Boston Public Market Names Cheryl Cronin as New CEO

For Immediate Release: January 5, 2016

Contact: Steve Crawford, Crawford Strategies

(857) 753-4132, steve@crawfordstrategies.com

BOSTON — The Boston Public Market today announced that it has chosen Cheryl Cronin as the new CEO of the city’s locally sourced market – the only market of its kind in the country. A longtime Boston resident and prominent local leader with decades of experience as a manager of and advocate for numerous high profile complex civic issues, Cronin will join the Market as it continues to build on its highly successful opening. 

“As we move into the Market’s next phase, we are excited to have Cheryl leading us and finding new ways to grow the Market and its impact while continuing to further our mission supporting local farmers, fishermen, and food producers,” said Brian Kinney, board chair of the Boston Public Market. “Cheryl’s extensive experience managing public issues and her profound dedication to Boston’s civic spaces will serve the Market well.”

Cheryl Cronin has been a leader in numerous business and nonprofit organizations, with a particular interest in those efforts that bring vitality to Boston’s civic life. She has served on the boards of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, the Greenway Conservancy, the University of Massachusetts Amherst Foundation, the Alliance for Business Leadership and the Board of the National Center for Time & Learning/Mass 2020. She currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the Boston Public Library, and on the Board of Sail Boston, which is working with Mayor Walsh to bring the Tall Ships to Boston in 2017.

“I’m honored to join the Boston Public Market and look forward to building on its success, looking for new avenues for growth and engagement with the people of Boston,” said Cronin. “Under Liz Morningstar’s leadership, the Boston Public Market has become our city’s newest public space and is already having an incredible impact on our region’s agricultural system. Creating and supporting vibrant civic spaces is my lifelong passion and I’m looking forward to joining the Market as it leads a renaissance of the city’s historic market district.”

After successfully raising $17 million, overseeing an on-time construction process, and bringing together many of the region’s top food producers, current CEO Liz Morningstar is leaving the nonprofit organization in late January, in a long-planned exit.

“Liz joined us three years ago to write our business plan, raise critical funds, oversee design, permitting, and construction, recruit our vendors, and open the Boston Public Market. She has done an extraordinary job and accomplished all that she set out to do and more,” said Kinney. “We are in a strong position to continue our growth under Cheryl’s leadership.”

The Boston Public Market welcomed over half a million visitors in the first three months of business and has exceeded all proforma projections. Market sales are on track to top $5 million for 2015. The Market has created and supports over 160 new jobs, in addition to the initial 100 construction jobs created by opening.

The KITCHEN at the Boston Public Market, operated by the Market’s programming partner, The Trustees, has hosted over 150 educational programs, welcoming over 4,674 guests. With much gratitude, the Market has been recognized as one of BostInno’s 2015 50 on Fire, as one of Boston magazine’s 25 best new restaurants, as one of the Boston Herald‘s top food highlights of the year, for excellence in civic entrepreneurship by Babson and the Chamber of Commerce, and for design excellence by the American Institute of Architects in “the great tradition of urban markets.”

“I am proud to have played a small part in creating opportunity for the hardworking farmers, fishermen, and local food entrepreneurs that call New England home,” said Morningstar. “Thirty-eight small businesses, more than a third women-owned, are now able to sell their goods directly to the public. The Market’s fifteen local farms source from an additional eighty New England farms on over 7,000 acres of land; we’re selling sixty varieties of fish sourced from over 500 local fishermen.” Morningstar was recently included as an honorable mention for The Boston Globe’s “2015 Bostonians of the Year.”

“The Boston Public Market is a start-up non-profit in the business of supporting other start-ups.  Over time the market will change, adapt, and evolve, in order to ensure continued success and Cheryl is the right leader to chart the path forward. I leave knowing the Market will continue to thrive, to contribute to the Boston community, and to grow under Cheryl’s leadership.” Morningstar added, “As a local resident, I look forward to many years of shopping the Market with my family.”

ABOUT CHERYL CRONIN:

Cheryl Cronin has been a leader in numerous business and nonprofit organizations, with a particular interest in those that bring others to Boston and the Commonwealth and in the vitality of the city. She has served on the boards of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, the Greenway Conservancy, the University of Massachusetts Amherst Foundation, the Alliance for Business Leadership and the Board of the National Center for Time & Learning/Mass 2020. She served as Chair of the Citizen’s Advisory Committee for the development of “Boylston Square,” Boston, where she guided a lengthy public process involving different constituencies and the Boston Redevelopment Authority, and served on the Strategic Development Study Committee which authored “A Civic Vision for Turnpike Air Rights in Boston.” In addition to other volunteer activities, she currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the Boston Public Library, and on the Board of Sail Boston, which is working with Mayor Walsh to bring the Tall Ships to Boston in 2017.

A graduate of Boston College Law School and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, summa cum laude, Cronin began her career in public service as the first General Counsel of the Office of Campaign & Political Finance and as Legislative Counsel to the Attorney General of the Commonwealth. In private practice since her public service, Cronin has represented individuals, nonprofit organizations and small and large companies in matters before public agencies at all levels of government. She has also represented public agencies on legal and political matters in a range of substantive areas. Cronin lives in Boston with her husband and sons.

ABOUT THE BOSTON PUBLIC MARKET:

The Boston Public Market, which opened July 30^th, is the only all-local, indoor, year-round market of its kind in the United States. The Market houses 38 local farmers, fishermen, and food purveyors selling items such as farm fresh produce; meat and poultry; eggs; milk and cheese; fish and shellfish; bread and baked goods; beverages; flowers; and an assortment of specialty and prepared foods. Everything sold at the Market is produced or originates in New England. The Boston Public Market, located at 100 Hanover Street above the Haymarket MBTA station, is open Wednesday — Sunday, 8 a.m. — 8 p.m, year-round.

The Boston Public Market is located in downtown Boston’s emerging Market District, next to the Haymarket pushcart vendors and the historic Blackstone Block, and it sits on the Rose Kennedy Greenway and the Freedom Trail. 100 Hanover Street also contains the Boston RMV branch, entrances to the Haymarket MBTA station, and a parking garage. Bike parking is located directly outside the Market on the plaza opposite the Greenway. Two Hubway bike share stations are located nearby, on Cross Street across the Greenway and on Congress Street along the side of City Hall.

Boston Public Market vendors are proud to accept SNAP/EBT for all eligible market products, and the Market is a participant in the City of Boston’s Boston Bounty Bucks program, which provides a dollar for dollar match, up to $10 a day, for SNAP customers to spend at participating farmers markets and the Boston Public Market.

The Market is a civic resource, educating the public about food sources, nutrition, and preparation. In addition to 38 permanent vendor stalls and a number of rotating short-term vendors, the Boston Public Market includes the KITCHEN, a 3,200 square foot demonstration kitchen programmed by The Trustees, the Market’s programming partner, with opportunities such as hands-on cooking demos, lectures, family activities, exercise classes, training and community events.

Construction of the Boston Public Market was a partnership between the not-for-profit Boston Public Market Association, individual and corporate donors, foundations, the City of Boston, and the project’s seed funder, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The not-for-profit Boston Public Market Association operates the Market without any public funds, showcasing a variety of local food purveyors and helping them connect the farm to the city.

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For more information, visit bostonpublicmarket.org, Facebook (Facebook.com/BostonPublicMarket), Twitter (@BosPublicMarket), and Instagram (@BostonPublicMarket). Follow activity at the Market by using #bostonpublicmarket.