64 Notable alumni of
University of Massachusetts - Boston
Updated:
The University of Massachusetts - Boston is 1091st in the world, 394th in North America, and 368th in the United States by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 64 notable alumni from the University of Massachusetts - Boston sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff.
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Joe Rogan
- Occupations
- television producerjudokastand-up comedianpodcasteractor
- Biography
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Joseph James Rogan is an American podcaster, UFC color commentator, comedian, actor, and former television host. He hosts The Joe Rogan Experience, a podcast in which he discusses current events, comedy, politics, aliens, religion, philosophy, science, martial arts, and hobbies with celebrity guests. His podcast is one of the most influential and most watched podcasts in the world.
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Dana White
- Occupations
- entrepreneur
- Biography
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Dana Frederick White Jr. is an American businessman who is the CEO and president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), a global mixed martial arts organization. He is also the owner of Power Slap, a slap fighting promotion. In August 2019, White's net worth was estimated at $500 million.
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Joseph P. Kennedy II
- Enrolled in the University of Massachusetts - Boston
- In 1976 graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- businesspersonpolitician
- Biography
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Joseph Patrick Kennedy II is an American businessman, Democratic politician, and a member of the Kennedy family. He is a son of former United States Senator Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Kennedy, and he is a nephew of former U.S. President John F. Kennedy and former U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy.
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John F. Kelly
- Occupations
- politicianmilitary officer
- Biography
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John Francis Kelly is an American former political advisor and retired U.S. Marine Corps general who was White House chief of staff for President Donald Trump from 2017 to 2019. He had previously been the secretary of homeland security in the Trump administration and was commander of United States Southern Command. Kelly is a board member at Caliburn International, a professional services provider.
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Biz Stone
- Occupations
- creative directorbloggercomputer scientistbusinessperson
- Biography
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Christopher Isaac "Biz" Stone is an American entrepreneur who is a co-founder of Twitter, among other technology companies. Stone was the creative director at Xanga from 1999 to 2001. Stone co-founded Jelly, with Ben Finkel. Jelly was launched in 2014 and was a search engine driven by visual imagery and discovery. Stone was Jelly's CEO until its acquisition by Pinterest in 2017.
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Dennis Lehane
- Occupations
- writernovelistscreenwriter
- Biography
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Dennis Lehane is an American author. He has published more than a dozen novels; the first several were a series of mysteries featuring recurring characters, including A Drink Before the War. Four of his novels have been adapted into films of the same names: Clint Eastwood's Mystic River (2003), Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island (2010), and Gone Baby Gone (2007) and Live by Night (2016), both directed by Ben Affleck. His short story "Animal Rescue" was also adapted into the film The Drop, noted for being the final film role for actor James Gandolfini.
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William J. Bratton
- Occupations
- actorpolice officer
- Biography
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William Joseph Bratton CBE is an American businessman and former law enforcement officer who served two non-consecutive tenures as the New York City Police Commissioner (1994–1996 and 2014–2016) and currently one of only two NYPD commissioners to do so (the other is Raymond Kelly). He previously served as the Commissioner of the Boston Police Department (BPD) (1993–1994) and Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) (2002–2009). He is the only person to have led the police departments of the United States' two largest cities – New York and Los Angeles.
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John Tsang
- Occupations
- justice of the peacepoliticiancivil servant
- Biography
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John Tsang Chun-wah, GBM, JP is a Hong Kong former senior civil servant and government official who was the longest-serving Financial Secretary of Hong Kong SAR to date, from 2007 to 2017.
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Janet T. Mills
- Enrolled in the University of Massachusetts - Boston
- In 1970 graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
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Janet Trafton Mills is an American politician and lawyer serving as the 75th governor of Maine since January 2019. She previously served as the Maine Attorney General on two occasions.
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Gina McCarthy
- Occupations
- politicianclimate activist
- Biography
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Regina McCarthy is an American air quality expert who served as the first White House national climate advisor from 2021 to 2022. She previously served as the thirteenth Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency from 2013 to 2017.
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Thomas Menino
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Thomas Michael Menino was an American politician who served as the mayor of Boston, from 1993 to 2014. He was the city's longest-serving mayor. He was elected mayor in 1993 after first serving three months in the position of "acting mayor" following the resignation of his predecessor Raymond Flynn (who had been appointed United States ambassador to the Holy See). Before serving as mayor, Menino was a member of the Boston City Council and had been elected president of the City Council in 1993.
