The Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus will honor Greg Torres, MassINC President and Publisher of CommonWealth magazine, at the 9^th Annual Good Guys Awards.  Torres joins Senator John Kerry (Lifetime Achievement Award winner); Speaker Robert DeLeo; Sheriff Frank Cousins Jr., Sheriff of Essex County; and Rick Rendon, Founder & President, Empower Peace in this year’s program held February 26.   

“Greg Torres exemplifies everything that the Good Guys Awards are all about,” said Lora Pellegrini, President of The Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus. “As President of MassINC and Chairman of The MENTOR Network, Greg has proven himself to be an invaluable ally to all those who work to guarantee political parity for women by using his unique combination of high-level experience in the public and private sectors to assist the work of human service organizations across the state. The MWPC is proud to honor his achievements and to thank him for his dedication to the causes we both work to advance on a daily basis.”

The Good Guys Awards program was begun in 2002 to honor men who demonstrate an ongoing commitment and partnership in achieving equality for women. The awards recognize that the goals of attaining parity in politics and equality in American society can only be reached through the concerted efforts of men and women in all areas of professional life.

The Good Guys luncheon is held each year in January or February and attracts a “who’s who” list of business and political leaders.  The money raised at the Good Guys Awards is used to fund the programs of the Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus Education Fund.  All donations are tax deductible.

About Greg Torres

As President of MassINC and Publisher of CommonWealth magazine, Greg Torres continues to contribute to Massachusetts public policy arena by heading up the state’s leading non-partisan think tank and evidence-based civic journal.  His latest role caps a remarkable career in both the public and private sectors, most recently, as CEO and then Chairman of the Board of The MENTOR Network, a national human services organization serving over 20,000 people throughout the country. As head of The MENTOR Network, Greg helped develop and expand a community-based model of care for people with developmental disabilities and brain injuries and at-risk youth.  His pioneering work in the de-institutionalization movement provided the foundation for this model. 

Moved to action by the poor conditions and isolation associated with institutions, Greg made an early commitment to improve how social services were delivered to people with special needs, particularly adolescents.  He became involved in the community-based care movement while still in college, taking a job as line staff in a shelter for juvenile delinquents in Bergen County, New Jersey.  He later relocated to Massachusetts to take part in the growing movement to close institutions.  His first position was at a group home for people with mental illness.  Greg later became the associate director of the nation’s first treatment program for violent juvenile offenders, leaving there to start his own group home for delinquent youth – an experimental and groundbreaking program that would eventually be replicated throughout the country. 

Eventually, Greg’s experiences reforming direct care would lead to a career in government.  He first worked at the Massachusetts Committee on Criminal Justice, where he created and awarded a grant program funding experimental community-based programming.  He then moved to a cabinet-level position as a senior advisor to the Secretary of Human Services, later moving up to Assistant Secretary and staying on to serve two governors. 

From 1985 to 1992, Greg served as chief of staff to Massachusetts Senator Pat McGovern when she assumed the position of the first woman chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee.  There, Greg leveraged his role developing the $13 billion state budget to further a progressive human services agenda.  He completed the conversion of human services privatization and launched the nation’s first universal health care plan.  He also served as an advisor to the Supreme Judicial Court as member of the Commission on Juvenile Justice.

Greg has been honored by the Massachusetts Apple Seed Center for Law and Justice for his remarkable work in the juvenile justice field.  He is the past President of the Massachusetts Council of Human Services Providers; past President of the board and current board member of ROCA, a non-profit organization aiding troubled youth in Greater Boston.