projects in the Greater Boston area. He also worked extensively with public agencies, non-profit organizations and private landowners on land conservation and open space protection in the Commonwealth. Mr. Bialecki is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School.

David M. Abromowitz

Partner, Goulston & Storrs

David M. Abromowitz is a partner in the law firm Goulston & Storrs, where he has worked on a variety of economic development and community revitalization initiatives, particularly involving housing and historic tax credit investment, HUD-assisted housing, public housing revitalization, assisted living, community land trusts, shared-equity homeownership, multifamily rental housing development, planned homeownership communities, and other multi-layered public/private projects.

A Senior Fellow at American Progress, where he focuses on housing policy and related issues, Mr. Abromowitz is a past chair and founding member of both the Lawyers’ Clearinghouse on Affordable Housing and Homelessness and of the American Bar Association’s Forum Committee on Affordable Housing and Community Development. He is a board member of the National Housing and Rehabilitation Association, and a member of the Multifamily Leadership Board of the National Association of Home Builders. Mr. Abromowitz co-chaired the Housing Policy Working Group of then Governor-elect Deval Patrick and has served on other housing advisory groups for public officials including Mayor Tom Menino. He serves on a number of charitable boards, including YouthBuild USA, The Equity Trust, Jewish Community Housing for the Elderly, and B’nai B’rith New England. Mr. Abromowitz also served as a board member of the National Economic Development and Law Center based in Oakland, CA.

A former adjunct professor at Northeastern Law School, Mr. Abromowitz received his BA from Princeton University and his JD from Harvard Law School. Mr. Abromowitz was appointed to the MassDevelopment Board of Directors in May 2009.

Gerald D. Cohen

President, SF Properties, Inc.

Gerald D. Cohen is a founding partner of SSG Development, LLC, and founder and manager of SF Properties, LLC, SF Properties, Inc., (“SF Properties”), and CGI Companies with expertise in financing, leasing, developing, and managing real estate. Mr. Cohen is in charge of financing and strategic planning for SSG Development. In addition, he operates more than 30 properties consisting of shopping centers, downtown store blocks, and office buildings. SF Properties has extensive experience in the renovation and restoration of properties throughout Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.

Mr. Cohen was an organizer of Commonwealth National Bank, a nationally chartered bank in Worcester. He currently serves as a member of its Executive Committee, chairman of Nominating and Governance Committee, and the Board of Directors. Mr. Cohen also serves as a member of the Board of Overseers at The Children’s Hospital in Boston; a member of Kellogg’s Graduate School of Management’s Real Estate Research Center Advisory Board and the Kellogg Alumni Advisory Board; a member of Brown University’s Corporation Committee on Facilities and Design and its Strategic Long Range Committee and Chairman of the Real Estate Sub-Committee; an overseer of the Museum of Science; and member of the Executive Board of the New England Anti-Defamation League. He is a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers and a licensed Massachusetts and New York real estate broker. From 1989 to 1991, he was a member of the Massachusetts Health and Educational Facilities Authority Board.

A graduate of Brown University, Mr. Cohen received his MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management. Mr. Cohen was appointed to the MassDevelopment Board of Directors in November 2007.

Jay Gonzalez

Secretary, Executive Office of Administration and Finance

Jay Gonzalez serves as Secretary of the Executive Office for Administration and Finance. Prior to his appointment, he served as undersecretary, overseeing the development of Governor Patrick’s first-ever 5-year capital investment plan, managing certain aspects of the state’s implementation of the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and working with the Executive Office of Transportation on the Governor’s historic transportation reform initiative.

As undersecretary, he was also responsible for overseeing collective bargaining with state employee unions. Additionally, through his membership on several important boards and commissions, Secretary Gonzalez has worked on several of the Governor’s key priorities, including expanded Broadband, housing and renewable energy. He has also served as a member of the Board of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority and the Massachusetts Water Pollution Abatement Trust.

