About Marybeth

I grew up in West Hartford, CT. One summer, I was very lucky to have friends who invited me to visit in Otis. We swam, waterskied (mostly I wiped out) and in the evening, we piled into a car, driving over the hills through the lush green summer tree cover in Becket, Lee, Lenox and Stockbridge to attend Tanglewood on Parade. Time on Otis Reservoir; the lawn at Tanglewood surrounded by lush trees and inspirational music; this was heaven.

I’m very familiar with western Massachusetts, I went to Mount Holyoke College. From apple-picking at Atkins Orchard to riding the 5 college vans to Hampshire, Amherst, UMASS and Smith in Northampton, to watching my own kids play for the Western Mass Girl’s Basketball championship at The Cage at UMASS Amherst. I’ve been familiar with the region for decades.

I earned a Master’s in Public Policy at University of Maryland in College Park and began my career as a Presidential Management Intern at HUD under Jack Kemp during the Reagan Administration. In Community Planning and Development’s Rental Rehabilitation Program, I was assigned Regions 1 and 9; New England states and California, Nevada and Hawaii, respectively.

After a couple of years, I met my husband Kevin at a bar in Washington DC, a year later, we married at Mount Holyoke College. The Sunday after our wedding, we grabbed a picnic and I introduced him to the lawn at Tanglewood. Thankfully, Kevin was as taken with Tanglewood as I had been. After a week, traveling around New England, our 10 year tour of duty with the Navy began in earnest.

During my husband’s military service, we were stationed in FL, 3 locations in Southern California, Okinawa, Japan and Newport, RI. Moving a lot can make your resume look like you can’t hold a job. Fortunately, when we got engaged while I was still in Washington DC, I became a senior budget analyst at Office of the Comptroller for Shipbuilding and Conversion in Pentagon City, VA. I was responsible for change orders and financial oversight of 5 billion dollars’ worth of naval tankers, oilers, landing craft and ironically, the Navy’s two hospital ships, the Mercy and the Comfort. During his flight training in Pensacola as a Flight Surgeon, I worked as an executive assistant at NAPA Auto HQ.

We moved to Southern California where I was Fiscal Officer at Marine Corps Air Station Camp Pendleton, the only civilian on the Commanding Officer’s Executive Staff. Then, I became Deputy Comptroller of Marine Corps Air Station Tustin and to supplement our income—have you ever purchased a home in Southern California?—I began a side hustle writing municipal Housing Affordability Strategies required for entitlement cities to get their federal housing allocations. That went so well that I left federal service and started my own business, Affordable Housing Professionals, serving several southern CA cities and counties. When my husband completed his orthpaedic surgery residency, our family was transferred to Okinawa, Japan.

Our third child was born at the Naval Hospital in Okinawa, where my husband was Department Chair of Orthopaedics and later, the Executive Officer of the Hospital. I didn’t work “outside the home” during those three years, I was happy to take advantage of the cultural offerings of Okinawa, and enjoy the company of other military families who shared our tour of duty and raise our three girls. In 2000, my husband was assigned to Naval Training Center Newport, RI as Department Chair of Orthopaedics. In 2001, my husband was honorably discharged from the U.S. Navy, and he got a job in Pittsfield.

My husband and I could have located anywhere in the United States when he left military service: we chose Berkshire County. We knew we could raise our family here with great outdoor recreational activities, outstanding cultural offerings, and first-rate public schools.

Our children attended the Lenox Public Schools, during which time I served 3 terms on the Lenox School Committee, my final year as Chairwoman.

Currently, I’m chairwoman of the Lenox Affordable Housing Trust. In 2017, the Trust developed a Housing Production Plan. Preservation of existing housing stock throughout the county is a priority. The Town of Lenox is applying for federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds that help homeowners make health and safety improvements to their homes, ensuring their houses remain up to code. This program is up and running in Great Barrington, Lee and Egremont.

I also am serving my second three-year term as a Lenox Select Board member. I am liaison to the Lenox Library, Lenox Cultural District, the Lenox Cultural Council, School Committee and Affordable Housing Trust. Public service is important to me; I enjoy assisting people find the resources they seek to improve their experience living and working in the town of Lenox. I want to expand that to help all 18 towns in the 3rd Berkshire District get the attention and resources we deserve here in Western Massachusetts.