Mayor Walsh announces several key staff appointments

Mayor Martin J. Walsh today appointed several key staff members as the Administration begins work on the priorities outlined by Mayor Walsh in his inaugural address. Joyce Linehan will serve as Chief of Policy, Joseph Rull will serve as Chief of Operations, and Eugene O’Flaherty will serve as the City’s Corporation Counsel. Mayor Walsh has also appointed Trinh Nguyen Interim Director of Jobs and Community Service; Alejandra St. Guillen Interim Director of the Office of New Bostonians; and Keith Williams Interim Director of the Office for Small & Local Business Enterprise.

“This is a team of talented, dedicated people who are committed to public service and to Boston,” said Mayor Walsh. “Each individual brings practical experience and fresh, innovative ideas to this Administration, and I know we are all eager to get started.”

Joyce Linehan, Chief of Policy

Joyce Linehan served as Policy Director on Mayor Walsh’s mayoral campaign and as a co-chair on his Transition Team. Linehan is Chair of the Boston Ward 17 Democratic Committee, and has held leadership roles in the grassroots campaigns of Senator Elizabeth Warren, Governor Deval Patrick and Congressman Mike Capuano, as well as the campaign for Equal Marriage in the Commonwealth. Linehan is also the director of Ashmont Media, a public relations company that serves Boston arts organizations, including ArtsEmerson, Boston Book Festival, the Institute of Contemporary Art and others. She is the founder of the Dorchester Arts Collaborative and serves on the board of Interim House, a residential substance abuse treatment center.

Linehan holds a B.A. and an M.A. in American Studies from the University of Massachusetts Boston. Linehan is a lifelong resident of Dorchester.

Joseph Rull, Chief of Operations

In his role as Chief of Operations, Joseph Rull will work closely with Mayor Walsh in overseeing personnel and labor functions, intergovernmental relations, and neighborhood services.

Rull worked as a senior advisor on Mayor Walsh’s election campaign and in his transition. Prior to joining Mayor Walsh’s team, Rull served the Commonwealth in the Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance and in the Executive Office of Labor and Workplace Development. From 2008-2010, Rull was a special adviser in the office of Mayor Thomas M. Menino. He served as a community representative for Massport from 2006 to 2008 and from 2002-2006 served as a neighborhood liaison to South Boston in the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Services.

Eugene L. O’Flaherty, Corporation Counsel

State Representative Eugene L. O’Flaherty, Democrat of Chelsea, represents the Second Suffolk Representative District of Massachusetts, consisting of Charlestown and most of the City of Chelsea. Currently in his ninth term in the House of Representatives, Representative O’Flaherty serves as the House Chairman of the Joint Committee on The Judiciary.  He has held this Chairmanship under three different Speakers of the House and has been a staunch advocate for the legal community since he was first appointed in 2002.

Representative O’Flaherty received a Bachelor of Science degree from Suffolk University. He was awarded a Juris Doctorate from the Massachusetts School of Law and was admitted to the Massachusetts bar and the Federal bar in 1994. In addition to his legislative duties, Representative O’Flaherty is a practicing lawyer and is a Partner in the law firm of O’Donovan, Dwyer & O’Flaherty, P.C.

Trinh T. Nguyen, Interim Director, Office of Jobs and Community Service

The Office of Jobs and Community Service works to promote economic self-sufficiency to ensure the full participation of all Boston residents in the city’s economic vitality and future. In her role as interim director, Trin Nguyen will oversee the office’s work to advocate for lifelong learning, job training and placement, and support services to empower Bostonians to fulfill their educational and employment aspirations.

Nguyen most recently served as Chief of Staff at the Boston Housing Authority, where she is responsible for overseeing an annual $350 million budget structure and developing operational programs to achieve the BHA’s philosophy, mission, and annual strategic goals and objectives towards its housing programs. From 2007-2010, Nguyen previously served as Vice President of Development for the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts. Previous roles also include Director of Development & Public Relations at the Boston Women’s Fund and Resource Development Manager in the Mayor’s Office of New Bostonians.

Keith Williams, Interim Director, Office of Small & Local Business Enterprise

In his role as Interim Director of the Office of Small & Local Business Enterprise, Keith Williams will be responsible for promoting small and local participation in the City of Boston, connecting small and local business owners to City resources, and fulfilling the Boston Residents Jobs Policy.

Williams currently serves as Associate Director of the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Services, where he is responsible for supervising a staff of 20 neighborhood coordinators, and oversees the office’s participation in all regulatory meetings and hearings. He is well versed in a variety of complex, neighborhood-specific issues, City emergency response. Prior to joining the Mayor’s office in 2001, Williams spent two years in the Office of Neighborhood Development and three years in the Boston City Council. Williams was born and raised in Boston’s Dorchester/Roxbury communities. 

Alejandra St.Guillen, Interim Director, Mayor’s Office of New Bostonian

The Mayor’s Office of New Bostonians seeks to strengthen the ability of diverse cultural and linguistic communities to play an active role in the economic, civic, social and cultural life in the City of Boston. As interim director, Alejandra St. Guillen will oversee the office’s work to provide opportunity, access and equality for immigrants, and highlight the contributions and essential role immigrants have played and continue to play in making Boston the world class city that it is.

Alejandra St. Guillen currently serves as the Executive Director of Oiste, the Latino civic and political organization. As Executive Director, St. Guillen has collaborated with elected officials in the development and promotion of public policy initiatives that have directly impacted the Latino community in Massachusetts, including education reform, economic justice policy, and electoral reform. St. Guillen has been honored by a number of organizations for her work in the Latino community, including El Planeta, Somos Latinos, and the Hispanic Heritage Foundation. St. Guillen holds a B.A. in Economics and African-American Studies from Wesleyan University and a M.Ed. from the City College of New York.