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Lenny Clarke
- Occupations
- actortelevision actor
- Biography
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Lenny Clarke is an American comedian and actor. He is known for his thick Boston accent and as the role of Uncle Teddy on the series Rescue Me.
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Eileen Myles
- Occupations
- authorpoetfilm directorfilmmakerwriter
- Biography
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Eileen Myles is an American poet and writer who has produced more than twenty volumes of poetry, fiction, non-fiction, libretti, plays, and performance pieces over the last three decades. Novelist Dennis Cooper has described Myles as "one of the savviest and most restless intellects in contemporary literature." The Boston Globe described them as "that rare creature, a rock star of poetry." They won the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction in 2011 for their Inferno (a poet's novel) In 2012, Myles received a Guggenheim Fellowship to complete Afterglow (a memoir), which gives both a real and fantastic account of a dog's life. Myles has been called "a cult figure to a generation of post-punk female writer-performers" and uses they/them pronouns.
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Annissa Essaibi George
- Occupations
- teacher
- Biography
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Annissa Essaibi George is an American politician who served as an at-large member of the Boston City Council. First elected in 2015, she served on the council from 2016 to 2022. She was a candidate in the 2021 Boston mayoral election. She placed second in the nonpartisan primary, but was defeated in the general election by fellow city councilor Michelle Wu. Since November 2022, Essaibi George has served as the president of the Board of Directors of the nonprofit organization Big Sister Boston.
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Mike Gorman
- Occupations
- United States Naval Aviator
- Biography
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Mike Gorman is an American former sports commentator. After returning from the United States Navy in the 1970s, he began working at radio and television stations in Massachusetts and Rhode Island with the help of fellow commentator Gil Santos. Starting in 1981, Gorman began providing play-by-play commentary for local television broadcasts of the Boston Celtics, doing so alongside color commentator and Celtics legend Tom Heinsohn. The duo called games together until 2020, with Gorman later retiring from broadcasting in 2024.
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Nova Spivack
- Occupations
- writer
- Biography
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Nova Spivack is an American entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and author. He is the founder and CEO of the early stage science and technology incubator Magical and co-founder of The Arch Mission Foundation.
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E. W. Jackson
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
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Earl Walker Jackson Sr. is an American conservative politician, Protestant minister, and lawyer in Virginia who was a candidate in the 2024 Republican Party presidential primaries. He was the Republican Party nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Virginia in 2013. Jackson unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for the United States Senate in Virginia in the 2012 and 2018 elections. He is head pastor at Exodus Faith Ministries, located in Chesapeake, Virginia and founder of Staying True to America's National Destiny, a Christian political organization.
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Paul M. English
- Occupations
- businessperson
- Biography
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Paul M. English is an American tech entrepreneur, computer scientist and philanthropist. He is the founder of Boston Venture Studio, and previously co-founded and served as CTO of Kayak.
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Senda Berenson Abbott
- Occupations
- basketball playerphysical education teacherbasketball coach
- Biography
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Senda Berenson Abbott was a figure of women's basketball and the author of the first Basketball Guide for Women (1901–07). She was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a contributor on July 1, 1985, the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1987, and the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 1999.
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Bella Disu
- Years
- 1986-.. (age 39)
- Occupations
- business executive
- Biography
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Belinda "Bella" Ajoke Olubunmi Disu is a Nigerian business executive and the daughter of billionaire Mike Adenuga.
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Mel King
- Enrolled in the University of Massachusetts - Boston
- Graduated with Master of Arts in education
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Melvin Herbert King was an American politician, community organizer, and educator. In 1973, King was elected as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives' 9th Suffolk district, a post he held until early 1983. King was the runner-up in the 1983 Boston mayoral election, against Raymond Flynn.
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Andreas Varsakopoulos
- Occupations
- celebrityteacher
- Biography
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Andreas Jacques Varsakopoulos is a Greek-American who lives and works in Seoul, South Korea as a director, producer, and actor. He was born to a Greek father and an American mother. He is one of very few foreign directors/producers working in the Korean entertainment industry.
