https://www.bostonplans.org/about-us/bpda-board/meet-the-board
Board Members
The BPDA Board is an official body of five members who manage the BPDA, vote on all actions taken by the BPDA, including final determinations and agreements resulting from the development review process, planning studies, rezoning initiatives, property acquisitions and conveyances, and other real estate actions for land owned by the BPDA. The BPDA Board will only act on final development project approval following an extensive community vetting and stakeholder review process, which is led by staff of the Planning Department. Four of the five board members are appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by the City Council. One member is appointed by the Governor. Board members serve five-year staggered terms.
The BPDA Board meets at regularly-scheduled public meetings, usually held once a month on Thursday afternoons. Members of the public are welcome and encouraged to attend these meetings in addition to submitting written comments to the Board in advance via the Executive Director/Secretary’s Office.
Members of the public can get information about the BPDA Board meeting schedule and agendas via the Board Meetings page and the calendar. In addition, notices of scheduled BPDA Board meetings are posted on bulletin boards located on the 9th floor of Boston City Hall.
Executive Director/Secretary’s Office
The Executive Director/Secretary’s Office manages the process by which the BPDA Board reviews and votes on development proposals, planning initiatives, and real estate items. The office ensures the smooth transmission of information between Board members, Elected Officials, the public, and agency staff.
The Executive Director/Secretary’s Office is responsible for several distinct tasks. The office provides substantive material and information to individual board members, enabling each to make informed decisions at formal BPDA proceedings. In addition, the office establishes the agenda for each formal BPDA Board meeting, and it administers the process by which BPDA Requests for Proposals (“RFPs”) are issued. The office also serves as the custodian of department records, including the minutes and decisions of formal board proceedings, and responds to requests for public documents.
The Executive Secretary acts as the Executive Director of the BPDA and Secretary to the BPDA Board. For more information, please contact Brigitte Martin, Board Governance & Operation Manager. To make a request for records and public documents, please fill out the Public Records Request form.
Priscilla Rojas, Chair
2015–Present
In addition to her role at the BPDA, Priscilla is the Head of Internal Audit & Compliance at Takeoff Technologies. She has 16+ years of international audit and consulting experience with numerous Fortune 500 companies, including Deloitte, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, State Street, and John Hancock. Her professional endeavors have helped her gain hands-on experience working in over a dozen countries, throughout Europe, Asia and Australia.
Priscilla holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from DePaul University and is a licensed Certified Internal Auditor (CIA®), Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), Project Management Professional (PMP®), and Certified ISO 27001 Information Security Lead Auditor.
Priscilla commits her passion and leadership to organizations supporting people of color, women, and the arts. She serves as board Treasurer and Audit Committee Chair for Futuro Media Group, an independent nonprofit organization committed to producing ethical journalism from a POC perspective.
Priscilla also served as a member of the Boston Cultural Council for six years and was recognized in the 2016 Boston’s Extraordinary Women Campaign, highlighting women that do extraordinary work within the Boston community.
Priscilla resides in Mattapan with her husband, Jabes Rojas.
Kate Bennett, Treasurer
2023–Present
Kate Bennett has worked in affordable housing development, policy, and planning for more than 25 years, with a particular focus on public housing and neighborhood revitalization. She holds a Masters in City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Kate recently retired as Administrator and CEO of the Boston Housing Authority, where she worked for over 25 years. She oversaw public housing and voucher programs that provide affordable housing for over 25,000 households in and around the City of Boston. In her tenure at BHA, she was instrumental in implementing several strategic initiatives, including more than $2 billion in redevelopment initiatives and capital upgrades; the creation of an asset management division to ensure long-term preservation of deeply affordable units; development of the BHA’s green, healthy housing and sustainability programs; and expansion of resident empowerment and self-sufficiency initiatives.
Prior to coming to the Boston Housing Authority (BHA), Kate managed affordable housing programs for the City of Chelsea and the City of Newton. She lives with her family in Roslindale.
Dr. Theodore C. Landsmark, Member
2014–Present
Dr. Ted Landsmark has been Director of the Kitty & Michael Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy at Northeastern University since 2016. During his seventeen-year tenure as President and CEO of the Boston Architectural College, Dr. Landsmark helped to grow the school from a center into an internationally recognized institution. In August 2014, Ted was named President Emeritus of the college. He brings with him to the board a wealth of expertise in architecture, urban design, civic leadership, and architectural and construction law.
