MassDevelopment names interim leader in Devens following departure

Photo | Courtesy of MassDevelopment Jessica Strunkin, former executive vice president of Devens operations

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By Kevin Koczwara

Jessica Strunkin, executive vice president at MassDevelopment and the leader of its Devens mixed-use community, has left her position, leaving the state agency to find a new de facto town manager to lead its ongoing development of the former Fort Devens Army Reserve Base.

Meg Delorier, MassDevelopment’s director of military initiatives, will serve as the acting executive vice president of Devens operations, said Matthew Mogavero, a spokesperson for MassDevelopment.

Delorier will fill the role for the next few months while a search for a new executive vice president is conducted, Mogavero said. Delorier’s position has been updated on the Devens website, and Strunkin’s phone and email have been disconnected.

MassDevelopment said it does not comment on personal matters.

“MassDevelopment is grateful to Jessica Strunkin for her years of hard work and service to the Devens community and the Commonwealth,” Mogavero told the Worcester Business Journal in an email. “We wish her well in her future endeavors.”

Strunkin didn’t return requests for comment.

Strunkin was named to Worcester Business Journal’s Power 50 list in 2021 for her role at Devens. She shepherd in the arrival of new economic development at Devens in the shape of a $500-million life science facility as well as a 10 acres of hydroponic growing by Little Leaf Farm, the movie studio New England Studios, as well the expansion of the Bristol Myers Squibb research facility and Commonwealth Fusion Systems. Devens has become an economic hub under Strunkin’s leadership that, according to a 2020 MassDevelopment report, brings in $4 billion to the economy.

Devens is located in Ayer, Shirley, and Harvard. The site formerly housed a United States Army Reserve facility for 79 years before closing in 1996. In place of the military outpost, MassDevelopment has been tasked with developing the site into a multi-use community. More than 100 businesses have facilities in the community.