Gov. Maura Healey and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll announced Nov. 22 that Navjeet Bal has been appointed president and CEO of MassDevelopment, the state’s primary economic development agency. Bal’s appointment was confirmed by the MassDevelopment Board of Directors and she officially began work Dec. 9, according to a press release from the Executive Office of Economic Development.
Bal joins MassDevelopment after nearly a decade at Social Finance Inc., where she served as general counsel and chief compliance officer. She previously worked at Mintz Levin, Nixon Peabody LLP, and the Massachusetts Department of Revenue, where she was commissioner of revenue from 2008 to 2011.
Bal’s appointment coincides with the recent signing of Gov. Healey’s Mass Leads Act, which includes provisions to support housing and economic development in Devens, the economic development zone overseen by MassDevelopment, by eliminating a cap on the number of residential units and square feet of commercial and industrial development that can occur there. Bal will also have a seat on the working group mandated by the legislation to investigate the feasibility of building housing in the area’s innovation and technology district, which includes the iconic buildings of Vicksburg Square.
