Michelle Wu will be sworn in as mayor of Boston for the second time on Mon., Jan. 5 at Boston Symphony Hall. And when she convenes her first meeting with senior staff and cabinet chiefs, there’ll be many familiar faces around the table — but with different roles and titles.
Like every multi-term mayoral administration, the period between election and inauguration is an apt time to evaluate positions and the people in them. So, it’s no surprise that there’s already been some shuffling of the deck since Wu’s massive September triumph at the polls.
In October, the mayor announced that Tiffany Chu, her first-term chief of staff, was returning to private sector pursuits. Her role has since been filled by Clare Kelly, a close confidante of Wu’s who previously worked as her director of Intergovernmental Affairs.
Another big move was telegraphed in November when city Chief of Streets Jascha Franklin-Hodge told The Reporter that he would depart in December. His role has been filled on an interim basis by Nicholas Gove, who had worked as a deputy to Franklin-Hodge.
The Reporter can report that several other significant personnel moves are in the works:
• Mike Firestone, who has worked as the mayor’s chief of Policy and Strategic Planning, is shifting to Corporation Counsel, essentially the office of the city’s top lawyer. He’ll take over that role from Adam Cederbaum, who, “after 20 years of distinguished service in the Law Department, will conclude his city service early in the new year,” a mayoral spokesperson told The Reporter. Cederbaum will be the general counsel for Longwood Collective, a non-profit entity composed of the major institutions in the Logwood Medical District.
Firestone, who worked for Gov. Healey as an assistant attorney general when she was AG, will no doubt have a busy plate coordinating Boston’s legal responses to various federal agencies that are targeting Boston’s policies.
• Kristin McSwain will in part take on Firestone’s senior advisor role. She has been part of Team Wu as director of the Office of Early Childhood. The Roslindale resident will now be chief of Policy and Research, “working across cabinets and departments to coordinate the city’s efforts to analyze, test, and recommend policy actions to advance the mayor’s citywide agenda.”
• Ricardo Patrón takes up Clare Kelly’s former role in Intergovernmental Relations. Patrón has been deputy chief of staff in the Mayor’s Office and was Wu’s press secretary until Jan. 2024, when Emma Pettit, of Dorchester, took on that position.
• Mohammed Missouri, (shown below) who has been a key advisor and director of Stakeholder Engagement, is taking over as the executive director of the Office of Neighborhood Services (ONS), which supervises a network of liaisons who act as the mayor’s eyes and ears in different parts of the city. His appointment frees up another move: Beata Coloyan, who has led community engagement efforts as both ONS director and Chief of Staff to the Community Engagement Cabinet.
She will now become “deputy chief of staff of Strategic Planning.”
Finally, at least for now: Phyliss St-Hubert, (below) a key lieutenant in the Mayor’s Office in term one who has directed her schedule and advance planning, has been promoted to deputy chief of staff of Executive Operations, a role her team says includes “leading Mayor’s Office operations, scheduling and advance, and major events across the City of Boston.”
St-Hubert, a Haitian American woman and Suffolk University alumna, was on a leave of absence for several months this year as she helped manage the mayor’s re-election campaign.
In a statement announcing the personnel shifts, Wu said: “This incredible team pours their hearts into serving our city every day, and I’m deeply honored and grateful to work alongside them. In these challenging times, we know how important it is for city services to be reliable, responsive, and connected to community. We are ready for the hard work ahead to keep Boston moving forward.”
