PERSONNEL FILE - FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 2018

STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE3/23/18 6:17 PM

...The governor's office has a new communications aide and the Executive Office of Administration and Finance turned to a long-time journalist to fill the role of communications director...the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce elected a new chairman of the board...Sen. Patrick O'Connor has a new staff member....MassBIO hired its first director of diversity and inclusion...and the campaign pushing the repeal of the transgender public accommodations law has a new chair...Enjoy these items and more in the latest Personnel File.

JULIE MEHEGAN, a longtime journalist who was the deputy editorial page editor of the Boston Herald for more than a decade, is joining the Baker administration next month as the communications director for the Executive Office of Administration and Finance. Mehegan spent almost 13 years at the Herald, which was recently sold to Digital First Media, after writing for The Sun, of Lowell, and a weekly newspaper in Marshfield. During her five years at The Sun, Mehegan covered Tewksbury and Wilmington before joining the newspaper's State House bureau. Prior to her career in journalism, Mehegan - whose father Peter Mehegan was the longtime host of Chronicle - worked as operations manager in the press office of Gov. William Weld and in the marketing department of the law firm Ropes & Gray. She will be taking the place of SARAH FINLAW, who is leaving the budget office to become deputy communications director in Gov. Charlie Baker's press office. The former deputy comms director – Brendan Moss – was recently promoted to press secretary. Finlaw, who starts Monday in her new role, interned for Rep. Kimberly Ferguson before she went to work at the Connecticut State Capitol as a legislative aide to House Republicans. Finlaw is a graduate of Boston College, while Mehegan graduated from Holy Cross.

Brandeis University on Wednesday announced the appointment of BARRY SHRAGE as professor of the practice in the Hornstein Jewish Professional Leadership Program. For the past 30 years, SHRAGE has served as president of Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston. In his new post, he will train and mentor students and help further the program's role as "the premier training ground for future Jewish professional leaders," according to Brandeis. Shrage will also lead a new initiative on Jewish identity, which will be housed at the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies/Steinhardt Social Research Institute. A graduate of the City College of New York, he holds a master's degree in social work from Boston University and an honorary degree from Brandeis.

EDIE STRINGFELLOW will serve as the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council's first director of diversity and inclusion, where she will drive strategy and manage implementation of MassBio's initiative to improve diversity in the life sciences industry. Previously, she was marketing director for We are Allies, a non-profit focused on fighting the stigma around opioid addiction, and director of patient recruitment and retention strategies at the clinical research agency ClinEdge. A former Emerson College adjunct professor, Stringfellow has also held communication, marketing and business development roles at Philip Morris, Lawyers Weekly, Nutter LLP and the Boston Business Journal. She serves on the J1 Advisory Board at the Irish International Immigrant Center.

The Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce has elected PAUL AYOUB, a longtime partner at the Boston Law firm Nutter, as its new board chairman. Ayoub will begin his two-year term on July 1, taking over for outgoing chair NAVJOT SINGH. Ayoub has been on the board for almost 20 years and serves as the chamber's general counsel and co-chair the Regional Real Estate Development Leadership Council. He also serves on the national board of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and ALSAC, the fundraising and awareness organization for St. Jude, and is the immediate past chair of the ALSAC Board. The chamber's board also named five vice chairs: DONNA CUPELO of Verizon, JOHN FARINA of PwC, WALTER PRINCE of Prince Lobel, JERRY SARGENT of Citizens Bank of Massachusetts, and MICHO SPRING of Weber Shandwick.

ANTHONY ANDRONICO recently joined Sen. Patrick O'Connor's office as communications director. A member of the Quincy School Committee, Andronico previously worked a the Cambridge-based market research company Forrester. He is a 2015 graduate of Emmanuel College and was an intern for O'Neill & Associates, the Massachusetts Republican Party, and Gov. Charlie Baker's constituent services office.

JVS Boston, the Boston region's largest workforce development organization, has hired KEILA BARROS as vice president of human resources. Barros, who will join JVS from a job as director of people and culture operations at Suffolk Construction, will begin on April 2. She previously worked as a human resources manager at The Bridgespan Group and The Salvation Army, and in human resources at Massachusetts General Hospital and New England Baptist Hospital. A lifelong resident of Dorchester, Barros holds a degree from Boston College.

DAMON COX has joined the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development as assistant secretary for technology, innovation and entrepreneurship. Cox, a Hyde Park resident, was most recently The Boston Foundation's senior director of economic development and entrepreneurship and focused on investmenting in women and minorities starting businesses. He also held positions at Boston Small Business Competition and Boston Rising, providing capital and technical assistance to aspiring entrepreneurs in Boston's inner-city neighborhoods. The University of North Florida grad's earlier career was in the entertainment industry including 10 years at Universal Records in New York City.

National Grid announced that it has hired KEVIN O'SHEA to serve as its U.S. communications and policy manager, a position in which the University of Loyola Chicago alumnus will be responsible for corporate media relations, policy development and advocacy. O'Shea began his career as an aide to former U.S. Senator Scott Brown in Washington, D.C., and later worked in communications positions for the Department of Conservation and Recreation and the Department of Energy Resources under the Baker-Polito administration.

The ACLU of Massachusetts hired KATE LAGRECA as associate communications director. Lagreca previously worked for Northwind Strategies for four years as a senior account executive. Prior to Northwind, she was a press intern for Gov. Deval Patrick and an assistant to the Massachusetts press secretary for John Kerry when he was a U.S. senator.

The campaign pushing the repeal of the transgender public accommodations law this week named DEBORAH DUGAN of Watertown to replace Chanel Prunier as chair of the ballot question committee, Keep MA Safe. "The Transgender Bathroom and Locker room law most negatively impacts women across our state, endangering their safety and privacy. We're very encouraged that strong women like Debby are getting more involved, stepping forward to help lead our effort," Prunier said in a statement. Prunier plans to remain involved in an "advisory and background role," according to the campaign. Dugan was a school board member in New Jersey from 1991 to 2003, according to the ballot committee. In Massachusetts, she served as secretary to the Watertown Republican Town Committee and as an election commissioner in Watertown. In 2016, she was elected as the Republican State Committeewoman serving the Second Suffolk and Middlesex District. In January, Freedom for All Massachusetts, the campaign fighting to protect the state’s transgender public accommodations protections law from repeal, named PHIL SHERWOOD campaign manager. "We are assembling a team that will ensure we are doing all that is necessary to claim victory on election night," Kasey Suffredini, campaign co-chair, said at the time. "We did not ask for this fight, but we are ready for it and we are determined to win."

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03/23/2018

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