PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The new chief of the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission is excited for her new role.
Laura Brennan was voted as the executive director after an extensive and lengthy interview process earlier this year to replace retiring Thomas Matuszko.
Brennan was the economic development program manager for three years and senior planner for six. Prior to that she was the marketing and operations director at Hancock Shaker Village and director of member and client services for the Berkshire Visitors Bureau and 1Berkshires.
She earned her bachelor’s degree from Franklin & Marshall College in Pennsylvania and a graduate-level certificate in local government leadership and management from Suffolk University.
“I came over to BRPC from 1Berkshire to do economic development planning, and it was a pretty smooth transition, because I did understand quite a lot about economic development in the region and I was able to jump right in to some of the early projects that I was asked to do, including supporting both Lenox and Great Barrington in establishing cultural districts,” she said.
“That was part of my early work here, and that was a great fit, because I had come from the cultural and museum world and understood the benefits of that kind of place making, and also really knew how to be a community organizer and get all of the stakeholders around the table to tackle something like going after a cultural district designation, which is actually quite an undertaking.”