Nearly a year after its last executive director resigned amid allegations of $20,000 in missing funds, Hyde/Jackson Square Main Street (HJSMS) has a new executive director.
Interim Executive Director Katie Reed will be working on a “very part-time basis,” she said in an email to the Gazette last month. She will also be involved in hiring a new full-time executive director.
“Katie came very highly recommended,” HJSMS President of the Board Jason LaGorga told the Gazette. “We couldn’t ask for a better interim director.”
The organization has been running on a “very limited capacity,” LaGorga said, since previous Executive Director Carlos Schillaci was suspended and resigned last July.
As the Gazette previously reported, the investigation appears to be ongoing. Jake Wark, press secretary for the District Attorney’s Office, said he could not confirm or deny that there is an ongoing investigation.
“We’ve been getting the organization back on track and securing our finances” since last year, LaGorga said. “One of our main goals is to reestablish a bigger presence in the neighborhood and find a permanent director.”
HJSMS has also implemented new internal operation procedures to prevent further financial problems, LaGorga said. He declined to say what those new procedures were.
A Jamaica Plain resident, Reed was executive director of Allston Village Main Streets for four years.
“I look forward to moving Hyde/Jackson Square Main Street into the future,” Reed said in a press release. “There are a lot of great things going on in this neighborhood right now, and it’s exciting to be a part of it.”
The 18 main streets organizations in the city—including HJSMS, JP Centre/South Main Streets and Egleston Square Main Street in JP—are nonprofits partially funded by the city. They aim to better commercial districts through events and improvement projects.