BOSTON – Friday, December 15, 2006-In a first glimpse at the cabinet reorganization the new administration will undertake, Governor-elect Deval Patrick today announced his selection of Ian Bowles as Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs and Dan O’Connell as Secretary of Housing and Economic Development. These appointments mark the second and third cabinet announcements of the Patrick-Murray administration, and reflect the Governor-elect’s intention to align cabinet functions with his vision of how best to move the Commonwealth forward.
“Energy and housing are critical elements for our future success and prosperity, and they are linked to other policies,” said the Governor-elect. “Both Dan and Ian understand that. I am honored and delighted to have them join our team.”
“Energy independence is going to be a top focus in the coming years, and we need coordination to achieve smarter energy outcomes and protect our environment,” said Patrick. “Similarly, we need close coordination between housing and economic policy because so many workers are unable to afford to live in Massachusetts.”
Governor-elect Patrick will release further details of the cabinet reorganization at a later date.
Bowles is President and CEO of MassINC., a Boston-based research institute, and publisher of CommonWealth magazine. Bowles has nearly 20 years of experience in the energy and environmental sectors and served as the Associate Director of the White House Council on Environmental Quality under President Bill Clinton and was also Senior Director of the Global Environmental Affairs directorate at the National Security Council.
In those roles, Bowles played a key policy-making role on climate change and on the negotiation of bilateral clean energy agreements between the United States and India and China and on numerous other areas of environmental policy. Prior to joining the Clinton administration, Bowles served in leadership positions at Conservation International, a national environmental organization focused on biodiversity conservation.
Bowles also serves on the Board of Overseers of the Museum of Science, where he chairs a board committee on green building issues, and is a Director or advisor to several leading edge clean energy technology companies.
“Deval Patrick has a particularly compelling vision of where we need to go on energy and on the environment and he has made it a top priority,” Bowles said. “He asked me to drive this agenda forward – I couldn’t be more honored to develop a team to do just that. We have an extraordinary opportunity to build on our state’s rich history of leadership on the environment-and chart a balanced, new long-term path toward a clean energy future.”
A Cape Coder, Bowles grew up in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. He holds an A.B. in economics from Harvard College and a Masters degree from Oxford University, where he remains an adjunct member of the teaching faculty at the graduate school of the Environment and Geography. He resides in Charlestown with his wife Hannah and one-year-old daughter, Margaret.
O’Connell is an attorney and real estate developer with extensive management experience. He has worked in federal, quasi-public, and private institutions in Boston and Washington, DC. Since 2005, he has served as an Executive Vice President, Partner, and senior member of the Meredith & Grew’s Development and Advisory Services Group.
Before joining the firm, O’Connell served as Principal in the Development Services Group at Spaulding & Slye Colliers, providing strategic counsel and execution capabilities to governmental, institutional, and corporate clients. He was in charge of several large-scale development projects, including Fan Pier, Boston; North Point, Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville; and the Puerto Rico Convention Center District Authority.
O’Connell has also served in the public sector as former Executive Director of the Massachusetts Industrial Finance Agency, now MassDevelopment, and as Director of Planning and Development for the Massachusetts Port Authority, where he was responsible for the completion of the 10-acre Piers Park on Boston Harbor. He also served as chief of staff to Congressman Ed Markey.
“I’m excited and energized to be part of Governor Patrick’s team,” O’Connell said. “I look forward to integrating housing opportunities with economic development and job creation, which Governor Patrick has identified as key priorities in his administration. It is our hope that an increased focus on housing will help the Commonwealth retain and attract the best and brightest we have to offer.”
O’Connell serves as Co-Chairman of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce’s Real Estate Development Committee, Commissioner of the Massachusetts Legislative Commission on Metropolitan Beaches, and on the Board of Directors for the Island Alliance, Boston Harbor Islands National Park. He holds an A.B from Harvard College and a law degree from Harvard Law School.
O’Connell lives in Boston with his wife Marilyn. He has three daughters, Brynn, Allison, and Caitlin.
YAWN.
Anyway, Dan has also been on the Board of a group that I work with and has been very helpful in our formative period.
Shouldn’t you be busy making sure the Tewksbury library has enough copies of Ann Coulter’s latest?
Its more fun reading all the excitement here 3/4 of which will never come to pass.
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Truth hurt’s doesn’t it.
There may be an interesting story in this article, but it’s burried here: “Governor-elect Patrick will release further details of the cabinet reorganization at a later date.”
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The appointments he made combine ‘energy and environment’ and combine ‘housing and economic development’. Are these part of a new organization of departments?
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While EOEA runs many environmental programs, and serves under the current ‘office of commonwealth development’, DTE (the energy agency) does not. It is actually a sub-set of the state’s economic development agency.
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DHCD (the housing department) and the “Executive Office of Economic Development” are also separate. DHCD is under the ‘office of commonwealth development’, while economic development is not.
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So,
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is he splitting OCD?
is he merging DTE and EOEA activities?
is he removing DTE activities from the economic development office?
is he bringing energy and economic development under OCD?
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Patrick has indicated in the past that he wants to keep the Commonwealth Development model but further breakdown the ‘stovepipe’ nature of state government. It looks like that’s what he’s starting to do here, but is this part of a grander state reorganization plan, and if so, what’s the plan?
By creating “Housing and Econ. Dev.”, it is clear that DHCD will now be under O’Connell’s control.
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By creating “Energy and Env.”, it is clear that DTE, and perhaps new energy-related offices will be under Bowles’ control.
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I don’t think OCD survives this. He would have announced that prior to these posts had he intended there to be an OCD. (remember, OCD was never approved to be a secretariat.)
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So DHCD will be under Econ. Dev.
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Transport seems like it will be out from under OCD, and possibly on its own.
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DTE and perhaps Div. of Energy Resources will be under Env. and Eng.