On January 8, 2015, Charlie Baker and Karyn Polito will be sworn in as the next governor and lieutenant governor of the commonwealth.
To prepare, Baker has been assembling a transition team to review the state’s public policy needs. So it’s a great time for early educators, program leaders, advocates and parents to talk to this emerging mix of bi-partisan leaders about the importance of high-quality preschool programs and early literacy.
Polito, a former state representative, will chair the transition team. And Jim Peyser will lead the transition team. Peyser served as the former chairman of the Massachusetts Board of Education and as a special adviser to Governor William Weld.
A State House News article posted on WBUR’s website reports that Baker has created the following committees:
• Schools
• Jobs and the Economy
• State of the State
• Better Government
• Community
• Human Resources, and
• Healthcare
The schools committee will be co-chaired by:
- Marty Meehan, UMass Lowell Chancellor and a former Democratic U.S. representative, and
- Beth Anderson, CEO of the Phoenix Charter Academy Network
The jobs and the economy committee will have three co-chairs:
- Jay Ash, “a Democrat who is Chelsea’s city manager and slated to be Baker’s housing and economic development chief,” according to the State House News.
- Karen Kaplan, the chairman and CEO of the advertising firm Hill Holliday, and
- Roger Crandall, chairman, president and CEO of the Springfield-based Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company
The “state of the state” transition committee co-chairs are:
- Linda Carlisle who served as commissioner of the Department of Social Services, now known as the Department of Children and Families, under Weld, and
- Michael O’Brien, the executive vice president at Winn Companies and former city manager Worcester
The “human resources” committee co-chairs are:
- Deb Hicks, a senior vice president and chief human resources officer at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute who also worked at Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, and
- Danroy Henry, chief of human resources and corporate social responsibility at Bright Horizons, a childcare and early education provider. Henry previously worked at Fleet Boston Financial and Staples
The “better government” committee co-chairs are:
- Stephen Goldsmith, a Harvard Kennedy School professor who served as the former mayor of Indianapolis and deputy mayor of New York, and
- Steve Poftak, executive director of the Rappaport Institute at the Harvard Kennedy School and former research director at the Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research
The “community” transition team co-chairs:
- Robert Lewis Jr., a nonprofit chief who worked for the late Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, and
- Chrystal Kornegay, president and CEO of the nonprofit organization Urban Edge in Roxbury. She also served as a member of Boston Mayor Marty Walsh’s transition team
The “healthcare” committee co-chairs are:
- Deb Enos, Outgoing Neighborhood Health Plan CEO, and
- Keith Hovan, Southcoast Health System President and CEO. Hovan is also the chairman of the Yankee Alliance Supply Chain Solutions
Voters are already speaking up. Boston Globe reporters solicited feedback for Baker that covers transportation, unemployment, and charter schools. So please join in and let Baker and his team know how important high-quality early education and care programs are for children and for the future prosperity of Massachusetts.
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