MMA.ORGThe 2025 program is still being developed, and this schedule reflects what’s confirmed at this time. More details will be posted here as soon as they’re available.
The 2025 program is still being developed, and this schedule reflects what’s confirmed at this time. More details will be posted here as soon as they’re available.
Attendees may pick up their name badge and materials at the main registration desk.
The Trade Show offers opportunities to connect with companies, associations and government agencies in a lively exhibit hall. Local officials can connect with friends and make new contacts while learning about the latest products and services available to help solve municipal challenges. Visitors can easily engage in conversations with exhibitors or just browse.
This interactive session will allow seasoned leaders and emerging professionals to learn from experienced managers. Coaches will provide career guidance and professional counsel based on their own experiences. This is an excellent opportunity for anyone interested in advancing their career and expanding their professional network. MPA students are welcome to attend.
Over the past decade, Women Leading Government has grown into a thriving MMA affiliate group that includes hundreds of women from every part of government across the Commonwealth. This important WLG conversation will feature Opal Mauldin-Jones, the first female city manager of Lancaster, Texas, with Needham Town Manager Kate Fitzpatrick. Mauldin-Jones has been Lancaster’s city manager since 2011, and in 2018, she received the inaugural League of Women in Government Leadership Trailblazer Award. Mauldin-Jones will reflect on overcoming challenges, balancing career and family, and the importance of mentoring.
A great opportunity for seeing colleagues and networking.
Attendees may pick up their name badge and materials at the main registration desk.
The Trade Show offers opportunities to connect with companies, associations and government agencies in a lively exhibit hall. Local officials can connect with friends and make new contacts while learning about the latest products and services available to help solve municipal challenges. Visitors can easily engage in conversations with exhibitors or just browse.
Suneel Gupta
Bestselling author and entrepreneur Suneel Gupta has made a career out of studying the successes and failures of leaders and exploring the link between well-being and performance. In Friday’s opening keynote, titled “Momentum: Boosting Resilience, Fulfillment and Performance,” Gupta will address what he calls the “human energy crisis” and the link between well-being and performance.
Gupta is a visiting scholar at Harvard Medical School and the host of the docuseries “Business Class,” which highlights the success stories and challenges of entrepreneurs, including Martha Stewart and Top Chef’s Tom Colicchio. He has written two books, “Backable: The Surprising Truth Behind What Makes People Take a Chance on You,” and “Everyday Dharma: 8 Essential Practices for Finding Success and Joy in What You Do.”
Combining ancient wisdom and scientific research, Gupta works to help leaders overcome the “energy crisis” at work and develop better energy management strategies in order to boost creativity, innovation, and productivity, while simultaneously improving their emotional resilience and well-being.
Gupta’s research also draws from his own experiences as a Silicon Valley entrepreneur. Following the collapse of his first two Silicon Valley startups more than a decade ago, Gupta became the “face of failure” when a New York Times article captured his comments at a conference on failure. But he soon achieved success as the founding CEO of RISE (now owned by Amazon), a mobile health company that partnered with then-First Lady Michelle Obama to provide low-cost health coaching to people in need. He has also invested in numerous well-known companies, including Airbnb, 23andMe and the meditation app Calm.
He has a degree in information systems from the University of Michigan-Dearborn, and law and business degrees from Northwestern University.
These 30-minute sessions provide opportunities to hear from experts on a variety of topics.
Graduates and current students of the MMA-Suffolk programs are invited to a networking reception. Light lunch refreshments will be served. The reception is complimentary but an RSVP is required to Kate Evarts at kevarts@mma.org.
Topics:
• Fiscal Outlook
• Succession Planning
• Municipal Law Update
• Connecting With Younger Generations
• Workplace Behavior Challenges
• Navigating Public Service in a Difficult Environment
Topics:
• Capital Planning for Resiliency
• Labor Law Update
• Proposition 2½ Overrides
• Housing
• Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
• Cybersecurity
A great opportunity for seeing colleagues and networking.
Members can network over dinner.
Attendees may pick up their name badge and materials at the main registration desk.
Members can network over breakfast.
MIIA members are invited to join their fellow municipal officials from MIIA communities and MIIA staff for the MIIA Annual Business Meeting.
Matt Lehrman
Matt Lehrman is a managing partner at Social Prosperity Partners, a firm he co-founded in 2012 to work with municipal, civic and nonprofit organizations to improve public engagement, build consensus and undertake strategic planning.
Lehrman has extensive experience working with local governments around the county, and regularly speaks to state municipal leagues around the country. In his popular “From Conflict to Conversation” presentations, he tells local leaders how they can build consensus around important decisions and foster inclusion through meaningful dialogue.
Since February, Lehrman has also hosted the “Community Catalysts” podcast, where he interviews elected and appointed municipal officials, civic and nonprofit leaders, and businesspeople who have worked to improve their communities.
Lehrman, who has a bachelor’s degree in government and sociology from Oberlin College, spent much of his early career in banking and the arts before focusing on government. For 17 years, he was an arts and culture administrator, serving as vice president of marketing and communications for Scottsdale Arts in Arizona before founding the Alliance for Audience, an organization that promoted arts and culture in Arizona for almost a decade.
He has also been a faculty associate and guest lecturer at Arizona State University and a speaker for Vistage Worldwide, a business advisory and executive coaching organization.
At the MMA’s Annual Business Meeting each January, local leaders from across Massachusetts engage in important policy discussions that help guide the work of the MMA in the coming year.
Among other agenda items, MMA members will consider one or more policy resolutions on key municipal issues. Each resolution is drafted by an MMA policy committee during the fall and approved by the MMA Board of Directors in November.
All mayors are invited to the Annual Business Meeting of the Massachusetts Mayors’ Association, provided they are registered for Connect 351
All town managers and town administrators are invited to the Annual Business Meeting of the Massachusetts Municipal Management Association, provided they are registered for Connect 351.
All members of select boards in Massachusetts are invited to attend the MSA Annual Business Meeting, provided they are registered for Connect 351. Attendance at the MSA Annual Business Meeting is limited to MSA members.
All members of city and town councils in Massachusetts are invited to attend the MMCA Annual Business Meeting, provided they are registered for Connect 351. Attendance at the MMCA Annual Business Meeting is limited to MMCA members.
Topics:
• Federal Funds
• Building Trust in Local Government Through Communications
• Artificial Intelligence: Practical Applications
• Joint Labor-Management Committee
• What’s Driving the Cost of Public Education
• Bringing Balance, Productivity and Human Sustainability to the Workplace
Members can network over coffee and dessert.