In February, the CREW Boston Public Strategies Committee met MassDevelopment President and CEO Lauren Liss during the first lunch edition of the committee’s speaker series. Lauren, who joined the Agency in September 2017, discussed her experience in the public and private sector, as she served as Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner and as a partner at Rubin and Rudman. Lauren also detailed MassDevelopment’s various finance and development initiatives. The Agency is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2018 and, as Lauren mentioned, has taken on several interesting programs: the Transformative Development Initiative for Gateway Cities; the Site Readiness Program to boost the Commonwealth’s inventory of large, development-ready sites; and redevelopment of surplus properties such as Devens, Village Hill Northampton, and Carriage Grove in Belchertown. The committee also discussed how transit-oriented development has evolved, since Lauren worked for the Commonwealth at the Executive Office of Transportation and Construction.
As Lauren said about MassDevelopment, “We do a lot with a really talented staff and a lot of geography.” All in a day’s work for what she dubbed the best job in state government.
MassDevelopment, the state’s finance and development agency, works with businesses, nonprofits, financial institutions, and communities to stimulate economic growth across the Commonwealth. During FY2017, MassDevelopment financed or managed 377 projects generating investment of more than $4.3 billion in the Massachusetts economy. These projects are projected to create about 9,488 jobs and build or rehabilitate 1,863 residential units.
