President Joe Biden nominated Marty Walsh, former mayor of Boston and BC ‘09, to serve on the United States Postal Service’s (USPS) Board of Governors, the White House announced in a statement on Thursday.
“Marty Walsh has spent his life fighting for working people, as a labor leader, as a public official and as a private citizen,” the White House said in the statement.
The USPS Board of Governors controls and regulates the powers, expenditures, and practices of the USPS, according to its website. The nine governors on the board are nominated by the president and later confirmed by the Senate.
A Dorchester native, Walsh spent his early career advocating for workers’ rights as a union construction worker, president of Laborers Local 223 in Boston, head of the Greater Boston Building Trades Council, and a Massachusetts state representative, the White House said in its statement.
“A champion for civil rights, he took a courageous early stand for marriage equality, supported communities of color, immigrants, seniors, veterans and he served as a State House leader on substance abuse treatment and recovery support,” the statement reads.
In 2013, Walsh was elected mayor of Boston, becoming the first undergraduate alumnus of Boston College to take on the role.
“[Walsh] led Boston through a period of historic success, growing the city’s economy, reducing crime, investing in schools and libraries, and ending chronic homelessness among veterans in the city,” the statement reads.
In Jan. 2021, Biden nominated Walsh to serve as the 29th U.S. secretary of labor.
During his two years in the role, Walsh strengthened mental health support for workers, delivered job training programs to millions of Americans, and supported union organizing, according to the statement.
“After taking office during the COVID-19 pandemic, Walsh worked to support both laid-off and frontline workers,” the statement reads. “He subsequently leveraged the President’s historic economic recovery to strengthen worker power and improve job quality.”
Walsh left his role in Biden’s cabinet in Feb. 2023 after being appointed to his current role as the executive director of the National Hockey League Players’ Association.
“I thank Marty for his work, which has made life better for millions of working Americans, and will serve as a model for all future Labor Secretaries who truly value American working people,” Biden said in a statement last year, following Walsh’s departure.
