TEXT: Deval Patrick taps Bosley as economic-development czar

State Rep. Daniel E. Bosley, D-North Adams, was tapped today by Deval
Patrick to be the new adminstration's economic-development czar.
Reproduced below is an email Bosley sent at 6:33 p.m. on Sunday about his
appointment, along with the Patrick-administration news release.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sun, 17 Dec 2006 18:33:40 -0500
From: Dan Bosley <dbosley@bcn.net>
To: VARIOUS
Subject: Deval Patrick's office and Economic Development

Hi,

I apologize for emailing rather than calling all of you, but the Deval Patrick press people wanted to put a press release out and I haven't enough time to reach everyone that I should by phone. And I didn't want you to see this in the paper tomorrow.

A few weeks ago I was interviewed by the Patrick transition team which lead to another interview last week with Deval Patrick. He called me on Thursday and we discussed a position in his office as a special advisor on economic development. I accepted that position today. After 20 years in the Legislature, this was a difficult decision. I have tried to do my best for my district and the entire Berkshire/Franklin Community for every day for those twenty years. This has been a great job. As sad as I am to leave a job that I truly love, I am excited over this new opportunity to make a difference. I view this new job as an opportunity to continue to work for the betterment of our region.

None of us make a difference alone in government. We work with others to make good things happen. I want to thank you for your hard work and support over these many years and I look forward to working with you in my new capacity in the Governor's office.

GOVERNOR-ELECT PATRICK NAMES HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY AND
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ADVISOR; BOWLES SELECTS ENERGY UNDERSECRETARY

Dr. JudyAnn Bigby to Head HHS; Dan Bosley to Serve as Special Advisor to
the Governor for Economic Development; Ann Berwick Added to Energy and
Environment Team

BOSTON - Sunday, December 17, 2006--Continuing to fill out his cabinet with leading talent, Governor-elect Deval Patrick today announced his selection of Dr. JudyAnn Bigby as Secretary of Health and Human Services and Dan Bosley as Special Advisor to the Governor for Economic Development.

"We are entering a very exciting and important time in Massachusetts in health and human services," Governor-elect Patrick said. "We are preparing to implement a groundbreaking health insurance reform law that will affect every single citizen in the Commonwealth, and to rejuvenate our human services delivery systems. I am delighted that Judy is joining our administration to lead these and other initiatives."

About Bosley's appointment, Governor-elect Patrick said, "Dan is a well-respected leader in economic development matters and the ways that government can help support business and job growth. He shares my commitment to ensure that Massachusetts remains strong and competitive in the coming years, and I look forward to his advice and council."

Bosley will coordinate the Governor's "Development Cabinet," which will consist of the secretaries of Housing and Economic Development, Labor and Workforce Development, Energy and Environmental Affairs, and Transportation and Construction, and which will develop and execute specific strategies to expand business and job growth throughout the Commonwealth.

Bosley, 53, is currently serving in his 10th term as the State Representative of the First Berkshire District. Bosley, who was recently reelected to his 11th term in the House, has served as a committee chairman for the past 14 years. Presently, Bosley serves concurrently as a both a member of the Speaker's House Leadership Team and as the House Chairman of the influential Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies. In his first term as the House Chairman of Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies, Bosley has proven to be a key leader in the areas of fiscal policy and economic development. He was the principal House architect of the Commonwealth's precedent-setting stem cell research statute, which has been cited as a national model for such legislation and was instrumental in crafting the recently enacted $347,000,000 economic stimulus legislation, designed to encourage and support the growth and development of business and i!
mprove the state's economy.

In addition to his duties as chairman, Bosley founded the Legislature's Literacy Caucus, which was instrumental in securing the first ever budget appropriation for adult basic education and literacy.

"I am honored to be invited to join this administration and excited about the prospect of working to increase our economic opportunities," Bosley said. "For the past 20 years, I have been working on legislation to increase our economic base in the Commonwealth. I look forward to continuing this work with a Governor who has made it clear that a healthy and growing economy is one of his top priorities."

