Boston Mayor Marty Walsh has named a senior leader at condominium developer New Boston Ventures as his new chief of staff.
Kathryn R. Burton will start in the position March 9. Burton has been New Boston Ventures’ director of operations for four years and will replace Dave Sweeney, who left the position in January to head Boston’s Medical, Academic, and Scientific Community Organization, or MASCO.
“Kathryn brings a wealth of public policy experience to the city of Boston, and I am proud to appoint her as my chief of staff,” Walsh said in a statement. “From her wide-ranging background across sectors, it is clear that she is someone who is smart and driven, and who has a keen sensibility of the opportunities and challenges we face as a city. Her commitment to common sense solutions will be a valuable asset as we work together to carry out our wide-ranging and progressive agenda of bold initiatives to move Boston forward.”
As chief of staff, Burton will be Walsh’s right hand and a powerful force behind the scenes at City Hall. It’s not a role she’s unfamiliar with – Burton previously served as chief of staff for then-Massachusetts Treasurer Steven Grossman. During her tenure with Grossman, the state Treasury oversaw a $9.6 million operating budget, managed the commonwealth’s deposits and issued approximately $3 billion in bonds per year, as well as overseeing the Massachusetts Lottery and state pension funds.
She previously served as a senior official at the Barbara Lee Family Foundation and the Barbara Lee Political Office, which has been a leading force in supporting and electing women in politics. She is also a past vice-chair of the Rose F. Kennedy Greenway Conservancy Board of Directors, where she was part of the negotiation of a multi-party funding agreement signed in 2017 that solidified state support and brought new funding from the city and adjacent property owners via the Greenway Business Improvement District.
Her current employer, New Boston Ventures, is behind several smaller sized multifamily developments in the city, including The Boulevard on the Rose Kennedy Greenway and a planned 66-unit project in the South End. The company recently purchased a parking lot in Bay Village for $9.25 million, but has not yet made its plans for the site public.
Burton is a member of the Gesgapegiag Mi’kmaq tribe in Quebec and will be the first Indigenous person in a cabinet-level position at City Hall.
“I am honored and humbled by this appointment, and I thank Mayor Walsh for the opportunity to serve the city I love and call home,” Burton said in a statement. “I look forward to helping Mayor Walsh achieve his ambitious goals for the city and being part of the team that is leading the charge in making Boston a better place for all.”
Burton holds an undergraduate degree from the University of King’s College in Halifax, Nova Scotia and a graduate degree from Dartmouth College. She resides in the North End with her husband, Chad Jackson and two boys Miles and Graydon.