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Paul Anastas
- Occupations
- university teacherchemistscientist
- Biography
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Paul T. Anastas is an American scientist, inventor, author, entrepreneur, professor, and public servant. He is the Director of Yale University's Center for Green Chemistry and Green Engineering, Previously he served as the Science Advisor to the United States Environmental Protection Agency as well as the Agency's Assistant Administrator for Research and Development, appointed by President Barack Obama.
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Dan Rea
- Occupations
- journalistradio personality
- Biography
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Dan Rea is the conservative-leaning host of "NightSide with Dan Rea" WBZ radio, following the death of Paul Sullivan.
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Kim TallBear
- Years
- 1968-.. (age 57)
- Occupations
- academicuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Kim TallBear is a Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate professor at the University of Alberta, specializing in racial politics in science. Holding the first ever Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Peoples, Technoscience and Environment, TallBear has published on DNA testing, race science and Indigenous identities, as well as on polyamory as a decolonization practice.
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Barbara Ferrer
- Born in
-
United States - Occupations
- health administrator
- Biography
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Barbara Ferrer is an American health executive, serving as the Director of Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. She has been highly visible in Los Angeles County during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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E. Denise Simmons
- Years
- 1951-.. (age 74)
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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E. Denise Simmons is the mayor of Cambridge, Massachusetts, having served her first mayoral term 2008–2009, her second mayoral term 2016–2017, and her third mayoral term 2024–present. She is the first openly lesbian African-American mayor in the United States. Simmons has been on the Cambridge City Council continuously since 2002, now serving her twelfth consecutive term.
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Lee Jussim
- Occupations
- psychologist
- Biography
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Lee J. Jussim is an American social psychologist. He leads the Social Perception Laboratory at Rutgers University.
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Felix G. Arroyo
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Felix G. Arroyo is an American political figure from Boston. Arroyo was elected to an at-large seat on the Boston City Council in November 2009, and re-elected in November 2011, serving for two terms before unsuccessfully running for Mayor of Boston in 2013. He subsequently served as the city's Chief of Health and Human Services from 2014 until his dismissal in 2017 following an investigation into sexual harassment allegations.
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John Warner
- Occupations
- chemist
- Biography
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John Charles Warner is an American chemist, educator, and entrepreneur, best known as one of the founders of the field of green chemistry. Warner worked in industry for nearly a decade as a researcher at Polaroid Corporation, before moving to academia where he worked in various positions at University of Massachusetts Boston and Lowell. Warner is co-founder, President, and Chief Technology Officer at the Warner-Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry, as well as co-founder and President of Beyond Benign. He is the recipient of the 2014 Perkin Medal, widely acknowledged as the highest honor in American industrial chemistry.
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Debra Saunders
- Years
- 1954-.. (age 71)
- Occupations
- columnistjournalist
- Biography
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Debra J. Saunders is the Washington columnist for the Las Vegas Review-Journal. She returned to the Review-Journal in January 2024 after serving as the newspaper's White House correspondent during former president Donald J. Trump's term and in the early weeks of President Joe Biden's administration. Her podcast, "Covering Trump: War Stories from the White House Press Corps," laid out the experience in six episodes. Her column is syndicated by Creators Syndicate and is carried by newspapers in the United States. Saunders served as a fellow with the Discovery Institute's Chapman Center for Citizen Leadership from 2021 through 2023.
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Dean Cokinos
- Years
- 1968-.. (age 57)
- Occupations
- American football player
- Biography
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Dean Cokinos is an American football coach. He has held assistant coaching or head coaching positions with UMass Boston, Austin Peay, West Alabama, Noris Rams, Munich Cowboys, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers, San Angelo Stampede, Nashville Kats, Tennessee Valley Vipers, Alabama Vipers, Georgia Force, Alabama Hammers, New Orleans VooDoo, Tampa Bay Storm, Washington Valor, and the Berlin Rebels.
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Florida Ruffin Ridley
- Occupations
- activistsuffragistteacherwriterjournalist
- Biography
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Florida Ruffin Ridley was an African-American civil rights activist, suffragist, teacher, writer, and editor from Boston, Massachusetts. She was one of the first black public schoolteachers in Boston, and edited The Woman's Era, the country's first newspaper published by and for African-American women.
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Marjorie Decker
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Marjorie C. Decker is an American politician serving as the State Representative for the 25th Middlesex district in the Massachusetts General Court. She is also House chair of the Joint Committee on Public Health. Since 2016, she has also been employed by the class action law firm Berman Tabacco.
