About MassGAP

Who We Are

MassGAP Executive Committee

MassGAP Task Force Co-Chairs and Members

Who We Are.
The Massachusetts Government Appointments Project (MassGAP) is a non-partisan collaboration of women’s groups whose purpose is to increase the number of women appointed by the new governor to senior-level cabinet positions, agency heads and selected authorities, boards and commissions in the Commonwealth. The Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus (MWPC) is the Lead Sponsor of this collaboration.

Our History.
In 2002 women held approximately 30% of the top high-level appointed positions in the Commonwealth, even though they compose 52% of the population. To rectify this inequity, more than 25 women’s organizations banded together to form the bi-partisan MassGAP Project for the purpose of increasing the number of women in high-ranking appointed positions in Massachusetts and achieving fairer representation of women. MassGAP sought to eliminate the difficulty that state executives say they experienced whenever they tried to find qualified women for high-ranking positions. MassGAP did this through providing names and resumes of qualified women for top appointments.

Between January 2003 and July 2004, 42% of the new gubernatorial appointments made by Governor Mitt Romney were women. Massachusetts was widely recognized for that achievement and MassGAP was given credit for it. In a survey by the State University of New York (SUNY), Massachusetts was ranked first in the nation in the percentage of women holding top state positions. As the Boston Globe noted at that time, “Women fill 10 of 20 top positions in Governor Mitt Romney’s administration, making the Commonwealth one of five states that come close to matching the percentage of top women appointees to the proportion of women in the overall population.”

This accomplishment is significant. Nowhere else in Massachusetts government—not in the legislature, not in statewide offices, and not in municipal offices—are the numbers for women anywhere near as good. This fact was acknowledged by the Women’s National Republican Club, which presented Governor Romney with its 2005 Exemplary Leadership Award for his work in recruiting and promoting women to cabinet and senior-level positions in his administration. At the dinner in Manhattan at which the governor was feted, he attributed his success in attracting “top-level women to serve in [my] Administration to the MassGAP program spearheaded by the Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus shortly after the 2002 gubernatorial election.”

The Need.
MassGAP 2010 seeks to have an even greater impact. According to the analysis of the 2002-2004 data by the UMass Boston’s Center for Women and Politics and Public Policy, the top level appointments in Massachusetts state government remain at approximately 31% including new, holdover and non-gubernatorial appointments. Thus, we need to secure more appointed positions for women in the current administration .

MassGAP Executive Committee

Lauren Stiller Rikleen, Co-Chair, Executive-in-Residence at the Boston College Center for Work & Family

Amy Burke, Co-Chair

Beth I.Z. Boland, Bingham McCutchen, Partner

Monica Cost, Evidently Assured, President

Claudette Crouse, Professional Coach

Beverly Edgehill, The Partnership Inc, President and CEO

Katherine Hesse, Murphy, Hesse, Toomey and Lehane, Partner

Andrea Kramer, Hirsch Roberts Weinstein, Partner

Liz Levin, Liz Levin & Company, President

Jamy Madeja, Buchanan & Associates, Partner

Lora Pellegrini, Massachusetts Associations of Health Plans, President and CEO

Priti Rao, Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus, Executive Director

Dorothy Terrell, First Light Capital, Partner

Roni Thaler, RT Consulting, Principal

Jodi Tucker, Tucker Law Group, President

Jacquelyn Wilkins, Massport, Sustainability Program Manager

Mardee Xifaras, Lang, Xifaras & Bullard, Senior Partner

Ex Officio: Amy Burke, Executive Director

MassGAP Task Force Co-Chairs

Administration and Finance
Executive Committee Liaison - Andrea Kramer

Chair: Ann Murphy

Economic Development
Executive Committee Liaison - Mary Fifield

Co-Chairs:
Monica Cost
Beverly Edgehill
Martha Slaight

Education
Co-Chairs:
Susan Anderson
Joan Meschino

Energy and Environmental Affairs
Executive Committee Liaison - Jamy Madeja

Co-Chairs:
Nancy Farrell
Claudia Smith Reid

Health and Human Services and Elder Affairs
Executive Committee Liaison - Lora Pelligrini

Co-Chairs:
Ruth Ellen Fitch
Sarah Gordon

Labor and Workforce Development
Executive Committee Liaison - Katherine Hesse

Chair: Linnea Walsh

Public Safety and Security
Executive Committee Liaison - Roni Thaler

Co-Chairs:
Luisa Paiewonsky
Susan Prosnitz

Transportation
Executive Committee Liason - Liz Levin

Co-Chairs:
Linda Sharpe
Iris Ortiz