Gov. Maura Healey explained her administration’s embrace of the defense sector in sports terms Monday, repurposing a saying attributed to Wayne Gretzky as an economic development mantra.
“The hockey people talk about going to where the puck … where it’s going to be, right? That’s what we do in Massachusetts,” the former pro basketball player said at a New England Council breakfast in Boston’s Seaport. “We lean into this space because we know today’s wars are fought at a keyboard. Some of the many technologies that we apply in the defense industry are applicable in marine technology, in climate technology — all these things homegrown here.”
Healey was touting to business leaders the Massachusetts Strategic Hub for Innovation, Exchange and Leadership in Defense (SHIELD) initiative that hasn’t gotten much attention since its October debut. She called it a “signal that Massachusetts is all in on the defense sector.”
The defense sector generates $48 billion of the state’s GDP, which Healey said is roughly 7% of the total and about equivalent to the impact of the life sciences industry.
“So we recognize that national security and our defense industry, and the economic growth from the defense industry — and all the technologies, by the way, associated with that supply chain, associated with that — these things and our own economic growth go hand in hand. So we leaned in,” the governor said.
Healey said she wanted to talk about the SHIELD initiative so the room of businesspeople would know “this is the way we think as a team.” Economic Development Secretary Eric Paley was not in attendance Monday because he was “out hustling for business,” the governor said. Other Cabinet members were in tow: Labor and Workforce Secretary Lauren Jones, Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rebecca Tepper, Interim Transportation Secretary Phil Eng, Veterans Secretary Eric Goralnick, and Housing Secretary Juana Matias.
“Sometimes I run into folks in these rooms and I say, ‘What do you need? What do you need?’ And we have the team here for a reason, because we want quick action on things. When you identify things, the team knows to get to it and to get after it, because we need to operate with that urgency, with that hustle for the times that we’re in,” Healey said. “You’re not always going to get what you ask for. I know that, you know that. But we’ve got to be having that dialog, and it’s going to be quick, and it’s got to be fast-paced.”
Healey has said she plans to file an economic development bill “at some point” this session, which has less than four months left for lawmakers to get major legislation into conference negotiations.
“We’re all about economic development. I expect to file a bill, and I expect to, every day, push for economic development. It’s not just about a bill. It’s, every day, how do we bring more businesses in?” Healey said last week when asked about her promised bill. She added, “So it’s about a bill, and it’s about a whole lot more.”