Deborah Beth Goldberg (born May 11, 1954) is an American politician and lawyer. She is the Treasurer of Massachusetts, serving since January 2015. She was a member of the Board of Selectmen for the town of

Brookline, Massachusetts Brookline is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, in the United States, and part of the Greater Boston, Boston metropolitan area. Brookline borders six of Boston's neighborhoods: Brighton, Boston, Brighton, A ...

from 1998 to 2004, serving the last two terms as chair. Goldberg was a candidate in the 2006 Massachusetts Democratic primary election for

lieutenant governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

. In 2018, Goldberg was re-elected as State Treasurer.

Early life and education

Goldberg was raised in

Brookline Brookline may refer to: Places in the United States * Brookline, Massachusetts, a town near Boston * Brookline, Missouri * Brookline, New Hampshire * Brookline (Pittsburgh), a neighborhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania * Brookline, Vermont See ...

and graduated from

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

(B.A., '75),

Boston College Law School Boston College Law School (BC Law) is the law school of Boston College. It is situated on a wooded campus in Newton, Massachusetts, about 1.5 miles from the university's main campus in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. With approximately 800 studen ...

(J.D., '83), and

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...

(M.B.A., '85). Goldberg's family immigrated to Massachusetts and opened a grocery store in Boston's North End in 1892. The family opened additional stores and their business grew into what eventually became

Stop & Shop The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company, known as Stop & Shop, is a regional chain of supermarkets located in the northeastern United States. From its beginnings in 1892 as a small grocery store, it has grown to include 406 stores chain-wide. Sto ...

, the largest supermarket chain in New England. Goldberg helped run this family business when she was younger and attributes some of her stance on advocating for local issues to her upbringing with a family-run market. She relates to her constituents with rhetoric such as "I say my family is your family" in her speeches. Though she received an MBA, she states “my real MBA came from working in the business.”

Political career

2006 lieutenant governor campaign

In the 2006 Democratic Primary, Goldberg finished second in a three-way race to then-

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engla ...

Mayor

Tim Murray Timothy Patrick Murray (born June 7, 1968) is an American lawyer and member of the Democratic Party who served as the 71st Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts from 2007 to 2013, when he resigned to become the head of the Worcester Chamber of Com ...

with 33% of the vote. She received the endorsement of the ''

Boston Herald The ''Boston Herald'' is an American daily newspaper whose primary market is Boston, Massachusetts, and its surrounding area. It was founded in 1846 and is one of the oldest daily newspapers in the United States. It has been awarded eight Pulit ...

'', but failed to win the endorsement of her hometown newspaper, the '' Brookline Tab'', because, they claimed, she had "been taking too much credit" for the town's accomplishments and had "over inflate(d) the chairman's job". The strongly worded rebuke resulted in a vocal reader response and a separate endorsement from Stan Spiegel, a ''Brookline Tab'' columnist and Brookline

Town Meeting Town meeting is a form of local government in which most or all of the members of a community are eligible to legislate policy and budgets for local government. It is a town- or city-level meeting in which decisions are made, in contrast with ...

member.

2014 campaign for treasurer

On February 27, 2014, Goldberg formally announced her candidacy for State Treasurer. At the Massachusetts Democratic Convention, she was the top vote-getter in the race for Treasurer, winning 38.9% of the vote. Goldberg was the first to release a televised advertisement in the race on August 4, 2014. Goldberg was seated as Treasurer January 21, 2015 after defeating Republican Mike Heffernan in the general election.

2018 re-election

In 2018, Goldberg was re-elected for her position as State Treasurer.

Other work

Prior to becoming Treasurer, Goldberg served as president of the board of directors of Adoptions with Love, was an Advisory Board member of the

Greater Boston Food Bank The Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB), located in Boston, Massachusetts, is a non-profit organization that serves more than 500,000 people each year through a network of nearly 600 member hunger-relief agencies throughout eastern Massachusetts. The ...

, is a Commissioner on the Town of Brookline's Neighborhood Conservation District Commission, was Senate President

Therese Murray Therese Murray (born October 10, 1947 in Boston) is an American politician who served as President of the Massachusetts Senate from 2007 to 2015. Murray, a Democrat, was the first woman to lead a house of the Massachusetts General Court. She repre ...

's appointee to the Treasurer's Commonwealth Covenant Fund, and sat on the advisory board of the Taubman Center for State and Local Government at

Harvard Kennedy School The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public ...

. Goldberg is involved with various events for Jewish organizations such as the Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action and was the first Jewish woman elected to statewide office in Massachusetts. She received the 2016 Excellence in Leadership Award from The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston (JCRC) and the Massachusetts Association of Jewish Federations (MAJF)'s "Women in Leadership" reception.

Controversy

In November 2014, it was reported that Goldberg had admonished an employee of Adoptions with Love for seeking employment with the State Treasurer's office without first informing her current employer of her job seeking plans. Goldberg came to this knowledge in her official capacity as Treasurer-elect, and her actions were seen as a breach of ethics.

Electoral history

Personal life

She is married to Michael Winter, with whom she has two children.

References

External links

Government website

Deb Goldberg for Treasurer
campaign website {{DEFAULTSORT:Goldberg, Deb 1954 births 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians Boston College Law School alumni Boston University alumni Harvard Business School alumni Jewish American people in Massachusetts politics Jewish women politicians Living people Massachusetts Democrats Politicians from Brookline, Massachusetts State treasurers of Massachusetts Women in Massachusetts politics 21st-century American Jews