Prior to joining the Patrick-Murray Administration, Secretary Gonzalez was a Partner at the law firm Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge LLP, where his practice focused on public finance. He served as counsel to cities, towns, school districts and governmental entities throughout New England in connection with the financing and development of major capital projects and other governmental programs. He assisted with a wide array of projects, including the construction of schools and other public buildings, land conservation and various other municipal infrastructure improvements.

Secretary Gonzalez graduated cum laude from Dartmouth College, where he received his B.A. in Government. He later graduated cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center. He lives in Brookline with his wife and two daughters.

Christopher E. Goode

Vice President, Global Corporate Affairs & Public Policy, EMC Corp.

Christopher E. Goode is Senior Director of Corporate Government & Community Affairs & Public Policy at EMC Corporation, the world leader in information storage systems, software, networks, and services. In this position, Mr. Goode is responsible for representing the interests of EMC on various state and federal public policy issues of importance to EMC’s competitiveness and to the long-term health of Massachusetts’ economy, as well as supporting the approval processes for the various real estate development projects in Massachusetts that are of importance to EMC’s long-term growth objectives.

In addition, Mr. Goode manages EMC’s Office of Global Corporate Community Involvement, where he oversees EMC’s philanthropic support for education reform, improvements to math and science education, efforts to reduce violence and support conflict resolution, and other local and global philanthropic activities.

During his twenty years in the public policy field, Mr. Goode previously was the Director of Public Policy at the Massachusetts Business Roundtable, an organization of eighty of Massachusetts’ leading chief executives, where he led the Roundtable’s efforts on major issues of long term importance to Massachusetts, ranging from education reform to transportation infrastructure improvement. Prior to that, Mr. Goode served as Director of State Relations at Boston University, where he led initiatives on real estate development, state scholarship aid, the Boston University/Chelsea Schools Partnership, and other issues.

Mr. Goode graduated from the Boston Latin School and Holy Cross College. He was appointed to the MassDevelopment Board of Directors in October 2006.

Matthew J. Gorzkowicz

Undersecretary, Executive Office for Administration and Finance, Designee for Secretary Jay Gonzalez

Matthew J. Gorzkowicz is the Undersecretary of the Executive Office for Administration and Finance. He serves as the designee for Secretary of Administration and Finance Jay Gonzalez.

Michael Hunter

Undersecretary of Business Development, Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development

Michael Hunter is the Undersecretary of Business Development at the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development. He was formerly an Assistant Vice President at DMJM/Harris (a firm specializing in transportation and infrastructure) managing mixed use real estate projects. Mr. Hunter has held a number of management and business development positions over the last several years in the public and private sectors including Real Estate Manager for supermarket retailer Supervalu, Deputy Director for Institutional Real Estate for the Boston Redevelopment Authority, and a Public Finance specialist at the former Bank of Boston. Mr. Hunter began his career in Boston as a Strategic Planner for the Governor’s Office of Economic Development in the administration of Governor Michael Dukakis. He earned a B.A in Political Science from Holy Cross and Master’s in Management from the Heller School at Brandeis University.

John F. (Jay) Hurley

President, Iron Workers District Council of New England

John F. (Jay) Hurley is 6th General Vice President of the Iron Workers International Union in Washington, DC and President of the Iron Workers District Council of New England. He also serves as a commissioner on the City of Boston Zoning Commission. He possesses 19 years of hands-on field experience in all aspects of the steel construction industry.

His executive duties include fiduciary responsibility as a trustee of the Iron Workers District Council of New England Health and Welfare Fund and Iron Clad Insurance. He is a Vice-President of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO and Co-chairman of the Ironworkers/Management Progressive Action Cooperative Trust (IMPACT) for Region 1 (New England) and a member of IMPACT’s national board of directors.

Mr. Hurley is active in numerous philanthropic endeavors with nonprofit entities around New England. He was appointed to the MassDevelopment Board of Directors in November 2008.

W. Estella Johnson

Director of Economic Development, City of Cambridge

W. Estella Johnson is Director of Economic Development for the City of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Prior to joining the City of Cambridge, Ms. Johnson spent nine years as President and CEO of the Gate City Community Development Corporation of Greensboro, NC where she focused on small business development for women and minorities, housing development for low-to-moderate income families, workforce development, and community outreach initiatives. Previously, she served as Assistant Commissioner of Economic Development for the City of Chicago. There she worked with numerous business associations and community groups, assisting them in implementing neighborhood development projects.

