Retiring A Better City CEO Rick Dimino (left) and incoming CEO Kate Dineen (right). Courtesy photos
Rick Dimino, the founding head of influential downtown business group A Better City, is stepping down. ABC’s Chief Operating Officer Kate Dineen will take his place leading the dozen-strong advocacy organization.
“Kate has been an outstanding partner in all aspects of ABC’s advocacy efforts and important operational initiatives, bringing both insightful analysis and strong leadership in driving our work forward,” Dimino said in a statement. “It has been a pleasure to see her grow in this role and I have every confidence that ABC’s longstanding impact on issues of transportation, infrastructure, land use and sustainability will continue under her astute and forward-looking leadership.”
Dimino helped found ABC 30 years ago as the “Central Artery Business Committee,” aimed at corralling and coordinating businesses and other stakeholders along downtown Boston’s old elevated highway as it was being torn down and replaced with the Tip O’Neil Tunnel as part of the giant Big Dig project. As that project wrapped up, the committee rebranded and embraced a broader focus on public transit, sustainability, land-use planning and equity.
Its advocacy on public transit issues led the group to be an important voice in advocacy for improvements at the MBTA and the Allston Interstate 90 megaproject, and the group’s business focus helped it lead the creation of the business improvement district that maintains the Rose Kennedy Greenway, built on top of the O’Neil Tunnel. Dimino also writes a monthly column for Banker & Tradesman.
Dineen joined ABC in 2019, helping restructure the group to grow its work on equity and climate resiliency in the built environment, in the process shaping state climate legislation. She was previously New York State deputy executive director of the Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery after Superstorm Sandy, then assistant secretary for the environment and chief of staff for state operations for former New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
“I am honored for the opportunity to lead an organization known for its combination of practical problem solving and big picture thinking about priority issues related to the region’s economy and its residents,” Dineen said in a statement. “I look forward to working alongside our remarkably engaged member businesses and institutions and our expert staff to advance our core mission and continue to adapt our focus as the needs of the region continue to change. Thanks to Rick Dimino’s vision and leadership, A Better City is well-positioned to conduct the research, analysis, advocacy, and consensus-building needed to build a better, more resilient and equitable city for all.”
Dimino plans to remain involved with A Better City as president emeritus, the group said.
