Bill Walczak

Bill is most associated with the re-development of the Codman Square area of Boston, a multi-cultural community which foundered in the 1970s and became an area known for racial unrest and economic disintegration. Bill was founding president and CEO of the Codman Square Health Center, a major factor in the regeneration of the community, is founding president of Codman Academy Charter School, and most recently was CEO of the South End Community Health Center in Boston where he developed a joint medical residency in psychiatry and family medicine. He has been a President and/or CEO of health care organizations for 42 years. He is currently retired from regular employment and writes regular columns for his community newspaper.

Bill is chair of the Board of Trustees of Bunker Hill Community College, and chair of the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education. He is a trustee of the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education, on its executive committee and co-chair of the Strategic Planning Advisory Board and Nursing Task Force. He was founding president of the Massachusetts Nonprofit Network, a founder of the Edward Kennedy Health Careers Academy, a founder of the Center for Community Health, Education, Research and Service at Northeastern University, and founding president of Boston HealthNet. He is a past President of the UMass/Boston Alumni Association. He serves on the boards of the Rappaport Center at Boston College Law School, Daily Table, HealthWorks at Codman, The American City Coalition and Massachusetts State College Building Authority. Bill is the elected president of the Columbia-Savin Hill Civic Association, representing a large part of the Dorchester neighborhood.

Bill served on both Governors Deval Patrick’s and Charlie Baker’s Health Care Transition Committees, and on Acting Mayor Kim Janey’s Transition Committee. He is also co-director of the Pat Cook Fund, which supports curriculum development around the environment. Bill has worked on community regeneration efforts in a number of countries around the world. He was involved with the Northern Irish peace process for over a decade and led a program in post-apartheid South Africa that included support of patients with HIV, support of a women’s empowerment center, built a technology center for a school and developed a micro-enterprise project. He helped to develop a family medicine program for the country of Vietnam. Bill has received numerous awards for his work and ideas.