Paul Ayoub
Title: Chairman, board of directors, Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce; partner, Nutter
Experience: 30 years
Paul Ayoub, a partner in the real estate department at the Boston-based law firm Nutter, has been named as the incoming chairman of the board of directors of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. His tenure begins July 1. Ayoub, who has been a member of the chamber’s board of directors for two decades, serves as the chamber’s general counsel and as co-chair of the Regional Real Estate Development Leadership Council. Ayoub was recently named president of the board of the Real Estate Finance Association and is a member of the board of the Greater Boston Real Estate Board and the board of Incorporators of the Boston Local Development Corporation. Additionally, he serves on the national board of directors of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
“What I do day-to-day is very much aligned with what the chamber does and focuses on, and that’s why it’s really both a privilege and an enormous responsibility at the same time to be on the board and to have been selected by my peers in the business community to be the chairman of the board for the next few years,” Ayoub told Banker & Tradesman.
Q: What first made you want to join the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce?
A: The reason I was interested is because I grew up in Boston. I’m third generation; my grandparents came here from Syria and Lebanon and lived in Boston. I grew up in Boston and I live in Boston now and I work in Boston and I recognize that it’s very important to give back to the communities in which you live and work in. I think that’s an obligation and responsibility we all have.
Q: Going from a board member to chairman of the board, how do your responsibilities change in this new role?
A: In some ways the responsibilities remain the same, which is to focus on making a difference in our community. However, as chairman of the board, the job is to really bring together the collective wisdom of a very excellent board and work on behalf of our excellent CEO Jim Rooney and his first-rate team to make an impact on our city, both identifying what the priority issues are and help set the agenda for the future. That’s really where the board and Jim Rooney and the chamber team come together as one to bring our collective wisdom to make a difference.
Q: Housing, health care and transportation, these are obviously big issues in Greater Boston. Can you tell me a little about issue and how the chamber is working to address them?
A: For housing, it’s hard to afford anything for people who want to live in or work in the Greater Boston area. That’s always been a challenge. It’s been significantly harder to attract and retain people in our city as our economy has thrived and as more people are coming into the workforce. As people who are working in our businesses, we need to be able to provide the housing that they need. The number of units and also the affordability of units is a challenge in some ways, largely because of the strength of our economy.
Whether it’s public transportation or infrastructure for private transportation such as automobiles, anyone who has come in and out of the city understands that this has become an increasing challenge. At some point, the lack of excellent transportation has negative consequences and negative impacts on the economy and the quality of life both for individuals living here and people who are living or working in the city. In terms of health care, it is the affordability and availability to all of us.
Q: What are some of the initiatives the chamber is working on to get the price of housing down so it’s affordable for college kids and for people who have lived their homes for decades and don’t want to leave the neighborhood?
A: What’s important when it comes to housing is to ensure that the permitting process is streamlined. So it’s still protecting the public, the public good, but it’s also making it easier to bring housing online. [Boston Mayor Martin Walsh and Gov. Charlie Baker] have been terrific about highlighting the importance of building more housing and building affordable housing and working to simplify the process of permitting and construction. That’s probably the number one issue we need to understand. We have to build the affordable housing stock by making it easier and quicker to get the permits and to do the billing so that the cost of construction will be contained, which will therefore contain the cost of purchasing or renting.
Some of the cost can’t be controlled, like the cost of materials, but the cost of time can. The cost of capital can increase because of the length of time for permitting and construction and if we can shorten that, we can help lower the cost and that makes it more available and more affordable.
Q: As chairman, what specific issues do you want to push?
A: My goal is to build strength on strength and bring together the collective wisdom of the board and the membership. The issues the chamber should focus on are those that the chamber has a collective focus on. Current Chairman Dr. Navjot Singh has been terrific at fostering the conversation of the board and all the membership along with Jim to really identify what the major concerns are, and that’s what I think makes us powerful. Our board in particular has a real passion for understanding that they want to make a difference around them, and not put any personal issue ahead of the greater good.
Ayoub’s Five Favorite Boston Workouts
- Barry’s Bootcamp
- Flywheel
- Orange Theory
- MyStryde
- Nutter’s gym (and True North Running Co. trainers)
This article has been updated to correct Paul Ayoub’s years of experience.
