January 26, 2010
The two new City Councillors At-Large, Felix Arroyo and Ayanna Pressley, are bringing some new (and some not so new) faces with them to City Hall.
Not unlike Arroyo, Pressley is bringing on people from the campaign trail:
-- James Chisholm, who headed her campaign, is her chief of staff, overseeing the staff, policy and communications. He has worked with Pressley in U.S. Sen. John Kerry's office, where he wrote speeches and was a deputy press secretary. He has also written for ESPN.com. He lives in Allston-Brighton.
-- Ana Gabbidon, an Emerson College graduate who lives in Jamaica Plain, will be Pressley's special assistant. She served as Pressley's finance director on the campaign. She also did advance work for the Obama presidential campaign in 2008.
Others hired within Pressley's office include:
-- Jessica Taubner, also a Jamaica Plain resident, is Pressley's policy director. Taubner is a former senior researcher at the state Legislature's Joint Committee on Health Care Financing, having worked on an omnibus children’s mental health bill and an omnibus cost containment bill that were enacted in 2008. She is also former field director for both the Flaherty and Yoon mayoral campaigns from last year.
-- Jackney Prioly, a Dorchester native and special assistant in mayor's office and the city's human services office, will handle policy, communications and outreach. She is also the coordinator for the City of Boston Scholarship Fund. She is enrolled in Northeastern University's public administration program.
We've already reported two of Arroyo's hires, including his chief of staff Stu Rosenberg and constituent services director Joy DePina.
The two additional hires include:
-- Ivette Luna is the organizing director, handling issues before the Licensing Board and ethnic media outlets. She previously worked as a lead organizer at social advocacy group Ocean State Action in Rhode Island.
-- Heather Perez is Arroyo's executive assistant. She previously served as a legislative aide to state Rep. Willie Mae Allen (D-Mattapan).