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Robert E. Travaglini
- Occupations
- lobbyistpolitician
- Biography
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Robert Edward Travaglini is an American politician and lobbyist. From 2003 to 2007, Travaglini served as President of the Massachusetts Senate. He represented the first Middlesex and Suffolk senate district, encompassing portions of Boston, Cambridge, Revere, and Winthrop.
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Jeffrey Sanchez
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Jeffrey Sánchez was an American politician who served as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 2003 to 2019. He represented the Fifteenth Suffolk district, which is made up of the Boston communities Mission Hill, Jamaica Plain, and Roslindale, as well as the Precinct 5 of the Town of Brookline.
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Rachel Griffith
- Years
- 1963-.. (age 62)
- Occupations
- researchereconomist
- Biography
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Dame Rachel Susan Griffith DBE FBA FAcSS is a British-American academic and educator. She is professor of economics at the University of Manchester and a research director at the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
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Patricia D. Jehlen
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Patricia Deats Jehlen is a former teacher and current Massachusetts State Senator of the Democratic Party. She represents the Second Middlesex District, which includes Cambridge, Ward 7 Precinct 1, Ward 8 Precinct 1, Ward 10, Medford, Somerville, Winchester, precincts 4 to 7.
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James DiPaola
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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James Vincent DiPaola was county sheriff of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, from 1996 until his death in 2010. He had served as a Malden police officer for 18 years and was a Massachusetts state representative from 1993 to 1996. On November 26, 2010, DiPaola died by suicide. At the time of his death, he was facing multiple allegations from the state and press over ethics issues.
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David A. Lowy
- Occupations
- lawyerjudge
- Biography
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David A. Lowy is an American attorney, academic and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts from 2016 to 2024. In February 2024 Lowy was named general counsel for the University of Massachusetts.
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Paul Donato
- Years
- 1941-.. (age 84)
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Paul J. Donato is an American politician who currently represents the 35th Middlesex District in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. He previously served as a member of the Medford, Massachusetts, school committee from 1972 to 1975 and the city council from 1976 to 1985 and again from 1996 to 2000. While serving on the council, Donato also served as deputy mayor from 1978 to 1979, mayor from 1980 to 1985, and council president from 1999 to 2000.
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Ron Mariano
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Ronald Joseph Mariano is an American politician currently serving as the Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. A Democrat from Quincy, he was first elected to the House in a December 1991 special election. He was appointed assistant majority leader in February 2009 and majority leader in January 2011 by then-speaker Robert DeLeo, who he succeeded as speaker upon DeLeo's retirement in 2020. He represents the 3rd Norfolk district.
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Jennifer Flanagan
- Years
- 1975-.. (age 50)
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Jennifer L. Flanagan is a former member of the Massachusetts General Court and the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission.
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Jerry McDermott
- Born in
- United States
- Biography
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Jerome P. “Jerry” McDermott is an American politician who served as the 22nd High Sheriff of Norfolk County from 2018 through 2021, as well as a member of the Boston City Council from 2002 through 2008.
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Michael Moran
- Years
- 1971-.. (age 54)
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Michael J. Moran is an American state legislator serving in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. He is the House Majority Leader, having formerly served as the Assistant Majority Leader. He is also a Brighton resident and a member of the Democratic Party.
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Michael J. McGlynn
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Michael J. McGlynn served as the 31st Mayor of Medford, Massachusetts, from 1988–2016. He also served from 1977–1988 as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives representing the 37th Middlesex District.
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Cory Atkins
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Cory Atkins is an American politician who served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1999 to 2019. Atkins is a Concord resident and a member of the Democratic Party.
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Edward F. Shea
- Occupations
- lawyerjudge
- Biography
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Edward Francis Shea is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Washington.
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Phillip Brutus
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Phillip J. Brutus is a former member of the Florida House of Representatives.
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Steven Tolman
- Years
- 1954-.. (age 71)
- Occupations
- trade unionistpolitician
- Biography
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Steven A. Tolman is an American labor union leader who is the current president of the Massachusetts AFL–CIO. He is a former state legislator who served in the Massachusetts Senate (1999–2011), representing the 2nd Suffolk and Middlesex district, and the Massachusetts House of Representatives (1995–1999). Prior to serving in the Massachusetts legislature, he was a commissioner for the Watertown Housing Authority and a member of the Democratic State Committee.
