BOSTON — Commissioner Jordan Maynard will assume the role of interim chair of the Mass. Gaming Commission until the governor finds a replacement for the retiring Cathy Judd-Stein, Gov. Maura Healey announced this week.
Maynard, an attorney who had been Gov. Charlie Baker’s chief secretary and director of boards and commissions since February 2019, was jointly appointed in July 2022 by Baker, Treasurer Deborah Goldberg and then-Attorney General Healey to fill the commission seat designated for someone with experience in legal and policy issues related to gaming.
Thursday was Judd-Stein’s last day at the commission and Healey is responsible for selecting her replacement.
“Since joining the Commission, Jordan Maynard has proven to be a leader in this space. He has worked with people across the gaming industry and has helped oversee Massachusetts gaming regulations. We are grateful for his service as he takes over as Interim Chair and look forward to working with him more closely,” Healey said Thursday. “In the meantime, we continue our search for a permanent chair.”
Before joining the governor’s office in early 2019, Maynard was statewide director for MassVictory, a grassroots arm of the MassGOP, during the 2018 election and then was deputy director of the Baker-Polito 2019 Inaugural Committee. Before the 2018 election cycle, he worked as an external affairs manager at the former Division of Professional Licensure. Before working for the state, Maynard was a civil attorney and an advocate for individuals with disabilities before the Social Security Administration.
As the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, Maynard directed the governor’s office’s Washington, D.C. office. From March to July 2020, Maynard “worked to coordinate state agencies’ interactions with the federal government and supported the procurement of millions of pieces of PPE for the Commonwealth,” Healey’s office said in its announcement Thursday.
The last time there was a vacancy in the commission chair, after Stephen Crosby’s resignation in 2018, the other four commissioners voted to name Gayle Cameron the interim chair. The commission’s governing statute says, “The governor shall designate the chair of the commission.”