Governor Maura Healey is recruiting business leaders from across the state to form an “Advisory Council on Competitiveness” to recommend ways to make Massachusetts a more attractive place to live and do business.
The competitiveness council, which Healey announced on Wednesday, will be co-chaired by Harpoon Brewery co-founder Dan Kenary and Mark Nunnelly, former managing director of private equity firm Bain Capital. It will consist of around 20 people, largely pulled from chambers of commerce and other business groups across the state along with three of Healey’s cabinet secretaries and four appointees from the Legislature. The membership is still being formed and does not yet have a first meeting scheduled.
Healey is establishing the council at a challenging time for Massachusetts. The state lags most of the nation in job growth since the COVID-19 pandemic, and its world-renowned academic and research sector is under pressure because of significant federal funding cuts and other threats from Washington. Meanwhile, high housing, energy and health care costs are of particular concern to the business community.
Healey, a Democrat, is also on the brink of a reelection campaign. So far, three Republicans have emerged to challenge her next year. The state’s competitiveness is expected to be a key pressure point in the upcoming race, as she seeks a second term as governor.
Kenary said he doesn’t think the council’s formation is motivated by the upcoming campaign. The messaging, he said, from the Healey administration is consistent with what he’s heard all along from the governor and her team about the need to make it easier to do business in the state.
He recently stepped back from the chief executive role at Boston-based brewer Barrel One Collective, to a less time-consuming job as president and co-founder, which made him more eager to take on the role of co-chair when he was approached about it a few weeks ago.
“I’ve found her approachable, open-minded, reasonable, and committed to making Massachusetts a really attractive place to grow a business,” Kenary said of Healey. “If I can help and make maybe a little bit of difference, I’m happy to do so.”
Council members will examine a range of issues, including taxes, regulations, business incentives, and workforce development. They’ll also weigh factors around what motivates people to move to Massachusetts, and why they leave.
“There’s a sense of urgency,” Kenary said. “We can never rest and think what’s gotten us here is going to carry us for the next 10 or 20 years.”
Deliberations could lead to regulatory changes or proposed legislation, though there is not a deadline yet for any recommendations.
“We need to have a much broader conversation about how we compete as a state,” said economic development secretary Eric Paley, whose staff will support the council’s efforts. “We want to make sure … Massachusetts is as competitive as we can be in … attracting businesses, retaining businesses, attracting talent, and retaining talent.”
Nunnelly, who now oversees a family investment office and foundation, said he has previously had conversations with Healey about competitiveness.
Healey, Nunnelly said, has been talking about these issues since before she became governor in January 2023. The council likely won’t be able to come up with one “silver bullet” that solves the state’s economic challenges, he said, but it’s important to consider how to best position the state for the future.
“While we stand at a junction where the change in front of us is dramatically accelerating and bigger than the change behind us, Mass. has always risen to the challenge,” said Nunnelly, who was also a top official in Charlie Baker’s administration. “Finding ways that we can remember what brought us the ‘Mass. miracles’ we’ve had so far, and what we can all imagine about the ‘Mass. miracle’ in the future, is a positive thing for us to do.”
Jon Chesto can be reached at jon.chesto@globe.com. Follow him @jonchesto.
