MassDevelopment Board Names New President & CEO

April 14, 2011

Contacts:
Kelsey Abbruzzese, MassDevelopment, 617-330-2086 & 617-448-9077
Kimberly Haberlin, EOHED, 617-788-3652 & 617-519-0607

BOSTON – MassDevelopment Board Chair Greg Bialecki today announced that experienced real estate developer Marty Jones has been selected by the MassDevelopment Board for the position of President and CEO. Jones’s appointment is in keeping with the Patrick-Murray Administration’s efforts to restructure the state’s quasi-public authorities, better aligning their focus with the administration’s economic development policies and bringing salaries and benefits in line with the recent recommendations of a commission charged with studying compensation levels at the Commonwealth’s independent agencies.

“Marty’s career in the private sector has focused on bringing projects with significant public benefits to life,” said MassDevelopment Board Chair and Secretary of Housing & Economic Development Bialecki. “She is the right person at the right time to lead an agency that plays a significant role in achieving our larger economic development goals of revitalizing communities and expanding opportunity throughout the Commonwealth.”

“I am grateful to Secretary Bialecki and the MassDevelopment board for giving me the opportunity to serve the Commonwealth in this challenging and worthwhile capacity,” said Jones. “I will bring more than 30 years of real estate and government experience to bear in my new role, and I am especially excited to be joining MassDevelopment at a time when the administration has made developing a more coordinated and effective approach to economic development a priority.”

A senior executive with proven leadership, management and financial skills, Jones has spent decades leading mission-focused real estate organizations. Currently president of Corcoran Jennison Company, Inc. based in Boston, Jones has managed staff and project teams for new development projects that have transformed communities; directed asset management for multifamily portfolios, including fiscal performance reviews, refinancing, project sales and investor relations; chaired a joint venture between Corcoran Jennison and Beacon Communities, building a portfolio of over 1.300 mixed-income housing units; and directed all aspects of the Westminster Company – a 175-employee operation with 66 properties and 5,000 apartment units in North and South Carolina and gross annual revenues in excess of $40 million. Jones also served in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in both the Washington, DC and Boston offices. She is a board member of NAIOP Massachusetts, advisory board member of the Women’s Institute for Housing and Economic Development and Jury Chair of the Urban Land Institute’s National Awards for Excellence. She also serves as Treasurer of New England Women in Real Estate (NEWIRE) and is a member of The Boston Club. Jones graduated from Brown University and resides in Winchester.

The MassDevelopment Board also voted to set Jones’s salary at $215,000, a significant reduction from her predecessor’s. Chairman Bialecki has indicated that compensation packages for senior executives at quasi-public authorities will be in keeping with the administration’s efforts to deliver cost-savings by adhering to the recommendations of the Crosby Report. Released in 2009, the Crosby Report outlined a plan to address excessive salaries and benefits for executives at independent agencies.

MassDevelopment, the state’s finance and development agency works with businesses, financial institutions and communities to stimulate economic growth across the Commonwealth. During FY2010, MassDevelopment financed or managed 238 projects in 104 communities across the state generating investment of nearly $1.4 billion in the Massachusetts economy. Last year, the administration and legislature merged the functions of the Massachusetts Health and Education Facilities Authority into MassDevelopment, a move that has reduced headcount and is saving more than $2 million annually.