James T Brett

James T. Brett, President and CEO of The New England Council, was appointed to those positions by the Council’s board of directors in October 1996. Before joining the Council, Mr. Brett served for more than fifteen years as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Mr. Brett has served as the Chairman of The President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities. In 2016 Congress appointed Mr. Brett to the National Council on Disability. He is also Chairman of the Governor’s Commission on Intellectual Disability and serves as the Chairperson of the Massachusetts Disabled Persons Protection Commission. Mr. Brett is a former member of the Federal Advisory Committee on Increasing Competitive Integrated Employment for Individuals with Disabilities. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of Saint John’s Seminary, Don and Marilyn Rodman Foundation and a member of the Board of Directors of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, The Missionary Society of Saint James the Apostle, Rodman Ride for Kids and the Inflammatory Breast Center. He serves on the New England Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, the Robert F. Kennedy Children’s Action Corps, The New England Center For Children and The Irish Immigration Center. Mr. Brett serves as a member of the Home Base Leadership Council, a partnership between the Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital. Mr. Brett is also a member of the Board of Advocates of Bay Cove Human Services, Inc. and serves on the Advisory Board of The Boys and Girls Clubs of Dorchester. He is an Honorary Board of Directors member of Special Olympics Massachusetts, a member of the Campaign Advisory Council, Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program, National Advisory Board of the National Autism Center, College Ready New England (CRNE) Board of Advisors, Early Education for All (EEA) Campaign Advisory Committee as well as a member of the Advisory Committee of the Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance, and the Mary Ann Brett Food Pantry. Mr. Brett also serves on the John W. McCormack Advisory Leadership Council at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Mr. Brett is Past President of the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Association for Mental Health. He is a former trustee of the Shriver Center, Catholic Charities, the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Sisters of Saint Joseph Aids Education Ministry, Carney Hospital and Franklin Pierce University, as well as former board member of Project Bread, the Notre Dame Education Center, Marian Manor Nursing Home, National Apostolate for Inclusion Ministry, and the Laboure Center Advisory Board. Mr. Brett is also a former member of the Board of Advisors of the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and a former member of the Advisory Board to the Rappaport Center for Law and Public Service at Suffolk University Law School. Mr. Brett has been awarded with Papal Honors as being named a Knight of Malta and Knight Grand Cross of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. He is also a member of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George, and the Royal Brotherhood of the Order of Saint Michael of the Wing. In 2015 Mr. Brett and his wife Patricia were awarded with the Saint John the Evangelist Medal in recognition of their extraordinary and faithful contributions to the spiritual life of Saint John’s Seminary. In addition to a Bachelor’s degree from American University, Mr. Brett holds Master’s degrees in Public Administration from both Suffolk University and the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Mr. Brett and his wife Patricia reside in Dorchester, Massachusetts.