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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.

Katherine P. Craven

Executive Director, Massachusetts School Building Authority

Katherine P. Craven is Executive Director of the Massachusetts School Building Authority. She most recently served as Director of Policy for the Massachusetts House of Representatives where she provided counsel to the Speaker and members of the House on major legislative initiatives, including the financing of the $7 billion state Medicaid program and the Uncompensated Care Pool, the Commonwealth’s $23 billion annual operating budget, the 2003 Economic Stimulus Act, the 2003 municipal relief package, and billions of dollars in capital bond bills.

Prior to assuming this role, Ms. Craven served as Deputy Budget Director for the House Committee on Ways and Means, the legislative committee charged with analysis of more than 5,000 pieces of legislation with a fiscal impact, including budget and tax matters. In addition to working on school building assistance reform in 2004, Ms. Craven helped draft the first major comprehensive reform of the school building assistance program in 2000. She has lectured on the intricacies of the state budget at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and the Donahue Institute of the University of Massachusetts. She is a graduate of Harvard University and Boston Latin School.

Ms. Craven serves on the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Association for Mental Health and has been nominated as a member of the Board of Incorporators for Partners Healthcare, Inc. She was appointed to the MassDevelopment board in March 2005.

Jay Gonzalez

Undersecretary, Executive Office of Administration and Finance

Jay Gonzalez currently serves as the Undersecretary of Administration and Finance. In this capacity, he is responsible for developing and overseeing the state’s capital finance program and serves as the Secretary’s designee on the boards of a number of public authorities and agencies.

Prior to joining the Patrick Administration, Mr. Gonzalez was a partner at Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge LLP where he served as counsel to hundreds of cities, towns, school districts, and other governmental entities throughout New England in connection with the financing and development of major capital projects and other governmental programs. He has assisted governmental entities with a wide array of public projects, including the construction of schools and other municipal buildings, water and sewer projects, economic development projects, land conservation, transportation projects, and other municipal infrastructure improvements. Mr. Gonzalez also served as general counsel to a number of municipal and other governmental and quasi-governmental entities, primarily on finance-related matters.

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

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

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

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.