Daily Hampshire Gazette
Chad Cain
05/01/2014
NORTHAMPTON — After six years of leading Northampton-based National Priorities Project to international acclaim that included the nomination for a Nobel Peace Prize, Jo Comerford is stepping down as executive director this month.
“NPP is absolutely the best job I’ve ever had and it’s been an unbelievable privilege to be here,” Comerford said Wednesday. “The words honor and privilege are not enough.”
Comerford, whose last day is May 22, said the decision is being driven by her desire to spend more time with her family, including two young children, and a yearning to return to her roots as a community organizer. She has accepted a position as a campaign director for MoveOn.org, an 8 million-member political action committee and advocacy group that promotes progressive causes.
While her specific job description at MoveOn is still being ironed out, Comerford said she will be part of the group’s platform that involves charting a new way forward to give more power to members. She’ll work from her home in Northampton.
At NPP, Comerford will be succeeded by Douglas J. Hall, the current director of the Economic Analysis and Research Network at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington.
Hall said he is excited to take the helm of a well-respected nonprofit that plays a critical role in translating complex federal budget information into information that can help prioritize how tax dollars are spent. The 31-year-old organization’s work is well respected in national circles and leads to better accountability and transparency in the budget process, Hall said.
“The chance to lead NPP is a super opportunity for me that I’m looking forward to,” Hall said from his Washington office Wednesday. “At no point in time have budget choices been more important than they are today.”
An NPP board member for the last four years, Hall lives in Amherst and commutes to Washington. That commute will end when he starts at NPP June 9.
Comerford, 50, said she notified NPP’s board some time ago of her decision, though she intends to stay on as a senior adviser. Board Chairman Dennis Bidwell said her leadership will be missed.
“Jo has provided outstanding leadership to NPP through six transformative years,” Bidwell said in a statement. “She has assembled an outstanding staff, has worked tirelessly to hone NPP’s message and products, and has greatly expanded NPP’s donor base and financial strength. And she’s done it all with enormous sensitivity and caring.”
Bidwell said Hall brings extensive experience and research skills in a wide range of public policy areas, in addition to a familiarity with the “budget machinery” in Washington.
Comerford worked at NPP since 2008, when she took over from late founder Greg Speeter. Prior to that, she used the organization’s research for years as an organizer in New York City and later in her role at the American Friends Service Committee of Western Massachusetts. She’s also been a donor for the last dozen years.
“It’s an organization I admired, used and supported. And then I got to lead it,” she said.
Comerford said she is proud of NPP’s accomplishments during her time as executive director, including the group’s nomination in January for a Nobel Peace Prize by Switzerland’s International Peace Bureau. The bureau includes 13 former Nobel laureates, each of whom is allowed to submit a nomination but this year took the unusual step of nominating NPP as a group for its work to track federal spending on the military.
While the nomination is enough of an honor, Comerford said she is thrilled that the laureates often use and recognize research that NPP produces. She called the nomination an “international ratification” of that work.
“NPP is an organization with a stellar research staff, but what we care most about our work is that it is used,” Comerford said.
NPP, which has eight full-time employees and 10 interns, is currently going through a Nobel vetting process along with many other nominees. The recipient is announced in October and the prize is awarded in December.