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Robert L. Hedlund
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Robert L. Hedlund is an American businessman and politician serving as the mayor of Weymouth, Massachusetts. He was formerly a member of the Massachusetts Senate representing the Plymouth and Norfolk District.
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Ifeoma Malo
- Occupations
- jurist
- Biography
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Ifeoma Malo is a Nigerian lawyer working in international development. Her work focuses on clean energy technologies, and energy access and climate change mitigation and adaptation across Africa.
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Jerrold D. Green
- Occupations
- academic
- Biography
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Jerrold D. Green is an American academician who is the Global Advisor to Cedars-Sinai, a Los Angeles based healthcare organization, and a Senior Fellow at the UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations. Prior to this he was President and Chief Executive Officer of the Pacific Council on International Policy and a Research Professor of Communication, Business, and International Relations at the University of Southern California. Green was a Partner at Best Associates in Dallas, Texas. He also occupied senior management positions at the RAND Corporation.
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Kelly Overton
- Born in
- United States
- Occupations
- animal rights advocate
- Biography
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Kelly Overton is an author, activist and founder of Mojave Animal Protection and Border Kindness.
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Daniel E. Bosley
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Daniel E. Bosley is a former member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and as president of the North Adams SteepleCats of the New England Collegiate Baseball League from 2011 to 2018. Bosley is the president of Dan Bosley Consulting Services, a government consulting agency.
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Jack Cole
- Years
- 1938-.. (age 87)
- Occupations
- police officer
- Biography
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Jack A. Cole is a retired Detective Lieutenant who worked for the New Jersey State Police for 26 years. For twelve of those years, he worked as an undercover narcotics officer. Cole was the first executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, now known as Law Enforcement Action Partnership (LEAP), an organization comprising former and current police officers, government agents and other law enforcement agents who advocate for justice reform and oppose the War on Drugs. Cole served as LEAP's executive director from 2002–2010.
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Christine Canavan
- Occupations
- nursepolitician
- Biography
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Christine E. Canavan is a former American state legislator who served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1993 to 2015. She was the state representative for the 10th Plymouth District, which consists of West Bridgewater, Ward 4, Precincts B&C; Ward 5, Precincts B, C & D; and all of Ward 6 of Brockton, Precinct 3 of Easton, and Precinct 1 of East Bridgewater. She declined to seek re-election in 2014.
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Philip Krey
- Years
- 1950-.. (age 75)
- Biography
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Philip D. W. Krey is the former President of The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. He was born in Brooklyn, and was ordained a minister of the Lutheran Church in America.
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Michelle Ciccolo
- Born in
- United States
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Michelle Ciccolo is a State Representative who represents the 15th Middlesex District in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. She represents the town of Lexington, and part of Woburn. Ciccolo serves on the Joint Committee on Elder Affairs, Joint Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture, Joint Committee on Financial Services, and the Joint Committee on Public Health.
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Peter Capano
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Peter Capano is a State Representative who represents the 11th Essex District in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. He represents the towns of Lynn, and Nahant. Capano serves on the Joint Committee on Cannabis Policy, Joint Committee on Housing, Joint Committee on Public Service, and the Joint Committee on Transportation. He is the founder of the New Lynn Coalition in Lynn has been led by Tanveer Malik as Executive Director since 2023., a coalition that brings together over 15 community and faith-based groups, as well as various labor unions. This union aims to collectively empower the working-class community in Lynn.
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Daniel W. Owens
- Biography
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Daniel W. Owens known by most as Dan Owens is an American playwright.
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Peter Sklar
- Biography
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Peter Seidman is a New York-based lecturer, educator and talent scout. Seidman is the founder of the Seidman Academy, and has presented lectures for the past forty years on child development, education, and the arts.
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Georgette Watson
- Enrolled in the University of Massachusetts - Boston
- Graduated with bachelor's degree in legal education
- Occupations
- adjunct professoractivist
- Biography
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Georgette Watson was an American anti-drug activist.
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Marie Parente
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Marie Josephine Parente was an American politician who served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1981 to 2007. A member of the Democratic Party, she ran for reelection in 2006 but lost renomination to primary challenger John V. Fernandes.
