Who is a member?
Our members are the local governments of Massachusetts and their elected and appointed leadership.
Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll speaks with local leaders during the 2023 MMA Annual Business Meeting. She will return for this year’s meeting on Jan. 20.
A year into her tenure as lieutenant governor — following 17 years as mayor of Salem — Kim Driscoll will address local leaders during the MMA’s Annual Business Meeting on Saturday morning, Jan. 20, in Boston.
Driscoll is expected to discuss the importance of the state-local partnership, how her experience as mayor informs her current work, the administration’s focus on housing and climate issues, and the fiscal constraints facing cities and towns, among other timely topics.
The business meeting is held during the MMA Annual Meeting & Trade Show at the Hynes Convention Center.
In January, Driscoll and Gov. Maura Healey became the state’s first all-women administration, and Massachusetts is one of the two first states in the country, along with Arkansas, to have women occupying the two top executive roles. Driscoll was also the first woman to serve as mayor in Salem when she was elected in 2005 as the city’s 50th mayor.
Driscoll had previous experience as chief legal counsel and then deputy city manager in Chelsea, as community development director in Beverly, as a councillor in Salem, and as an intern in Salem’s Planning Department.
Driscoll majored in political science and played basketball at Salem State University before earning a law degree at the Massachusetts School of Law.
As mayor, Driscoll was credited with helping to improve Salem’s finances, overseeing infrastructure upgrades, investing in public school improvements, championing climate initiatives, prioritizing downtown and waterfront revitalization, and promoting equality, among other accomplishments.
She had been actively involved in the MMA and served as president of the Massachusetts Mayors’ Association in 2012. She had also served as chair of the North Shore Coalition of the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, and served on the Massachusetts Workforce Development Board, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Local Government Advisory Committee, the Massachusetts Seaport Economic Council, and the Massachusetts Economic Development Planning Council, among other activities.