#2022-23 November 18, 2022

Governor- Elect Healey Names Transition Director, 15 Co-Chairs

A former EPA administrator, the head of a major business group, and a former MBTA Board member are among the appointees that Governor-elect Maura Healey (D- Cambridge) chose to help lead six policy committees on a transition effort that will be directed by Danielle Cerny.

The committees are built around the topics of housing, transportation, climate and energy, jobs and the economy, youth and young adults, and safe and healthy communities.  The topics alone may shed light on areas where Healey is likely developing governing plans before she takes office in January, and her appointees offer some insight into people that Healey trusts to help advance her agenda, both immediately and perhaps into 2023.

Cerny, the newly announced transition director, is a former deputy chief of staff to former Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo and most recently served as a visiting fellow at the Rappaport Institute.  Cerny has ties to Massachusetts state government and the Baker administration.  Her tenure working with Raimondo in Rhode Island included a year and a half as chief performance officer before eight months as deputy chief of staff.

The transition’s “How We Get Around” committee will be led by two former MBTA insiders: former MassDOT board member and MBTA Fiscal and Management Control Board Vice Chair, Monica Tibbits-Nutt; and former Massport CEO and MBTA General Manager Thomas Glynn.  That policy group will focus on “safe, reliable, affordable” statewide transportation infrastructure.  Tibbits-Nutt is currently executive director of the 128 Business Council, and Glynn, who managed the T under Governor Michael Dukakis, is an adjunct lecturer at the Harvard Kennedy School.

An “Affordable, Abundant Housing” panel will be chaired by Housing Assistance Corporation CEO Alisa Magnotta, Way Finders CEO Keith Fairey, and Stephen Davis, co-president of real estate firm The Davis Companies.

Former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy and Lizzi Weyant of the Metropolitan Area Planning Council will co-chair a “Climate Readiness, Resiliency and Adaptation” committee.  McCarthy, who was EPA administrator in the Obama administration, earlier in her career served under Republican governors as assistant secretary of the state Executive Office of Environmental Affairs.

A jobs and economy panel will feature leaders with workforce development, business, and union perspectives: Massachusetts AFL-CIO Chief of Staff Chrissy Lynch, Massachusetts Business Roundtable CEO JD Chesloff, Berkshire Black Economic Council President A.J. Enchill, and Bunker Hill Community College President Pam Eddinger.

Worcester Public Schools Superintendent Rachel Monárrez and Latinos For Education CEO Amanda Fernandez, will lead a policy committee looking at how to “address learning loss from the pandemic and give all children and families equitable access to the educational, social, emotional and behavioral supports they need.”

Rounding out the committees, former Boston Civic Engagement Chief Aisha Miller will lead a “Safe And Healthy Communities For All Ages” policy group with Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers CEO Michael Curry.  Curry co-chaired the Legislature’s Health Equity Task Force in 2020-2021.  The committee’s agenda includes looking at ways to increase “access to critical community health resources, including mental health supports and substance use recovery services.”

The Healey transition has set up online forms for people interested in seeking jobs in the new administration or submitting policy ideas.

Unemployment Rate Up to 3.5 Percent Last Month

On Friday, state labor officials reported that the statewide unemployment rate ticked upward slightly in October to 3.5 percent while employers added another 9,800 jobs, building on strong job growth in September.

After a steady stretch of improvement, the unemployment rate increased by one-tenth of a percentage point from 3.4 percent in September, the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development announced.  The Massachusetts rate stood two-tenths of a point lower than the national unemployment rate of 3.7 percent in October.

Total employment in Massachusetts increased by 9,800 jobs in October, and labor officials on Friday revised the September job growth upward from the originally reported figure of 13,800 to 22,900 positions.

Sectors with the largest month-over-month gains were financial activities, professional, scientific and business services, and government.  Construction, education and health services, leisure and hospitality, and manufacturing all lost jobs in October.

While Massachusetts continues to inch closer, the state still has not fully recovered all jobs shed during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.  Official labor data indicate Massachusetts had 3,740,100 nonfarm employees in February 2020, nearly 30,000 more than last month.