Attorney Jeffrey T. Collins Appointed to State Ethics Commission

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BOSTON — Jeffrey T. Collins, a partner at Boston-based law firm Morgan, Brown & Joy, LLP, has been appointed by Governor Maura Healey to the State Ethics Commission. Commissioner Collins succeeds former Commission member Wilbur P. Edwards Jr.
 
Prior to joining Morgan, Brown & Joy, Commissioner Collins worked for 18 years at the Office of the Attorney General of Massachusetts, where he was an Assistant Attorney General and served as Deputy Chief of the Government Bureau's Trial Division. Before joining the Attorney General's Office, he was Legal Counsel and Senior Policy Analyst for the Massachusetts House of Representatives and the Joint Committee on Commerce and Labor. Commissioner Collins served for two decades as an intelligence analyst and officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve and is a veteran of the Iraq War.
 
Commissioner Collins earned a B.A. degree from the University of Massachusetts and a J.D. degree from University of New Hampshire School of Law. He teaches at the National Institute for Trial Advocacy, has served as an adjunct professor at Suffolk University Law School, and has taught at the National Attorneys General Training & Research Institute.
 
The State Ethics Commission is a non-partisan, independent state agency which administers, provides advice and training concerning, and civilly enforces the conflict of interest and financial disclosure laws. There are five Commissioners: three, including the Commission Chair, are appointed by the Governor, one is appointed by the Secretary of the Commonwealth, and one is appointed by the Attorney General. No more than two of the Commissioners appointed by the Governor, and no more than three Commissioners overall, may be from the same political party.
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BCC Trustees Vote to Hire Hara Charlier as Next President

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

Catheryn Chacon Ortega, the alumni appointment, liked how Hara Charlier easily connected with students faculty; Melissa Myers, alumni representative, also noted how comfortable Charlier was with various groups. Charlier, right, was called after the vote and accepted pending negotiations and state approval. 
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — It wasn't hard for BCC's Board of Trustees to elect a new president from Minnesota on Monday.

One by one, during a special meeting at Berkshire Community College, board members expressed their conviction that Hara Charlier was the best candidate to lead after Ellen Kennedy retires. They unanimously recommended Charlier as the next president of BCC to the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education.

"We're not trying to hire a replacement for Dr. Kennedy; We are trying to hire our next leader," Chair Julia Bowen said.

Charlier, currently the president of Central Lakes College in Brainerd, Minn., was one of four finalists identified by the Presidential Search Committee who visited the campus. She was not on site, but was called after the vote.

Catheryn Chacon Ortega was impressed by how Charlier connected with students and faculty, as well as her passion and breadth of experience.  

"As the appointed alumni, I put myself in the students' shoes when I was thinking about this, and I think I feel very represented by her, like if I come back as a student here, I think she will be a person that will be open doors to me, to my community, to the immigrant community, to everybody," she said.

Danielle Gonzalez feels Charlier has a "very" clear commitment to the community part of community college, and a deep experience of serving underserved populations, "really just with great enthusiasm."

"I think that in addition to having really deep community college leadership experience, she was able to articulate a very thorough understanding of the issues of the college of Berkshire County, of what those opportunities might look like, and how she would connect what her experience has been with how she could drive the school forward," said Julie Hughes, a newer member of the board.
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