Marie St. Fleur
The first Haitian-American elected to state office in the United States, former State Representative Marie St. Fleur became the City of Boston’s first ever Chief of Advocacy and Strategic Investments in 2010. St. Fleur joined Mayor Thomas M. Menino’s administration to help the Mayor deliver on his ambitious fifth-term agenda for the city and champion the Mayor’s efforts to build one shared experience for all Boston residents. In her newly created position, St. Fleur ensures that the Mayor’s efforts to coordinate education, job creation and other initiatives are supported by local, state and federal programs and investments. St. Fleur also guides the City’s Haiti-related efforts and works with the Human Services Department to lead a new re-entry initiative focused on jobs and opportunity for youth and adults who have been part of the criminal justice system.
St. Fleur made history on July 6, 1999 when she became the first Haitian-American elected to represent the 5th Suffolk District in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. As Vice-Chair of Ways and Means, Representative St. Fleur championed funding for community policing and safe neighb3r hood initiatives; substance abuse treatment; One Family Scholars, a program to end family homelessness by helping women attend college; and the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute, which provides services to families of homicide victims, among other important initiatives.
The Representative has actively led a number of delegations to the island of Haiti in support of intentional tourism and the development of the island’s infrastructure. A graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Representative St. Fleur earned a Law Degree from Boston College Law School in 1987. Following graduation, she served as a Law Clerk in the Massachusetts Superior Court. Representative St. Fleur began her legal career as an Assistant District Attorney in Middlesex County. In 1991, she became an Assistant Attorney General for the Commonwealth as civil litigator in the state and federal courts. Later, as Chief of the Unemployment Fraud Division, Representative St. Fleur managed a staff of Assistant Attorneys General, investigators, and support personnel, in the investigation and prosecution of unemployment fraud.