A graduate of Yale with a Ph.D. from Boston University, Ted has established himself as an innovative leader with a passion for public service. He has traveled the world extensively to study cities – from London and Paris to Istanbul and Tokyo – and facilitated planning sessions in New York, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia.
Ted has served as a trustee or board member for several organizations, including the American Architectural Foundation, Historic New England and Historic Boston, and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. He was also president of the National Architectural Accrediting Board.
Ted is a longtime resident of Jamaica Plain.
Matt O’Malley, Member
2024–Present
Matt O’Malley serves on the BPDA Board as an appointee of Governor Maura Healey. O’Malley served six terms on the Boston City Council in the 6th district seat and vacated his council seat in 2022. His district included the neighborhoods of West Roxbury and Jamaica Plain, parts of Roslindale and Roxbury, and the Back of the Hill. While on the City Council, O’ Malley advocated for stronger environmental and resilience protections in Boston. He sponsored an ordinance requiring buildings in the city that are larger than 20,000 square feet to reach net-zero carbon emissions by the year 2050, which was signed into law in 2021. In addition, he advocated that the City divest from fossil fuels, which was also signed into law by Mayor Wu in 2021. Since vacating his council seat, he has been working as the Chief Sustainability Officer for Vicinity Energy, where he oversees decarbonization efforts and ways to transition from reliance on fossil fuels in 12 U.S. cities. O’Malley grew up in Roslindale and currently lives in West Roxbury.
Raheem Shepard, Vice Chair
2023–Present
Raheem Shepard serves on the BPDA Board as a mayoral appointee. Shepard is the Regional Manager of the North Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters for the City of Boston. In this role, he oversees 5,000 members and supervises all personnel and activities throughout the locals within his region. As Council President, he also chairs quarterly meetings with delegates who represent the members and their needs. His appointment to the BPDA Board upholds Boston’s longstanding tradition of including union representation on the Board. As a member of the ZBA, Shepard reviews development proposals that require zoning relief and works with his fellow ZBA members and the Chief of Planning to help advance the Mayor’s goal of rebuilding trust with communities through planning-led development while advancing equity, affordability, and resilience across all functions of the City’s development review process. Shepard lives in Hyde Park.
| Name | Appointed | Ended |
|---|---|---|
| James G. Colbert | 1957 | 1980 |
| Monsignor Francis J. Lally | 1957 | 1970 |
| Joseph W. Lund | 1957 | 1961 |
| Melvin J. Massucco | 1957 | 1970 |
| Stephen J. McCloskey | 1957 | 1978 |
| John P. Ryan | 1961 | 1964 |
| George P. Condakes | 1964 | 1969 |
| Patrick J. Bocanfuso | 1968 | 1973 |
| Robert L. Farrell | 1969 | 1989 |
| Paul J. Burns | 1970 | 1975 |
| Joseph J. Walsh | 1970 | 1989 |
| James K. Flaherty | 1973 | 1994 |
| James E. Cofield, Jr. | 1976 | 1980 |
| William McDermott, Jr. | 1980 | 1985 |
| Clarence Jeep. Jones | 1981 | 2013 |
| Michael F. Donlan | 1985 | 1995 |
| Francis X. O’Brien | 1989 | 1993 |
| Consuelo Gonzales Thornell | 1989 | 2015 |
| Joseph W. Nigro, Jr. | 1994 | 2006 |
| Michael Taylor | 1994 | 2006 |
| John M. Moscardelli | 1995 | 2000 |
| Christopher J. Supple | 2000 | 2011 |
| Paul D. Foster | 2006 | 2015 |
| James M. Coyle | 2007 | 2013 |
| Timothy J. Burke | 2011 | 2019 |
| Carol Downs | 2015 | 2022 |
| Michael Monahan | 2013 | 2023 |
| Brian Miller | 2020 | 2023 |
| Dr. Theodore Landsmark | 2020 | Present |
| Priscilla Rojas | 2023 | Present |
| Raheem Shepard | 2023 | Present |
| Kate Bennett | 2023 | Present |
| Matt O’Malley | 2024 | Present |
Leave a Reply