Good Morning SouthCoast November 2021

Before joining MBAE in January of 2019, Ed served as vice chancellor for university relations at UMass Boston, where he was responsible for government and community relations, corporate relations and communications.

Ed was founding director of the Urban Initiative of UMass Dartmouth, a research center focusing on urban policy and leadership issues. There, he helped organize the state?s Gateway Cities Coalition and assisted in designing and implementing state programs and legislation to support them, and led the Initiative?s work in urban schools assessing practices and serving as the regional satellite of the National Dropout Prevention Center. He also taught Public Policy and Public Management and served as the Chair of the Education Policy Committee of the Kaput Center for STEM Education and Research.

Ed?s record of service also includes seven years as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, where, as a member of the Education Committee, he assisted in the creation and passage of the 1993 Education Reform Act. He co-chaired the legislature?s Literacy Caucus in support of increased funding for Adult Basic Education and literacy programs. He also served twelve years as the mayor of Fall River, initiating a comprehensive school building campaign and creating a series of community education summits. He served 22 years on the Fall River School Committee, earning himself the Massachusetts Association of School Committees Lifetime Achievement Award.

Ed served 8 years as a mentor to at-risk youth in the SMILES Mentoring program. He also served on a national task force for the development of the 21st Century Workforce of the Urban Serving Universities.

He was appointed Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation by Governor Patrick and, earlier in his career, served as the director of social services at Saint Vincent's Home in Fall River. He earned his BA in psychology at UMass Dartmouth and his MEd in counseling at Bridgewater State College.