Board of Directors

Richard C. Howard

Richard C. Howard has been Mayor of Malden since January, 1996. During his eight years as Mayor, he has achieved an impressive list of accomplishments. Most notable are:

New buildings for Malden’s School Children. Under the leadership of Mayor Howard, Malden has built five new state of the art K-8 schools and an all day early childhood learning center. The rebuilding program represents an investment in excess of $120 million in the future of Malden’s children. (90% of all costs were funded by the state).

Creative partnerships with the private sector. Malden has benefited from Mayor Howard's ability to pull together the right partnerships to address local needs. These public/private partnerships have created revitalized open space in the neighborhoods, have put a new face on the city’s residential and commercial areas through a successful citywide beautification program and have brought new educational courses and initiatives to the local public schools.

Innovative economic development. Thinking outside the box, Mayor Howard worked with Mayors in the neighboring cities of Medford and Everett to look beyond the bricks and mortar by using the River’s Edge (formerly TeleCom City) project as a catalyst for expanding the technology skills of school children in the three districts. The end-result has been a comprehensive tri-city approach to teaching and learning in the field of technology. The Mayor also reached out to partners in the federal, state and private levels to forge a collaboration that helped finance a successful fundraising effort by the Malden YMCA to build a new facility. Construction of the new $10 million YMCA began in May, 2004. Lastly, the city, which continues to experience rising property values, will be the beneficiary of some significant residential growth in the months ahead.

An attorney with a law office in Malden for 15 years, Mayor Howard is a graduate of Suffolk University and Suffolk University Law School. In the August, 2000 “Best of Boston” special issue of Boston Magazine, Mayor Howard was named “Best Suburban Mayor.” A lifelong resident of Malden, he is a past president and former board member of the Malden Chamber of Commerce; an active member and former Director of the Malden YMCA; a former Commissioner of the Malden Housing Authority; the 2000 recipient of the American Cancer Society’s Massachusetts Bay Region Outstanding Leadership Award; a member of the FannieMae Advisory Council; Vice Chair of the Metropolitan Mayors’ Coalition; Vice Chair of the Massachusetts Municipal Association’s Policy Committee on Municipal and Regional Administration; and a member of the Massachusetts Municipal Association’s Task Force on State and Local Finance, Service Delivery and Administrative Reform. He and his wife Lisa have three sons, Brendan, Kyle and Andrew, ages 14, 10 and 4.