In addition to housing and community development expertise, Ms. Johnson’s background includes banking and college administration. She worked as a senior management analyst for Continental Illinois National Bank and as an academic and admissions counselor for the University of Rochester.

Ms. Johnson has held office on boards including the Cambridge YWCA, and served as Vice Chair of the Women’s Resource Center and Board Secretary of the N.C. Association of Community Development Corporations. She is a past member of the Yerevan Sister City Association Board.

Her awards and recognitions include Harvard Square Business Association Community Preservation Award, City of Greensboro Human Relations Housing Award for 2001, Greensboro Chamber of Commerce 1998 Small Business Advocate of the Year Award, and the Golden Eagle Award from Dudley Products in 1997.

Ms. Johnson received a Bachelor of Arts in Social Psychology from Connecticut College and holds a Master’s in Public Administration from American University.

Dennis R. Kanin

Co-Founder and Principal, New Boston Ventures LLC

Dennis Kanin is co-Founder and principal of New Boston Ventures LLC, a Boston-based residential real estate development firm that has been active since 1985 in both new construction of market-rate and affordable housing and in the preservation and adaptive reuse of historic structures.

From 1985 to 2009, Mr. Kanin was also a partner and later of counsel in the Boston law firm Foley Hoag. There, Mr. Kanin was a member of the government and legislative practice area and was coordinator of the firm’s Public/Private Strategies Group.

Mr. Kanin has been actively involved in both government and politics over the last few decades. He was campaign manager for the 1992 Presidential campaign of former U.S. Senator Paul Tsongas. From 1975 to 1985, he served as Mr. Tsongas’s chief of staff in the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives.

Mr. Kanin has also been active in community and civic organizations. He is currently president of the Board of Trustees of The Roxbury Latin School, where he has served as a trustee since 2000. He has also served as New England chair and National Washington Affairs chair of the Anti-Defamation League, vice president of the Board of the Epiphany School, co-chair of the Children’s Hospital’s Advocacy Campaign Advisory Group and member of its Board Committee on Community Service, director of the New England Council, Advisory Board member of the Environmental League of Massachusetts, and member of the Investor Advisory Board of Energy Clean Solutions.

Mr. Kanin is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School.

Richard Kronish

University of Massachusetts Boston (retired)

Richard Kronish served for many years as an associate professor at UMass-Boston as well as Chairman of the Board of the First Trade Union Bank. He is founder and president of the Research Foundation for the Treatment of Ovarian Cancer and a special assistant to the New England Carpenters Labor-Management Program. He also serves as a board member of the Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance and of the Newton Housing Authority. A board member of the Massachusetts Industrial Finance Agency and MassDevelopment from 1992-1999, Mr. Kronish has a B.A. from the University of California, and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin. Mr. Kronish was appointed to the MassDevelopment Board of Directors in March 2010.

Meghan T. Lynch

Senior Analyst, Abt Associates, Inc.

Meghan T. Lynch is a Senior Analyst at Abt Associates, Inc. She specializes in human health risk assessment, including quantifying human variability in response to toxicants and incorporating this information into the current risk assessment framework. Dr. Lynch also has expertise in reviewing and utilizing the toxicological and epidemiologic literature for environmental policy and benefit-cost analysis. She also has several years of professional experience in brownfields redevelopment field work and analysis.

She is the former Project Manager for the Worcester Business Development Corporation, a partner in the Gateway Park Brownfields Redevelopment project. This project received the 2007 EPA Region I Phoenix Award. The co-author of seven published journal articles and a patent holder, Dr. Lynch has also worked for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and in the pharmaceutical industry. Dr. Lynch has a BA in chemistry from the College of the Holy Cross, and an MPH and a D.Sc. from the Boston University School of Public Health.

Dr. Lynch was appointed to the MassDevelopment Board in November 2008.