WATERTOWN, MA – MassEcon elected Denise McGeough, Senior Vice President at Citizens, as its new chair, succeeding Stephen Flavin, Senior Director of Strategic Alliances at Harvard Business School, who held the post for two terms.
McGeough becomes the third female chair of MassEcon since its establishment 27 years ago and its first in over a decade. Bonnie Sullivan, Vice President at Middlesex Savings Bank, will succeed McGeough as Vice Chair of MassEcon.
Two new Directors were elected to the MassEcon board at its Annual Meeting this month, along with the six re-elected to the board and named as Officers and Executive Committee members.
“I look forward to working closely with the team at MassEcon as chair,” said McGeough. “Companies around the world have faced unforeseen challenges over the past year, but the vaccines offer renewed hope and Massachusetts companies have played a key role in developing the solution. Our mission at Citizens and the work I do every day is to help companies and citizens in Massachusetts thrive, so taking on the role as Chair is a natural extension of my professional priorities. At Citizens, we have worked tirelessly to help our clients get through the pandemic, including providing more than $1.4 billion Paycheck Protection Program loans to Massachusetts companies in need.”
The new Directors elected to the Board are: Michael Vedovelli, Manager for Community Relations – Massachusetts, Eversource Energy and Jessica Strunkin, Senior Vice President, Devens.
Re-elected to the Board are: Michael DiGiano, Executive Vice President and Principal, Hunneman Commercial; Geoff Howell, Partner, DLA Piper LLP US; Dorrian Cohen Fragola, Vice President of Marketing and Business Development, Janitronics Building Services; Denise McGeough, Senior Vice President, Middle Market Banking, Citizens Bank; Lauren Liss, current President and CEO, MassDevelopment; Christopher Steele, Vice President – Advisory, Conway.
In addition to the chair and vice chair officers, Mike Scott, Co-Managing Partner at Nutter McClennen & Fish LLP was elected Treasurer; Geoff Howell, a Partner at DLA Piper LLP, was elected Clerk; Dorrian Cohen Fragola, Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at Janitronics Building Services was elected Assistant Clerk. Stephen Flavin will serve as Immediate past Chair of MassEcon.
In her role as MassEcon Chair, Denise McGeough will serve in the same role with the affiliated Massachusetts Economic Development Foundation, along with Mike Scott as Treasurer, and Geoff Howell as Clerk.
“Denise has been a star as a board director and I am certain that she will be a great chair,” stated David Begelfer of CRE Strategies, who has served as a MassEcon board director since 1993. “We are also grateful for Stephen Flavin’s indefatigable service. In his three years as chair, he shown exceptional leadership through the organization’s transition of executive directors and this most challenging pandemic.”
The Annual Meeting was held via virtually, and attended by 40 members. Board Members and other MassEcon members in attendance reviewed highlights of a successful year, in which MassEcon provided assistance to 51 companies associated with approximately 6,400 jobs in Massachusetts, representing life sciences, manufacturing, food processing, distribution, and more.
Users of MassEcon’s Site finder Service sought more than 4.7 million square feet of space and more than 470 acres of land. Among the companies moving to or expanding in Massachusetts are Ultragenyx in Bedford, Vibalogics in Boxboro, Tufts/Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare in Canton, and Rangine Corp. in Westborough. Among the companies served by MassEcon, 8% were international, 34% were out-of-state, and 58% were from within Massachusetts. Read the Annual Report here.
MassEcon is the convener/host of the MassLeads meetings with MassDevelopment, EOHED, MOBD, MLSC, MOITI, and MGCF. New MassEcon members this year include Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc., Business Development Strategies, Galaxy Life Sciences, KLR Executive Search Group LLC, Middlesex3 Coalition, OpenCape, Park Street Strategies, The Gutierrez Company, and The Richmond Group.
