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Join us for our annual Spring Lunch Program, held jointly with the Boston Post of SAME. We will be joined by Joe Albanese of Commodore Builders and former Mayor of Lawrence Dan Rivera. We will be coming together in person and hope you will attend. Registration for both SAME and CMAA attendees will be conducted through SAME's website at the link below. Please contact Pete Long ([email protected]) with any questions or for more information.
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On September 13, 2018, the Merrimack Valley suffered series of gas explosions due to unregulated excessive pressure in natural gas lines. Over 30,000 area residents in the communities of Lawrence, Andover, and North Andover were forced to immediately evacuate their homes and the impact of the explosions left a trail of over 100 fires and one fatality.
State and local leaders and first responders mobilized immediately and took rapid measures to stabilize the situation and map out the strategy for recovery and restoration.
On September 17 Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker appointed Joe Albanese, President & Chief Executive Officer of Commodore Builders, as the Chief Recovery Officer to lead the disaster recovery and restorations efforts. With 28 years of active and reserve duty in the United States Navy Civil Engineer Corps coupled with an in-depth understanding of the built community, Joe was able to work closely with key stakeholders and the public to facilitate and communicate recovery priorities.
Joe Albanese, together with former Mayor of Lawrence, Dan Rivera, will detail the response and recovery efforts and how they were able to build a team that repaired and replaced 58 miles of impacted gas pipeline and repaired and replaced gas appliances for more than 10,000 affected residential and commercial customers, over a 12-week period. Their collaborative efforts with numerous state and local agencies were key in incorporating critical mitigation, resilience, and accessibility measures into the overall recovery plans and efforts.
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Registration (Registration Now Open!):
https://www.same.org/Boston/ModuleID/5845/ItemID/8433/mctl/EventDetails
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Joseph J. Albanese
President and CEO
Commodore Builders
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Joe Albanese is the founder and CEO of Commodore Builders, a $550 million Construction Management/General Contracting Firm located in Waltham, Massachusetts. He is a Registered Professional Engineer, with a degree in Civil Engineering from UMass Lowell and an MBA from Boston University.
As a U.S. Navy Officer, in 2007 Joe mobilized to the Middle East for 10 months of military service, serving as the Commander of Task Group 56.2 and 22nd Naval Construction Regiment (fwd), leading more than 2200 Navy Seabees throughout Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Bahrain, and The Horn of Africa. He retired as a Captain, U.S. Navy Civil Engineer Corps in September 2009, after 28 years of military service. His numerous military awards include the Legion of Merit and Meritorious Service Medal (2 awards).
Joe is past Chairman of the Board of Directors of the New England Center and Home for Veterans and serves on the Board of Advisors of the UMass Lowell Francis College of Engineering.
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Joe sits on the Board of Directors of the Village Bank in Newton and is an overseer for the Boston Architectural College, and the USS Constitution Museum. He is Chairman of Board of Directors for Leading Cities, Boston, Director for the Navy Seabee/Civil Engineer Corp Historic Foundation, and a Board Member for A Better City.
On September 17, 2018, Joe was appointed by the Governor of Massachusetts as Chief Recovery Officer leading disaster recovery and restorations efforts following the September 13th gas line explosions impacting three municipalities in the Merrimack Valley of Massachusetts. The gas over-pressurization event impacted over 58 miles of gas pipeline and more than 10,500 residences, community and municipal buildings, schools, and businesses. Joe took a 3 month leave of absence from Commodore Builders to lead this effort, which was substantially complete in early December 2018. Over 12 weeks’ time, he led a team that put more than $750 million of work in place.
Joe was recognized in 2016 as Man of the Year by Housing Families of Malden MA. In October 2019, Boston Based “A Better City” presented Joe with the Norman B Leventhal Award for Infrastructure in recognition of his leadership and accomplishments during the Merrimack Valley Gas Recovery. In November 2019, Boston Based Caritas Communities presented Joe the P. Leo Corcoran Humanitarian Award recognizing his leadership, philanthropy and support to those less fortunate. In 2020, Joe received The Engineering Center Education Trust Leadership Award from the Boston Society of Engineers.
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Dan Rivera
President and CEO
MassDevelopment |
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Dan Rivera comes to MassDevelopment after serving seven years as Mayor of the City of Lawrence, Mass. During his time as Mayor, the city saw significant commercial development, record new units of housing, and tens of millions of dollars invested in economic development planning and projects. Dan’s focus on economic and community development as Mayor included investments in housing, job creation, downtown redevelopment, transit-oriented development and equity, infrastructure, brownfields redevelopment, placemaking, and quality-of-life improvements, and establishing professional, transparent, modern, and streamlined permitting and licensing processes.
Dan was an invaluable member of the Baker-Polito Administration’s Reopening Advisory Board, bringing the municipal viewpoint to the group tasked with developing the Commonwealth’s strategy to reopen the economy during COVID-19, and the COVID-19 Vaccine Advisory Group.
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In 2017, Governor Baker tapped Rivera to serve on the newly established Latino Advisory Commission charged with addressing concerns of the Massachusetts Latino community and promoting economic prosperity and well-being.
Prior to his two terms as Mayor of Lawrence, Dan held various positions in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors. Dan is a veteran of the U.S. Army, where he served in the first Gulf War, Desert Shield/Desert Storm, and a graduate of the UMass Amherst and Suffolk University’s Sawyer School of Management, where he earned his MBA. Dan lives in Lawrence with his wife, Paula, and their children, Daniel and Charlotte.
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