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Dear Colleagues,
This month, we celebrate Women's History Month and the extraordinary contributions by female role models in various roles across the Commonwealth.
At the Commonwealth, the five women leaders below were honored with individual awards during the 2022 Performance Recognition Awards Program. Inspiring greatness, promoting diversity and inclusion, and rising to challenges with strength and compassionate leadership, are just a sampling of the qualities these women displayed in their work this past year.
At the Awards Program, Cabinet Members shared stories of these leaders' commitment, grit, and creativity over the past year. Learn more about these outstanding female leaders in the excerpts below.
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Marylouise Gamache, Executive Office of Health and Human Services
Marylouise serves as the Ombudsperson for the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, assisting any individual in the Commonwealth who needs support with a variety of healthcare and social services. Her dedication to serving our citizens is truly extraordinary- she is often working with extremely vulnerable individuals and their families who have reached out to her because they are experiencing a crisis or are dealing with extremely complex social service or medical needs. By the time someone is reaching out to Marylouise, they have usually tried all the usual solutions already and are often frustrated and unhappy. Despite this, Marylouise handles inquiries with grace and patience; always with a determined focus on assisting an individual or family to get appropriate support. Colleagues have shared that Marylouise is an inspiration, challenging others to be the best public servants they can be, and respectfully pushing others to think outside the box when necessary to meet the needs of residents.
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Hafsatou Diop, Department of Public Health
For more than seventeen years, Hafsatou has served as the content expert in maternal and child health for the Department of Public Health. Over the course of her career, she has brought numerous groups together towards a shared goal of improving the health of all families, with a particular focus on reducing inequities in Black maternal and infant health. Without her constant drive to establish more and better data, we would not have the tools we need to persuade all sectors, including policymakers, clinicians, hospitals, and insurance providers, of the vast changes needed in our healthcare and public health systems. She is tireless in her pursuit of this goal, and many organizations and families have benefited from her brilliance, passion, and dedication. Dr. Diop leads by example, approaching her work with enthusiasm, professionalism, and insight. She is a productive scholar, respected epidemiologist, visionary leader, astute clinician, valued mentor, and champion for women's health and public health for all.
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Katie Dishnica, Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development
Katie continuously delivers outstanding service and leadership in her role. Over the years and especially during the past year, Katie has fulfilled her role in an exemplary manner, using forward-thinking and creativity when performing her duties. Following our system's pandemic recovery, during which DUA issued over $33 billion to affected Massachusetts workers, Katie managed the Department of Unemployment Assistance staffing, administrative, and programmatic funding from the Federal government, and led the staff in preventing, detecting, and collecting overpaid unemployment compensation monies. Katie supports her team members in a steadfast, friendly manner with accurate, timely information. She uses innovation to solve challenges and her contributions surrounding the Commonwealth's unemployment compensation program are immense. We are so appreciative of Katie’s leadership and her unwavering dedication and commitment.
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Tracy Blais, Town of Newbury
Tracy is a strong proponent of investing in her employees. Her priority was to build a culture of learning which encouraged professional growth and empowered Town employees to reach their highest potential. As part of her progressive vision and strategic planning, funding was created within the Town's operating budget for the implementation of continuing education and professional development programs. She understood that when Town employees attended professional development courses, it increased their expertise in their positions and as a result, heightened the services employees could provide to both taxpayers and the community. Her commitment to professional development not only encouraged professional growth for Town employees, it improved productivity, boosted morale, and increased job satisfaction.
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Maureen Strauss, Middlesex Community College
The dental hygiene department at Middlesex Community College was asked to think about and explore ways to expand access to preventive dental hygiene services to underserved children in Middlesex County. The hope was that by improving children's access to oral healthcare, school absences would decrease as well as behavioral issues related to poor oral health. Maureen worked to embed a service-learning project into her courses, and immediately explored funding opportunities to support the project. Under Maureen’s leadership, Middlesex Community College students provided over $93,000 worth of free oral health care to children in Lowell Public Schools and the greater Lowell Area. Maureen's passion for oral health and community health shone brightly throughout this project. Not only did this project provide free care to children, but also taught the dental hygiene students the importance of health equity and service to communities in need.
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