Lawrence Mayor Brian DePena has hired former City Councilor Carlos Matos’s as the new Director of the Office of Planning & Development.
Matos was most known as a District “B” City Councilor who went up against the developers of Lawrence High School to stop them from taking land from the Veterans Memorial Stadium and opposing Northern Essex Community College purchasing the Intown Mall on Common Street in favor of a shoe factory.
Matos ran unsuccessfully for mayor and then disappeared from the Lawrence political scene.
According to Mayor DePena, Matos brings to the role a wealth of experience, spanning more than twenty years across both public and private sectors. As Director, Mr. Matos will oversee a wide-ranging portfolio that includes the Department of Planning, Economic Development, Community Development, and Inspectional Services, encompassing both the Building and Health Departments.
Mayor DePeña expressed confidence in Matos’s appointment, saying, “Mr. Matos’s extensive track record, his expertise in strategic planning, managing high-stakes projects, and driving transformative change, positions him as a formidable force in Lawrence’s development landscape.”
Carlos Matos has deep roots in the community and has worked in several industries. He has a wide range of knowledge, including economic and workforce development, global client digital transformation, and financial services solutions. Carlos is experienced in navigating complex challenges and delivering impactful results. With the appointment of Carlos D. Matos, the City of Lawrence sets forth on a bold path towards inclusive growth and sustainable development, guided by a seasoned leader committed to the city’s prosperity.
Mr. Carlos D. Matos’ Biography:
Mr. Matos served as the CEO of Nube, Inc., developing transformative digital strategies that resulted in growth and greater efficiency. Similarly, at the Chelsea Business Foundation, Carlos applied his change leadership skills to successfully implement transformative strategies that resulted in growth and greater value, spearheading planning and development efforts, which led to economic growth, access to resources, and assistance to over 700 businesses.
Before this role, Mr. Matos was Associate General Manager at the $1.2 billion global technology firm Hexaware, where he led offshore and onshore teams of digital technology professionals to deliver a $50 million digital transformation strategy for the largest provider of mortgage-backed securities in the U.S. secondary mortgage market.
Matos also served at State Street Corporation as Assistant Vice President in the Investment Management Services’ PMO/GCS business unit, effectively supporting internal business partners with global client solutions. In this role, he assisted with end-to-end onboarding solutions for global asset managers, asset owners, and insurance sector prospects and clients.
He utilized his deep analytical and consultative approach, as he had done in his prior position of Senior Government Services Consultant. where, he applied strategic and tactical planning and developed performance measures for the Secretariat level of MA State government.
Similarly, as Vice President of Planning & Institutional Effectiveness at MassBay Community College, as a C-suite leader, he led all aspects of the $34 million organization’s strategic and action planning process while managing a $10 million division of five major departments, including all academic non-credit program offerings and three technology business units. In this role, he implemented innovative long-term financial and technology solutions that saved over a million dollars annually and improved operational efficiency across the institution.
During his tenure at Northern Essex Community College, where he led as Director of their U.S. DOE Title V Project and Director of their U.S. DOL Third Tier Cities Project, a $2.5 million institutional effectiveness project, and the college’s $2.2 million workforce research project, he analyzed and researched sector strategies to foster economic improvement in majority Latino cities.
Carlos earned a BA from the highly ranked Saint Anselm College and completed a Master’s degree in Regional Economic and Social Development from UMass Lowell. Mr. Matos is driven by a passion to improve people’s lives, tackle the most pernicious problems, and build stronger communities for all. This passion has motivated him to reenter the public sector as Lawrence’s Director of Planning & Development.