Bosley is also a former National Chairman of the Council of State Governments (2004) and has served as Chairman of the Council's Eastern Regional Conference (CSG/ERC), its Export Promotion Task Force and as Chair of the Electric Deregulation Task Force.

Bosley holds a Bachelor of Arts in History and Political Science from North Adams State College and a Master of Arts in Public Policy from the University of Massachusetts. He also holds an honorary Doctor of Laws Degree from the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. He lives in North Adams with his wife Laura and his daughter, Stephanie.

MORE ON THE OTHER APPOINTS . . .

Also today, Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary-designate Ian Bowles selected Ann Berwick as his undersecretary of energy, adding another leader to the administration who will work to achieve smarter energy outcomes and protect our environment.

"Ann is exactly the kind of thoughtful public policy entrepreneur the Patrick Administration needs to put Massachusetts on a balanced new path for energy resources," Bowles said. "She has far ranging experience in the public and private sectors -- she has served in major leadership positions in government, but has also played a key strategic advisory role with numerous energy companies on issues like climate change."

Dr. Bigby, 55, is the Medical Director of Community Health Programs at Brigham & Women's Hospital. She is also an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and the Director of the Harvard Medical School Center of Excellence in Women's Health, where she focuses on the health care of low-income and minority women, including breast and cervical cancer and infant mortality.

Dr. Bigby has spent her career addressing health care disparities and the needs of disadvantaged and vulnerable populations. She has published a number of studies and participated in conferences and forums across the country related to these issues. She also edited a book about how health issues present themselves in different racial-ethnic-cultural populations. Dr. Bigby is nationally recognized for her pioneering work in substance abuse education for primary care physicians.

Dr. Bigby serves on the Public Health Commission for the City of Boston (since 1996), Teen Voices, and the Medical Foundation. She was also a member of the Institute of Medicine's committee Assuring the Health of the Public in the 21st Century and the Minority Women's Health Panel of Experts for the Department of Health and Human Services' Office on Women's Health. Dr. Bigby served on the Council of Graduate Medical Education from 1994-1999.

"In this state, where the word reform is on everyone's lips, there are great opportunities for implementing innovations that will improve the health and well-being of all residents of the Commonwealth," Dr. Bigby said. I look forward to serving the Governor because he understands the relationships between health and social conditions and the environment. I am equally excited to be a member of the wonderful team he has assembled."

Dr. Bigby holds a B.A. from Wellesley College and an M.D. from Harvard Medical School. She lives in Jamaica Plain.

Berwick, 59, is a senior Environmental Consultant at M.J. Bradley & Associates, Inc., in Concord. There, she manages the Clean Energy Group, a coalition of major electric generating and distribution companies that advocates for progressive positions on air pollution, energy, and climate policy. Berwick also manages projects concerning air pollutionand energy issues for other clients, including the Environmental Integrity Project, the National Association of Clean Air Agencies, and the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management.

From 1991 to 1996, Berwick served as Chief of the Environmental Protection Division in the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office under Scott Harshbarger, where she also exercised joint oversight of the Massachusetts Environmental Strike Force. Prior to joining the Attorney General's office, Berwick was a partner in the litigation department at Goulston & Storrs. Berwick holds a B.A. from Radcliffe College and a law degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School. She lives in Newton with her husband, Don. They have four grown children, Ben, Dan, Jessica, and Becca.

Contact: Cyndi Roy
413-348-2573
Libby DeVecchi
617-367-2006
press@devalpatrick.com

Williams College lands $300K grant to study "creative economies"

ORIGINAL URL:
http://www.thetranscript.com/localnews/ci_4796839
PUBLISHED: Dec. 7, 2006 01:06:51 PM EST

'Creative economy' research gets boost

By Bonnie Obremski, North Adams Transcript
North Adams Transcript

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- A museum, such as the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, has an effect on its community and, in turn, the community influences the institution. But how does one quantify the give and take? The Institute of Museum and Library Services has given Williams College $334,384 in grant funds this fall to find out.

