“I think our vision is that he’ll be on campus every few weeks, and when he is here, he’ll roll up his sleeves and really work,” said Fiona Murray, co-director for Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Innovation Initiative, which opened in 2013 and is giving Patrick office space as its first-ever fellow. “We want to think through with the governor, what are the big issues shaping the innovation economy?”
Patrick, who officially left the Corner Office on Thursday after two terms, disclosed late last year he was in talks with MIT about a job.
The hope, Murray said, is that the former Coca-Cola and Texaco exec can provide students and staff with advice from a government and policy-making perspective once the spring semester kicks off in February.
Patrick is signed on through May with the “possibility to extend this” past that, Murray said. School officials declined to say how much Patrick would earn for the semester.
“Innovation is the fuel of our economy,” Patrick said in a statement through the school. “Massachusetts’ inventors and innovators, many of whom have come out of MIT, have worked with business and government leaders to make the commonwealth a leader in many industries. I am honored to join this esteemed Institute and contribute to this new initiative.”
©2015 the Boston Herald
