Senate Majority Leader Stan Rosenberg has hired public relations expert Natasha Perez to serve as his chief of staff.
“Natasha brings a strong background of management, political and policy experience,” Rosenberg said in a press statement. “Her skill and expertise will help the Senate be an effective, responsive legislative body to address challenges and opportunities for the people of the Commonwealth.”
Perez graduated from Amherst High School, earned a BA in Political Science from UMass Boston, and a MS in Project Management at Boston University. She worked as Political Director for AARP Northeast, Chief of Staff at Green Works in Cambridge, and Deputy Director for the Massachusetts Democratic Party, where she worked under former Director Phil Johnston for four years.
Most recently, Perez headed her own political communication and strategic planning consulting firm where she worked with Citizens Energy, the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, and Jeff McCormick’s gubernatorial campaign. She worked as a campaign spokeswoman for Boston City Councilor John Connolly’s unsuccessful 2012 mayoral bid as well as Councilor Michael Flaherty’s 2009 attempt at the same office.
A Cuban-American, Perez was born in New York and grew up in Maine and Vermont.
Rosenberg, a Democrat whose Senate district includes Amherst, Northampton and other progressive voting Pioneer Valley communities, assumed the Senate presidency in January. He is widely seen to be consolidating power on Beacon Hill, pledging in February to create new Senate committees that would enable the body to move legislation without going through House committees.
Rosenberg has also pledged to bring more transparency to the Senate, advancing a rule that would make agendas for Senate hearings public at least two days before the hearing is held.
