Former Governor Deval Patrick to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award During 2015 MCCA Diversity Gala

Former Governor Deval Patrick to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award
During 2015 MCCA Diversity Gala

Hon. Deval L. Patrick

WASHINGTON D.C. – The Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA) announced that Former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick will receive its prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award at the MCCA Diversity Gala on June 30, 2015 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. The Gala is MCCA’s premier awards program honoring champions of diversity and inclusion in the legal profession.

Patrick is the first African-American to serve as Governor of Massachusetts. He is currently a Managing Director at Bain Capital, LLC, working on investments with significant social impact. During his tenure as governor, he was a leader in many important policy issues, including same-sex marriage, education, and energy policy. In addition, Governor Patrick created a more diverse and inclusive judiciary by prioritizing the nomination of women and minority candidates for state court judgeships.

“Since the early 1990’s, Governor Patrick has been working on protecting and fighting for diversity and inclusion throughout the country,” said Joseph K. West, President and CEO of MCCA. “His vision, leadership, and commitment to bipartisanship have led to remarkable accomplishments such as expanding rights to same-sex couples and introducing legislation that would tackle the educational gaps amongst minority students. MCCA is delighted and honored to recognize Governor Deval Patrick with the Lifetime Achievement Award.”

Governor Patrick, who is originally from Chicago’s South Side, came to Massachusetts at age fourteen after he was awarded a scholarship to Milton Academy through the Boston-based organization, “A Better Chance.” After graduating from HarvardCollege and Harvard Law School, he clerked for a federal appellate judge and then launched a career as a successful attorney and business executive, becoming a partner at two Boston law firms and a senior executive at Texaco and Coca-Cola.

In 1994, President Clinton appointed Patrick to the nation’s top civil rights post, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. During his years in that capacity, Patrick worked on issues such as affirmative action, racial profiling, police misconduct, and the mistreatment of incarcerated individuals.

During his two terms, Governor Patrick oversaw the expansion of affordable health care to more than 98 percent of Massachusetts’s residents, launched initiatives stimulating clean energy and biotechnology, won a national Race to the Top grant of $250 million for the state’s schools, and steered Massachusetts out of recession to a 25-year high in employment. He is a Rockefeller Fellow, a Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute, and the author of two books, A Reason to Believe: Lessons from an Improbable Life and Faith in the Dream: A Call to the Nation to Reclaim American Values.

To learn more about the MCCA Diversity Gala and sponsorship opportunities, visit www.mcca.com/gala.