Two months after she took office, Gov. Maura Healey is now backed up by a full cabinet — at least as it's currently envisioned.
Capping off the slate she’s been gradually building since December, Healey’s final two picks – former state Rep. Jon Santiago as veterans’ services secretary and former Boston Medical Center CEO Kate Walsh as health and human services secretary – were sworn in March 1. Joined by family members in Healey's office, they took ceremonial oaths again last Friday before sitting down for their first full Cabinet meeting.
Gesturing at the members of veterans services organizations who packed the room, Walsh said it was "an honor to be sworn in with this crowd – and thanks, Jon, for bringing a crowd."
The crowd will soon grow bigger. Healey's cabinet is already larger than the one her predecessor, former Gov. Charlie Baker, left office with – and more diverse, with six women and four people of color. She's looking to add one more member, and filed legislation last week that would officially add a secretary of housing and livable communities.
Of Healey's current cabinet, most are Beacon Hill veterans, including several who already proved themselves as trusted deputies working under Healey in the attorney general’s office. Three served in the administration of the state’s last Democrat governor, Deval Patrick, two worked under former Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, and one joins Healey’s team from the Biden Administration.
Suffolk University political science professor Rachael Cobb said Healey's assembled a "competent group of people," with deep and broad knowledge in their fields, from an education secretary with a classroom background to a finance secretary versed in the intracacies of higher education funding – a theme of the first budget he helped build.
"If we want competence in governance, and we in a democracy elected the executive to implement things, they are people in charge of that policy implementation," Cobb said.
The 11 cabinet secretaries are the Healey administration’s top officials, overseeing everything from the state’s Medicaid program to its schools, highways, parks, prisons and cybersecurity systems. Despite years of experience in their fields and in government, many are relatively unknown to the public. Here’s a look at who will have Healey’s ear on some of the most pressing issues facing the state.
Administration and Finance Secretary Matt Gorzkowicz: Healey’s budget chief was her first appointment, and his initial task was crafting her $55.5 billion spending plan. Gorzkowicz joined the administration from the UMass president’s office, where he spent more than a decade as associate vice president of administration and finance. The Winthrop resident has had a long, behind-the-scenes career in state government, with time at the state Senate, Department of Mental Health and School Building Authority. The Executive Office of Administration and Finance is familiar territory for him, too – he served as assistant secretary for budget and later as undersecretary under Gov. Patrick.
Education Secretary Patrick Tutwiler: Tutwiler has seen firsthand what state education policy looks like in the field – he’s worked in the Boston, Westford, Wayland and Lynn school systems, as a history teacher, principal and superintendent. As Lynn's superintendent, he testified last year before the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education about the challenges districts faced as they emerged from the COVID-19 remote learning era. He also helped establish Lynn’s early college program, which is relevant now because Healey wants to expand early college offerings. Before joining the Healey administration, Tutwiler was senior program officer for education at the Barr Foundation, an organization that Healey worked with on various initiatives as attorney general.
Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rebecca Tepper: Tepper is continuing as Healey's top advisor on energy and the environment, coming from her previous role as chief of the energy and environment bureau in the AG's office. Before that, she worked as general counsel for the state Department of Public Utilities, an agency that's now under her purview, and director of the Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board. Tepper, too, has drawn from the AG's office as she staffs up, recently announcing Elizabeth Mahony, a former assistant attorney general, as the new Department of Energy Resources commissioner.
Climate Chief Melissa Hoffer: On Healey’s second day as governor, she signed an executive order creating the cabinet post of climate chief, a national first. Hoffer's job is to advise Healey and lead development and implementation of climate policy across agencies. Again, Healey’s used to hearing from her: Hoffer was chief of the AG’s energy and environment bureau before Tepper, and led Healey’s high-profile climate change litigation against ExxonMobil. Hoffer left the AG’s office to work in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as an appointee of President Joe Biden, and she’s also worked for the Conservation Law Foundation, active advocates on Beacon Hill.
