Get to know BRPC executive director Tom Matuszko in the Berkshire Eagle’s first executive spotlight of 2021:

PITTSFIELD — Thomas Matuszko grew up on his family farm in Hadley, then briefly pursued farming as a profession. Working the land didn’t excite him, but preserving farmland from developers certainly did.

That interest caused Matuszko to become a regional planner. He joined the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission in 1997 and became the agency’s executive director in 2018, when Nathaniel “Nat” Karns retired, after serving in that position for 23 years.

The commission is the county’s official regionwide planning agency, and Matuszko has been involved in several of its initiatives, which have included analysis and reports on the Berkshires’ transportation, community and economic development, public health, and environmental and population issues.

Read more on the Berkshire Eagle site here.