Regional President Speech

Testimony in Support of Margaret H. Marshall's Appointment to the Supreme Judicial Court Good Afternoon. My name is Cathy E. Minehan. I am President and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, but I am not here to speak in that capacity. Rather, I am here as someone with over 30 years of professional business and management experience, as well as someone who is active in the Boston civic arena. It is my pleasure to appear before this prestigious body today to endorse the proposed appointment of Margaret Marshall as Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. I first met Margaret Marshall shortly after I moved to Boston from New York City in 1991, when I became the Chief Operating Officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. Upon arriving in Boston, I knew that as a senior executive of the Federal Reserve I needed to build relationships with area business and civic leaders. As I embarked upon that course, I frequently encountered Margaret Marshall, who was then a partner at Choate, Hall and Stewart and President of the Boston Bar Association and later General Counsel of Harvard University. I remember being impressed that she was involved and respected in so many important business and civic arenas. As I observed and interacted with Margaret, it was clear to me from the start that not only was she an admired lawyer, but she also possessed exceptional management and interpersonal skills. It wasn't long before Margaret was kind enough to share with me insights particularly helpful to me as a manager of a sizeable organization. In particular, her advice on providing multiple avenues for employees to air grievances, especially those involving sensitive interpersonal issues, was particularly relevant. The resulting process in place today at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston was an outgrowth of Margaret's sage counsel. This, in my view, is a trait of a good leader--not just to solve problems, but to look at an institution as a whole and see how it can be improved for the benefit of all who work there, and interact with it. I am told, Margaret is widely recognized among her legal peers as having a keen legal mind and an aptitude for fair and impartial decision-making. That this is so is reflected in her selection as President of the Boston Bar Association, and as General Counsel to Harvard University. You have also heard testimony, I believe, from three Chief Justices on the matter of Margaret's legal acumen. I am not here to comment on her legal skills, as that is not my area of expertise, but to bring several other important qualities to your attention. These include her leadership capacity, her ability to be a respected ambassador of the Commonwealth and the judiciary, and her ability to build the bridges between government and the public, as well as between different branches of government, that are so essential to effective public service leadership. It is my professional judgment that Margaret has extraordinary strengths in each of these critical areas and that they will serve both her and the Commonwealth well if she is appointed to the Chief Justice position. Beyond these strengths, I also believe that appointing such as well qualified and well respected woman to this important position as the head of the judicial branch of state government sends a powerful message to people in the state of all genders and races. The message is clear--develop your skills, hone your professional strengths, demonstrate your leadership and the quality of your thinking, and success and recognition are possible. This appointment says to me that the door is open in the state of Massachusetts to the best and brightest, for I believe Margaret Marshall is truly one of those. Thank you for allowing me to speak here today.

Cathy E. Minehan (1999, September 28). Regional President Speech. Speeches, Federal Reserve. https://whenthefedspeaks.com/doc/regional_speeche_19990929_cathy_e_minehan

@misc{wtfs_regional_speeche_19990929_cathy_e_minehan,
  author = {Cathy E. Minehan},
  title = {Regional President Speech},
  year = {1999},
  month = {Sep},
  howpublished = {Speeches, Federal Reserve},
  url = {https://whenthefedspeaks.com/doc/regional_speeche_19990929_cathy_e_minehan},
  note = {Retrieved via When the Fed Speaks corpus}
}