Geoff has 10 years of experience as an elected official in two different cities and has a breadth of city municipal experience unmatched by any current elected official in Framingham, including the Mayor and all City Councilors.
Geoff played a leading role in reforming financial management in the Framingham school district, when he served 4 years on the School Committee from 2018-2021, and was Chair of the Finance & Operations Subcommittee.
Geoff lead the effort to bring best financial practices back to the Framingham Public Schools by managing the hiring of Lincoln Lynch as Executive Director of Finance & Operations, and then working with him and the Superintendent to completely redesign the budget process and the budget book, which captures goals, priorities, aligns with strategic plans for the district and contains all budget information in a readable format, including extensive historical information.
The school district budgeting process was completely transformed on Geoff's watch and written into a new policy.
Geoff also served for 2 as chairperson of the newly created Climate Change, Environment & Sustainability where his work in the climate change area resulted in the first school district policy on Climate Change, Environment & Sustainability in the state.
ELECTED OFFICE SERVICE
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Framingham School Committee & Chair Finance Committee 2018-2021
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Newton School Committee 2008-2013
SCHOOL COMMITTEE RECORD
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When Framingham transitioned from a town to a city, ensured that the divisiveness of the prior School Committee was replaced by a cordial team approach, with Adam Freudberg as Chair.
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Initiated the annual practice of a joint meeting between the School Committee and City Council Finance Subcommittees for an annual budget preview and discussion.
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Ensured the Framingham School Committee student representative was properly elected following state law MGL 71 38M, not appointed as in prior years.
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Drove the effort which resulted in Lincoln Lynch being hired as Executive Director of Finance & Operations.
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As Chair of the Finance & Operations Subcommittee reformed the budget process, including the budget book, and wrote the policy updates which institutionalized the changes: DB & DI
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Created the Climate Change, Environment & Sustainability Subcommittee, chaired it for 2 years and wrote the first policy of any School Committee in the state on that topic after conducting an 18 month collaborative process, including students.
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Proposed the solar canopy at Brophy Elementary School
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Worked collaboratively with fellow members to get air-conditioning finally completed for the high school, so that students and teachers would not roast at 95 degrees on hot days in June and September, as they had for 20 years.
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Ran the Fuller Debt Exclusion flyer effort, designing and printing 10,000 flyers and running a 20 person team, which dropped them across Framingham, and helped get the 86% YES vote.
PERSONAL BACKGROUND
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Born Sydney, Australia.US resident 1975. US Citizen 1987.
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Married with 3 sons
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Framingham resident since 2014
PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND
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BSc Physics, PhD Theoretical Physics, Sydney University
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Postdocs at: Oxford, MIT, MSU, UBC, University of Pittsburgh
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Assistant Professor of Physics BU (1980-1983)
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Private sector full time employment in software engineering (1983-1993): Computervision, Automatix, Textron Defense Systems, PTC, Biorad
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Software engineering consultant (1993-1998): Bytex, Kodak, Polaroid
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CEO RGB Software Inc (1998-2023); Clients: TERC, EMC, Tradeloop, Citysoft, Omgeo, Boston Federal Reserve Bank, FDA
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Managing partner Lim Epstein LLC - Multi-family rental real estate investment and management (1981-2024)
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CEO Observer Communications Inc (2024-now)
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Media investigative reporter: The Framingham Observer ( 2023-now); 178 articles on a broad range of Framingham municipal topics