Mayor Michelle Wu has announced Paul Chong’s appointment to serve as the city of Boston’s next registrar. As a key leadership role in the city’s People Operations Cabinet, the city registrar sets the policies, vision and strategy for access to vital records for the city of Boston. This includes managing a team of employees who provide essential documents to constituents during critical times in their lives.
Chong comes to the job following several roles for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, including managing strategy and analytics for the School Building Authority and serving as the finance director for the Executive Office for Administration and Finance. During the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, Chong worked with leaders across the commonwealth to manage $300 million in federal relief funds and led efforts to stand up compliance and risk management around federal funds. Chong began his new role on Jan. 30.
“It’s a privilege to be a part of the Wu administration and to serve the City of Boston. The Registry provides services to residents at crucial moments in their lives,” Chong said. “I am excited to work with Chief Lawrence and the registry staff to make residents’ experience with vital records simple, accessible and secure.”
Chong started his career as a student volunteer and later as a parking analyst in his hometown of San Rafael, California. Born to immigrants, he has seen first-hand how government services can improve the lives of people. Chong is a collaborative leader who believes that government is a powerful tool for good. He is a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and Northeastern University. He lives in West Roxbury with his wife and two children.
The registrar will advance the city’s goals of record modernization and digitization and ease of access to public records. The registrar is responsible for birth, marriage and death certificates. The registrar will continue to develop consistent processes and practices for the department and ensure organizational compliance while maintaining a customer focus.
