Appointments include Chris Osgood and Stephanie Garrett-Stearns.
From the office of soon-to-be Boston Mayor Kim Janey:
Boston City Council President Kim Janey has named members of her senior leadership team in anticipation of her assuming the responsibilities of Mayor of Boston. As Janey works to ensure a seamless transition from Mayor Walsh and focuses on tackling the City’s most pressing challenges, she has appointed Chris Osgood as Chief of Staff, Mary Churchill as Chief of Policy and Planning, Stephanie Garrett-Stearns as Senior Advisor to the Mayor, Omar Boukili as Senior Advisor to the Mayor on COVID-19 Response & Strategic Initiatives, Samuel Hurtado as Senior Advisor to the Mayor, and Lindsey Butler as Deputy Chief of Policy.
“I am thankful that these dedicated public servants — who bring with them decades of municipal management and public policy experience — have agreed to join my leadership team as I assume the office of Mayor of Boston,” said Janey. “They will each add their own unique expertise to the terrific team of public servants currently at City Hall as we work together to ensure a seamless Mayoral transition and begin Boston’s recovery from these unprecedented public health, economic and equity challenges.”
Chris Osgood, Chief of Staff
Chris Osgood — a 15-year veteran of Boston City Hall — previously served as Mayor Walsh’s Chief of the Streets, Transportation & Sanitation. In that position, he worked with the Public Works and Transportation Departments to deliver exceptional City services, build great streets and implement a transportation plan that works for everyone. Prior to serving in that role, Chris co-founded the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics, a nationally replicated civic innovation group that experiments with new ways of using data, design and technology to improve the constituent experience. Osgood joined the City in 2006, serving as a Mayoral Policy Advisor and working on the team that implemented the City’s performance management program and rebuilt its 24-hour hotline. Chris is a graduate of City Year, Haverford College and the Harvard Business School.
Mary Churchill, Chief of Policy and Planning
Mary Churchill was previously the Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives and Community Engagement at the newly established Wheelock College of Education and Human Development at Boston University. Prior to her role at Boston University, she was the Vice President for Academic Affairs (VPAA) at Wheelock College in Boston. She is also on the board of the Massachusetts Network of Women Leaders in Higher Education which is affiliated with the American Council on Education’s Inclusive Excellence Group and involved with ACE’s Moving the Needle initiative focused on advancing women leaders in higher education. She, her husband and their teenage son are active in their Roxbury neighborhood and Mary serves on several community-based committees and boards. She earned her Ph.D. and M.A. in Sociology from Northeastern University in Boston and has taught courses in International Studies, Sociology and Political Science.
Stephanie Garrett-Stearns, Senior Advisor to the Mayor
Stephanie Garrett-Stearns was previously vice president of communications and fund development for The Community Builders, Inc., a position she held since 2015. She led communications and fundraising strategy and program execution for a leading nonprofit developer of residential and commercial real estate. She joined the organization in 2011. Garrett-Stearns was previously head of public relations and chief corporate spokesperson for the Siemens division, Osram Sylvania. Garrett-Stearns serves as an advisor and board member for several non-profit organizations including the Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth (MassINC), Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, and the Boston Chapter of The Links, Incorporated. She completed the Business Management Institute at Cornell University in 2008. She holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Washington University in St. Louis and a bachelor’s degree in human resources management from Michigan State University. Stephanie lives in West Roxbury with her husband and daughter.
Omar Boukili, Senior Advisor to the Mayor, COVID Response & Strategic Initiatives
Omar Boukili brings over a decade of experience in municipal management to Boston City Hall, most recently serving as the Incident Commander for the City of Somerville’s COVID-19 Emergency Response Team. He has also served in the past as Policy Advisor and Director of Governmental Affairs for the Mayor of Somerville and as Chief Administrative Officer of the City of Revere. He was also a Fellow and a consultant at the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative. He earned a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of California, Berkeley and a Masters of Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
Samuel Hurtado, Senior Advisor to the Mayor
Samuel Hurtado was previously the Chief of Staff to City Council President Janey. Samuel has more than twenty years of experience in organizing and advocacy. He is a founder and the former executive director of South Boston en Accion (SBEA) and was instrumental in SBEA’s growth as a dynamic, member-led organization that provided high-quality services and community building. Before that, he was part of the Boston School Reform Project at Massachusetts Advocates for Children where he focused on the rights of English Language Learners. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Human Services with a concentration in community organizing from The University of Massachusetts Boston’s College of Public and Community Service. Samuel lives in Roxbury with his wife, two children and dog.
Lindsey Butler, Deputy Chief of Policy
Dr. Lindsey Butler is an environmental epidemiologist with a Ph.D. in Environmental Health from the Boston University School of Public Health where her research focuses on the health impacts of climate change and environmental pollutants. She also holds a Masters in Environmental Health from the BUSPH and a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Science from Simmons University. For several years, she has served as a conduit between the scientific community and the public, advocating for environmental action and the public health of urban communities. Lindsey serves as a scientific advisor to the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, is a recipient of a BU Initiative on Cities Early Stage Urban Research Award and is a graduate of the BU URBAN program, a multidisciplinary scientific training program aimed at developing solutions to urban challenges.
Dig Staff means this article was a collaborative effort. Teamwork, as we like to call it.
