State economic development secretary Yvonne Hao talks about “Team Massachusetts” so frequently, the Healey administration’s aspirational motto has also become a source of humor.
Governor Maura Healey and Hao gathered some 200-plus business, political, and labor leaders in the auditorium at the Ragon Institute in Cambridge on Tuesday to celebrate the signing of a long-awaited $4 billion economic development bill.
Hao served as Healey’s quarterback on the bill, nudging lawmakers when she could. She’s known for talking up “Team Massachusetts” and handing out wristbands and baseball caps bearing the logo wherever she goes. Healey joked that Hao has probably already given out “Team Massachusetts” bracelets to everyone in the room.
When it was her time to speak, Hao added, “The governor’s right, I do talk a lot about ‘Team Massachusetts.’ Some have said it’s a drinking game” — as in, throw back a drink every time Hao says the phrase.
Hao said she reviewed her daily journal, and noted that she was recruited by Healey two years ago. Crafting an economic development plan, and then getting it turned into legislation, was her top priority. Those efforts were put at risk when lawmakers adjourned from regularly scheduled formal sessions for the year on Aug. 1 without a deal on the legislation, but they lived up to their promise to return and finish the bill months later.
“I’m really curious what your journal says on July 31 and Aug. 1,” said Representative Aaron Michlewitz, the House’s lead negotiator on the bill. “And I’m wearing my wristband, having about three or four of these given to me by the secretary.”
If anyone was playing along with the drinking game, they would have stayed remarkably sober during Hao’s speech. She rattled off some of the legislation’s benefits, including the funds it sets aside for the clean-tech and life sciences industries.
But in the end, she couldn’t resist saying, “Thank you everyone, and let’s go, Team Massachusetts!”
This is an installment of our weekly Bold Types column about movers and shakers on Boston’s business scene.
Jon Chesto can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @jonchesto.