Title: Chief of Administration and Finance, Collector-Treasurer
Firm: City of Boston
Age: 35
Emme Handy is the City of Boston’s chief of administration and finance, and collector-treasurer, where she has overseen a wide range of initiatives.
“I have a passion for working in public sector finance, everything from the annual planning to the day-to-day management,” she said.
Dave Sweeney, chief of staff for Mayor Martin Walsh, calls her leadership unparalleled.
“She has overseen a AAA-rated city, and sought to expand investment across the city's highest priorities, such as housing production, public education, and transportation,” Sweeney said.
Emme, 35, whose primary interest in college was international policy, took to public finance after taking a related course at Northeastern University. Then, she became a budget analyst at the state legislature.
“I wound up at the Ways and Means Committee and I loved it,” said Emme, who grew up outside Burlington, Vt.
“It was at the nexus between policymaking and budgeting. We worked on interesting legislation, including children’s mental health and dental health.”
After a stretch as assistant secretary for budget and fiscal operations at the commonwealth’s Executive Office for Administration and Finance, Emme worked as the senior director of financial planning and analysis for the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, a scientific organization focused on human health.
“They were cutting edge in all the things they did,” she said.
Emme is busy with Boston initiatives such as environmental, social and governance, or ESG, investing, and a multiyear financial planning analysis, which she says will help the city meet needs that range from affordable housing to climate resilience.
“He is a supporter of his team and really thinks quickly about issues that are important to the city,” she said of the mayor.