Public Safety and Security Secretary Terrence Reidy: The sole holdover from Gov. Charlie Baker’s cabinet, Reidy has been the state’s top public safety official since July 2021. He, too, has previous Healey ties – he was an assistant attorney general and chief of her enterprise, major and cyber crimes division. Reidy and Healey also teamed up last July to issue guidance clarifying the state’s gun licensing laws in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down a New York law around licenses to carry firearms in public. Earlier in his career, he was an assistant district attorney in Suffolk and Worcester counties.
Economic Development Secretary Yvonne Hao: Without prior public-sector experience, Hao is a bit of an outlier among the secretaries. But she brings to the role more than 25 years of executive business experience, and what Healey described as "a proven record of growing businesses and turning ideas into results." The first woman and first person of color to lead the state's chief economic development agency, Hao has links to the eastern and western parts of the state, with homes in Cambridge and Williamstown. She cofounded Boston investment firm Cove Hill Partners, and her resume also includes prominent positions at venture capital firm Pillar Ventures, online pharmacy PillPack, and Bain Capital.
Labor and Workforce Development Secretary Lauren Jones: This is a homecoming for Jones, formerly communications director for the labor secretariat. Jones held that post during the Patrick administration, when she was also a top aide to Lt. Gov. Tim Murray. After the State House, Jones joined Walsh’s team in Boston City Hall and went on to work for the Massachusetts Business Roundtable. She served on a legislative commission last session that found the state must transform its education and worker training programs "to ensure workers are connected to the jobs of the future" – and make sure people have the childcare, transportation and housing they need to participate in the workforce.
Transportation Secretary Gina Fiandaca: Fiandaca, now in charge of the MBTA, the Registry of Motor Vehicles, and state roads, long had a front-row seat the to the challenges of getting around the state’s capital city, leading Boston’s parking office and later, under former Mayor Walsh, its full transportation department. She’s returning to Massachusetts after a stint as assistant city manager in Austin, Texas, overseeing infrastructure and mobility departments. When she took on that role, she told the Austin American-Statesman that her toughest day on the job in the past was Boston’s winter of 2015, when historic snowfalls walloped the city’s transportation system.
Technology Services and Security Secretary Jason Snyder: Snyder joined Healey's team after almost a decade at Harvard University, where he was most recently chief technology officer. He fills a Cabinet post Gov. Baker created in 2017 to elevate IT and cybersecurity services, and is returning to state government to do so — Snyder was the state's chief technology officer during Gov. Patrick's two terms. He's also worked in the private sector, for the IT service provider CSC Consulting Group.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kate Walsh: While Walsh hasn’t worked for the state before, she’s been an active presence on Beacon Hill for years, testifying on health matters and serving on commissions addressing digital health care, wage equity and more. Walsh and Healey have worked together before on gun safety. The longtime hospital executive is respected in her field – Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association President Steve Walsh (who is not related to Secretary Walsh) described her as "a tireless community advocate, a health equity champion, and a consensus-builder for a complex sector entering a transformational time in care delivery.” Reproductive health advocates also cheered her appointment.
Veterans Services Secretary Jon Santiago: Santiago will be the first veterans secretary to report directly to the governor, the result of a reform law passed after the deadly COVID-19 outbreak at the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home. Having simultaneously served as a state representative from the South End, an ER doctor at Boston Medical Center (where he worked with Secretary Walsh) and a major in the U.S. Army Reserve, he brings a unique set of experiences to the job. He ran for Boston mayor in 2021, touting his crisis-leadership skills. One of the bills Santiago filed this session would increase tax exemption thresholds for veterans, an idea he could continue to advocate for from within the administration.
Have Your Say
GBH News is teaming up with New England Public Media in Western, MA and CAI on the Cape, coast and islands, to take a closer look at Governor Healey's political agenda. We'd like to hear what you think. Do her priorities line up with issues that are top of mind for you? What should she be focusing on? Go to our form and have your say.
