Board of Directors

Dr. Alicia Sasser Modestino is Research Director at the Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy and an associate professor with appointments in the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs and the Department of Economics at Northeastern University. Previously, she was a senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston where she led numerous research projects on regional economic and policy issues for the New England Public Policy Center. In that role, she frequently advised policymakers and business leaders and testified on key legislation related to labor market policy. Her work has appeared in journals including Regional Science and Urban Economics, Journal of Human Resources, and Health Affairs and has been presented at the annual meetings of the American Economic Association.

Dr. Modestino holds both a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University, where she also served as a doctoral fellow in the Inequality and Social Policy Program at the Kennedy School of Government.

Matthew S. Sosik is president and chief executive officer of Hometown Financial Group (HFG), a $2.7 billion mutual multi-bank holding company based in Easthampton. Under Sosik’s direction, HFG has grown by nearly 300 percent, executing five merger and acquisitions since 2013. HFG is the parent company of three mutual banks - bankESB (formerly Easthampton Savings Bank), Oxford-based bankHometown, and Abington Bank, a merger that was completed in the spring of 2019 and also included the merger of Pilgrim Bank in Marion and Cohasset. Together, these mutual banks serve towns in the Pioneer Valley, Central Mass., northeast Connecticut, and the South Shore.

A native and lifelong resident of Sturbridge, Sosik has a Bachelor of Science in Economics and Finance from Bentley University. After working as a bank examiner for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation for four years, he was named president of Hometown Bank in Oxford in 1997. He remained at Hometown Bank for nearly 17 years. In 2013, he was named president and chief executive officer at bankESB. In 2015, Sosik oversaw the acquisition of his former mutual bank, Hometown Bank. Hometown Financial Group emerged soon after becoming the parent company of the new mutual multi-bank structure.

Michael J. Jones is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Institution for Savings (IFS), which is based in Newburyport and has 15 branches across the North Shore. With $5.2 billion in total assets IFS is the state’s 12th largest bank and 5th largest mutual bank. Mr. Jones has more than two decades of experience as a Massachusetts bank CEO, originally at the Ipswich Cooperative Bank, and a history of extensive civic engagement, most recently serving as chair of the Ipswich Affordable Housing Trust. He earned a bachelor’s degree in finance at Bryant College and an MBA at Bentley University.

Edward M. Augustus serves as Secretary of the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities. He is the state's first housing secretary in more than 30 years. This cabinet-level secretariat is solely dedicated to housing and driving solutions to create more homes and lower costs.

Augustus served as City Manager of Worcester. He helped create thousands of new housing units at all income levels during his tenure. Prior to joining the City of Worcester, Augustus served as Director of Government & Community Relations for the College of Holy Cross, State Senator for the 2nd Worcester District, Chief of Staff for Congressman Jim McGovern, and Chief of Staff to the Assistant Secretary for Intergovernmental and Interagency Affairs at the U.S. Department of Education under President Clinton’s Administration. He most recently served as Chancellor of Dean College.

Bran Shim is senior advisor at the Massachusetts Executive Office for Administration and Finance where he has served in several senior roles since 2015 including fiscal analyst, finance director and assistant secretary for budget. He is a graduate of Harvard College and earned his master's degree in public administration in 2024 as a Bradford Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School. He is also an accomplished upright bass player and video producer.

Prabal Chakrabarti is Executive Vice-President at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. He heads the bank’s regional and community outreach department, which focuses on revitalizing smaller cities and rural areas, improving household financial stability for all, especially by race and ethnicity, and increasing employment opportunities by improving the quality of jobs and enhancing access to quality, affordable childcare. Mr. Chakrabarti previously worked at the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, where he led a research effort to measure economic competitiveness in America’s inner cities, and as an economic policy analyst at the U.S. Treasury. He holds graduate degrees from MIT and Oxford University, where he was a Marshall Scholar, and a B.S. from the University of Illinois, where he was a Truman Scholar. He serves on the boards of the Nellie Mae Education Foundation and the Conservation Law Foundation and chairs the Marshall Scholar Regional Selection Committee.

Mary C. McGovern, is President and CEO of Country Bank for Savings, based in Ware, and has $1.9 billion in total assets and 13 branch locations in Hamden, Hampshire and Worcester counties. She brings more than 30 years of experience in the Massachusetts banking industry and leads a bank with an outstanding track record of community investment. Ms. McGovern previously served as Country Bank’s Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer and in senior finance and accounting roles at DanversBank, Capital Crossing, and Boston Private Bank. She has a bachelor's degree from Emmanuel College and an MBA from Babson College.