Executive Team
Marty Jones
President and CEO
The MassDevelopment Board of Directors unanimously chose Marty Jones as the Agency’s new President and CEO in 2011. Ms. Jones, previously the president of Boston building, development, and property management company Corcoran Jennison, has spent decades in the real-estate industry. She got her start at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in both the Washington and Boston offices.
At Corcoran Jennison, Ms. Jones managed staff and project teams for new development projects that transformed communities, directed asset management for multifamily portfolios, chaired a joint venture between Corcoran Jennison and Beacon Communities, and directed all aspects of the Westminster Company, a 175-employee operation with 66 properties and 5,000 apartment units in North and South Carolina.
A member of the Board of Directors of MassEcon and the New England Council, and a national trustee of the Urban Land Institute, Ms. Jones graduated from Brown University and resides in Winchester.
John Champion
Chief Financial Officer
John Champion is responsible for leading MassDevelopment’s financial planning, investment, and accounting practices. Other duties include oversight of treasury, budgeting, accounting, purchasing, human resources, risk management, grant writing and administration, and information technology.
Mr. Champion has more than 20 years of experience in the financial services industry and currently sits on the Board of Directors for the Veteran’s Northeast Outreach Center in Haverhill.
He holds a B.A. in Business Administration from Suffolk University.
Anne Marie Dowd
Executive Vice President, Legislative and Defense Sector Initiatives
Anne Marie Dowd has served as executive vice president of legislative and defense sector initiatives since 2010. She develops federal and state legislative strategies related to the agency’s mission, products, and services. Ms. Dowd also works on defense sector issues, including outreach to defense companies, redevelopment of federal surplus properties, and work with Massachusetts military installations. Ms. Dowd had served as executive vice president of legislative affairs since 2005 and also as general counsel from 2010 through February 2012 as well as from 2000 through 2005.
Before joining MassDevelopment, Ms. Dowd helped establish Smartcity.com, Inc., worked as a real estate associate at Sherin and Lodgen LLP, and served as legal counsel to the Department of Food and Agriculture of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs.
Ms. Dowd graduated from Middlebury College and the University of Wisconsin Law School.
Richard Henderson
Executive Vice President, Real Estate
Richard Henderson brings more than 20 years of economic development and urban planning experience to MassDevelopment. As director of planning and development for the Massachusetts Port Authority, he played an instrumental role in planning and developing Massport’s South Boston waterfront properties including the World Trade Center complex, Manulife USA Headquarters, the Marriott Renaissance Hotel, and several industrial and residential projects. Prior to his work at MassPort, Henderson was assistant secretary of economic affairs for the Commonwealth and principal author of a statewide economic strategy, Choosing to Compete. Mr. Henderson also served as director of policy planning for the Boston Redevelopment Authority.
He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Williams College and holds a Master of Philosophy in Urban Design and Regional Planning from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.
Laura Canter
Executive Vice President, Finance Programs
Laura Canter is executive vice president and division director for the Finance Programs Division. Reporting to Ms. Canter are the Economic Development Lending, Investment Banking, Community Development and New Markets Tax Credit practices, with teams in each of MassDevelopment’s five regional offices. The division serves governmental entities, private and public businesses, and nonprofit organizations with alternative financing products. Ms. Canter’s career has been spent in finance, public policy, and economic development.
Ms. Canter joined MassDevelopment in 1996. Prior to that, she was employed by State Street Bank and Trust Company, where she represented the interests of bondholders of distressed and bankrupt companies. She negotiated the workout and restructuring of more than $1 billion in publicly and privately placed debt.
She holds an undergraduate degree in communications from Emerson College and a M.B.A. in finance from Bentley College. She is a former director of the Melrose Housing Authority and of the Council of Development Finance Agencies.
Mary E. (Meg) Delorier
Chief of Staff
Meg Delorier was appointed MassDevelopment chief of staff in March 2005. Ms. Delorier joined the MassDevelopment team in 2001 as vice president for community relations in Devens, where she was responsible for outreach to local businesses, residents, media and the surrounding towns of Ayer, Harvard, and Shirley. Her current responsibilities include coordinating agency priorities and projects. She oversees outreach efforts to MassDevelopment constituencies including state and federal legislators, executive branch offices, municipalities, business leaders, and other groups engaged in building the Commonwealth’s economy.
Prior to joining MassDevelopment, Ms. Delorier worked as executive director of the Nashoba Valley Chamber of Commerce, regional director for the American Heart Association, and station manager for the American Red Cross Military and Social Services Division.
She attended Nathaniel Hawthorne College in New Hampshire, where she studied criminal justice.
George A. Ramirez
Executive Vice President, Devens Operations
As executive vice president of Devens operations, George Ramirez oversees the continued redevelopment of the former military base into an economic engine for north central Massachusetts.
Mr. Ramirez brings nearly two decades of expertise to MassDevelopment. He worked most recently as deputy director and general counsel in the Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development, where he played a key role in managing six agencies and more than 80 fulltime employees. In that capacity, he facilitated state support for economic development, chaired the Economic Assistance Coordinating Council, served as a member of the Emerging Technology Fund Advisory Committee and coordinated the Governor’s Development Cabinet. In addition to his service as a member of the Lowell City Council, Mr. Ramirez has also run a private law practice for six years. A resident of Lowell, he holds a B.A. from UMass-Lowell and a J.D. from Suffolk University Law School, where he has served as a member of the Board of Trustees.
Doreen Lindsay
Director of Human Resources and Organizational Development
Doreen Lindsay joined MassDevelopment as Director of Human Resources and Organizational Development in November 2011.
Ms. Lindsay has been instrumental in assisting senior executives in the not-for-profit sector achieve their HR, diversity, and strategic business goals and objectives. Prior to joining MassDevelopment, she served first as workforce diversity specialist and then as administrative manager chiefly responsible for HR functions within the Pharmacy Department at Boston Medical Center.
Ms. Lindsay received her B.S. from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and an M.B.A. from Simmons College School of Management in Boston.
Catherine Blue
General Counsel
Catherine Blue was appointed MassDevelopment’s general counsel in February 2012. She joined the Agency in September 2010 as deputy general counsel, bringing decades of legal expertise in real estate land use and commercial transactions.
Prior to MassDevelopment, Ms. Blue served as associate counsel to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in New York City. She also worked at AT&T, QED Communications, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Ms. Blue received her undergraduate degree from Stonehill College, where she graduated magna cum laude, and her law degree from the College of William and Mary. She is a member of the Board of the William & Mary Law School Law Foundation.
