WinnCompanies adds Worcester City Manager O’Brien as Executive VP

Boston—WinnCompanies, a real estate development and property management company, announced that Michael O’Brien has been hired as executive vice president.

O’Brien, who submitted his resignation this morning as the city manager of Worcester, Mass., will begin his new role on Jan. 6, 2014, and will be responsible for corporate management, strategic planning, and financial and client relationships at WinnDevelopment and WinnResidential.

As chief executive in Worcester, O’Brien successfully implemented multiple programs to spur economic development and improve neighborhoods. Worcester is currently rated one of the safest communities in the country, among cities with a population of 100,000 or more, and is experiencing more than $1.3 billion in planned or current economic development activity.

In Worcester, O’Brien spearheaded “Buy Worcester Now,” a new private-public partnership between the city, banks, lending institutions, local companies, non-profit agencies, realtors and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to generate new market demand for all available housing options in Worcester and to assist qualified, responsible buyers in purchasing a home. He also established five Neighborhood Revitalization Strategy Areas, each focused specifically on issues relative to housing, code enforcement, commercial storefront improvements and job training.

Also under his leadership, the $563 million CitySquare project led to the completion of a $50 million campus for the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, a new Hilton Garden Inn, the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts, the Regional Justice Center, a 500-space parking garage at the historic Union Station and the Worcester Polytechnic Institute Life Sciences and Bioengineering Center at Gateway Park.