Diane V. Hansen, Associate

Experience

Diane Hansen joined COG in March 2019.  With more than 15 years of experience working with local municipalities in a variety of capacities, Ms. Hansen carries out a wide variety of economic and community development programs for COG’s public sector clients. She is currently serving as a Program Manager, assisting in grant programs for various cities and towns throughout New England.  Her day-to-day responsibilities include administering the grant activities of community development offices.

Ms. Hansen also has expertise in grant application preparation.  She has worked directly for a municipality applying for and receiving funding through the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development’s Housing Rehabilitation Program while managing, administering and monitoring the existing CDBG program.  She also researched and pursued additional funding opportunities to serve her clients’ needs.

Prior to joining COG, Ms. Hansen served as the CDBG Program Manager in Saugus, Massachusetts as well as administrative positions in Ipswich and North Reading.  Prior to her work in the public sector, Ms. Hansen also worked for Digital/Compaq Computer as a customer support consultant to the U.S. Government Sales Team, responding to RFP’s, overseeing supply chain order management from quote to collection.

Education

Master’s Certificate in Project Management, George Washington University.

B.A. Organizational Psychology, Suffolk University.

Wayne T. Darragh, President

Experience

Wayne Darragh joined COG as an associate in 1993 and became a principal in 2000. He assumed the role of company President on July 1, 2019. With more than two decades of experience working with local government in a variety of settings, Mr. Darragh designs and carries out a wide variety of economic and community development programs for COG’s public sector clients. He is currently serving as principal-in-charge of grant programs in Abington, Amesbury, Avon, Chelsea and Rockland, Massachusetts. His day-to-day responsibilities include managing the activities of community development offices, coordinating project reviews by local boards, training local staff, and presenting project reports to professional and community audiences. Recently, Mr. Darragh coordinated architectural barrier removal projects and housing rehabilitation programs in several communities, managed a streetscape improvements project in support of a downtown revitalization initiative, oversaw a downtown revitalization planning project, managed a sewer extension project, and served as program manager for the development of a senior center.

Mr. Darragh also has expertise in grant application preparation.  He has assisted communities applying for funding through the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development’s Community Development Fund and Mini-Entitlement programs, as well as through the Massachusetts Community Capital Fund, Urban Self-help Program, MassWorks Program and Massachusetts Preservation Partnership Fund.

Prior to joining COG, Mr. Darragh served as town planner in Rockland, Massachusetts, and as an environmental engineer for HNTB Corporation in Boston. Mr. Darragh also worked in the Public Finance Division of the Association of Bay Area Governments, the regional planning agency for the San Francisco Bay Area.

Education

M.B.A., Walter A. Haas School of Business, University of California at Berkeley.

Master of Urban Affairs, Boston University.

B.S., Environmental Engineering, Cornell University.

Publications

Seismic Retrofit Incentive Programs:  A Handbook for Local Governments. Association of Bay Area Governments (Publication #: P92001BAR), 1992. Co-author of a handbook for local officials distributed statewide by the California Seismic Safety Commission.

Registrations

Engineer-in-training:  Massachusetts Certificate No. 10498.

Paula Stuart has more than twenty-nine years experience in housing and community Development.  While holding senior management positions in two Massachusetts cities, she designed, implemented and managed programs that have received HUD Best Practices awards and that have been presented in Congress as pilot programs.  Ms. Stuart is a HUD-certified Public Housing Manager (PHM) and holds both state and national certifications as a homebuyer counselor. During her time in municipal government, she was responsible for writing and implementing inclusionary housing and linkage ordinances, and for developing, implementing and managing one of the first locally-funded Affordable Housing Trust Funds in Massachusetts. During the mid-1990s she led a large Massachusetts housing authority through a major transition period, resolving issues that had stalled modernization projects, assessing management systems and preparing a transition report for the authority’s commissioners.

In addition to her housing and community development experience, her background includes more than a decade of public relations, marketing and fundraising experience for large national organizations, hospitals, universities and museums. Since joining COG in 2007, Ms. Stuart has been involved in the firm’s CDBG work for several municipal clients in Massachusetts and Connecticut. She has had responsibilities for the firm’s contracts involving compliance monitoring of affordable rental and homeownership developments and for state and federal labor standards review.  Paula is responsible for most of the firm’s affordable housing marketing and lottery work for client communities and has been involved in preparation of ADA Transition Plans for six Massachusetts communities.

Catherine Bertolet

Experience

Ms. Bertolet has over 30 years of full-time experience as an administrative assistant / bookkeeper.

As the Administrative Assistant/Bookkeeper for the Towns of Avon, Marlborough, Rockland, and Bellingham, MA she administers the areas of accounts payable, accounts receivable and general bookkeeping.

Education

Liberal Arts, Framingham State College, Framingham Massachusetts

Mary Marquardo

Office Manager – Medford

Experience

With 43 years of administrative experience and 28 years of bookkeeping and office management experience, Ms. Marquardo is the Medford, MA’s office manager.  Her day-to-day activities includes:  payroll, accounts receivable, accounts payable, insurance renewals and oversight, contract creation and management, proposal creation and production, facilities management, as well as myriad administrative tasks.

Prior to joining COG, Ms. Marquardo held a variety of Executive Assistant positions, where she supported Presidents and Vice-Presidents in different industries. Her Office Management work began in 1995 and expanded to include full bookkeeping responsibilities. Her career began in 1979 when she was a Federal Employee for seven years.

Education

Middlesex Community College, Bedford, MA – Business Management Associates Degree

Christine Sullivan, Program Coordinator

Experience

Ms. Sullivan has over 38 years of full-time experience as an administrative assistant / bookkeeper.

As the Administrative Assistant/Bookkeeper for the Towns of Abington, Avon, Holbrook, Rockland, and Wareham, Ms. Sullivan administers the areas of client intake, client files, financial accounts, and general bookkeeping. She has extensive experience with Intelligrants software, writing quarterly reports, and other duties that supports Grant Administration oversight. Ms. Sullivan has been working as a Program Coordinator for the Towns of Holbrook, Rockland and Wareham for the past five years.

Previously, Ms. Sullivan served as an Administrative Assistant and Senior Help Desk Coordinator for Thomson Reuters. Responsibilities included solving first level technical issues for internal clients and coordinating staff for 2nd level assistance to internal and external clients, while using various software packages to manage and report the client issues and resolutions. Ms. Sullivan’s responsibilities also included assisting the Manager with the budget and managing/approving day to day expenses.

Education

Information Systems Management, Certificate, Northeastern University, Boston, MA

Data processing courses, Northern Essex Community College, Haverhill, MA