"People want to know what impact museums have on communities because there is a lot of interest in developing small communities by building an art museum . or a history museum, or a corn-cob museum or whatever," Stephen Sheppard, Williams College economic professor, said Wednesday.

Incoming Massachusetts Gov.-elect Deval Patrick also is interested in the so-called "cultural economy" . one of his 15 working groups discussing policy focuses on creative economy and includes Mass MoCA Director Joseph C. Thompson among its members.

Much of Sheppard's research was funded through its first years by a $350,000 grant from the Ford Foundation. The new grant allows Williams College to reduce Sheppard's teaching schedule so he has time to focus on collecting data. The college will also hire three to five summer research assistants for the project. Sheppard said the positions will be open to any applicants but are usually filled by Williams students. He said new data might also help organizations such as the Berkshire Creative Economy Steering Committee.

Sheppard obtained the grant, which will be spent over a three-year period, on behalf of his organization, the Williams College Center for Creative Community Development (C3D), based at Mass MoCA. His project will perform in-depth analysis of 16 museums and communities, as yet unnamed, around the United States. According to Sheppard, who spoke during an interview at Tunnel City Coffee on Spring Street Tuesday, knowing the relationship between a community and its museums can show leaders of both how to serve one another better.

He's been deciphering the relationship since 2004, but the new funds will take his research to a national level. Once he collects data from museums across the country, he said, those in Berkshire County might use it to set an example on how to foster positive community relations while also learning how to further improve. "This is a wonderful chance to study a backyard attraction in a way that will gain national attention," Sheppard said.

C3D has compiled several reports analyzing the relationship between Mass MoCA and North Adams. In the organization's first report, completed in 2004, data indicated real-estate values had increased 10 percent for property near the museum, and occupancy turnover rate in surrounding neighborhoods saw a significant decrease in the five years the museum had been open. More than 800 new jobs in the city were created by the museum and by businesses serving it, such as the Holiday Inn on Main Street and a number of restaurants, making a dent into the more than a thousand lost when the Sprague Electric Co. closed some 20 years ago in the same factory space.

The museum also has lured established and up-and-coming artists to the area and sparked the opening of galleries and studios, which in turn has led to greater demand for appropriate housing . in long-empty mills and Victorian dwellings. While the anecdotal evidence seems to prove that a cultural destination can be an economic engine, Sheppard's research aims to provide hard facts for other communities seeking renewal through art.

In evaluating The Colonial theater in Pittsfield, one of its first projects, C3D predicted that project would bring in nearly $2 million per year in direct economic developments to the city. A New York Times article about the theater quoted Pittsfield Mayor James Ruberto as saying the study "quantified what we felt instinctively, that the theater would indeed make economic sense."

Sheppard's past research also contributed to the "counting on culture" search engine tool on www.newenglandarts.org, which displays statistics demonstrating the economic impact of arts organizations in several communities in the state. "We want to inform discussions on development and improve the quality of the decisions that are made," Sheppard said. He said his interests lie beyond Mass MoCA and even beyond art museums, but he does classify Mass MoCA as "special" and as a place that inspires an interesting debate:

"Is it successful because it's in Berkshire County, which has a longtime history as a cultural resort?" he asked. "Or would it be even more successful if it was in a different location, where it did not have to compete for attention with other institutions?"

Northern Berkshire is also the home of the Williams College Museum of Art and the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Countywide, there's the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, the historic Hancock Shaker Village, the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield and a range of other cultural and historic sites, such as Edith Wharton's The Mount in Lenox. Some of the reasons Mass MoCA is special, Sheppard said, is because it transformed an industrial space into an art space and often combines its visual art with performance art. "It's not a traditional art gallery . it's out there," he said. "It doesn't have a permanent collection, and they'll have reggae dance parties."

(Mass MoCA will soon have a somewhat permanent collection, however, as it expands into another 27,000 square feet of gallery space in $6 million project over the next year. The space will host 50 pieces of work by Sol LeWitt for 25 years.)

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