Martha Coakley has a new legal gig; Steve Poftak takes charge at the Municipal Research Bureau; Jack’s Abby parent brews up another expansion.
Adam Katz, president of the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism.
Adam Katz, president of the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism.Chris Morris
The parallels between selling home goods and fighting antisemitism aren’t immediately obvious. But Robert Kraft must have seen some similarities when he tapped Wayfair executive Adam Katz to run the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism, which the New England Patriots owner founded six years ago.
Kraft found Katz’s business experience appealing, while Katz sees some key parallels between his new job as FCAS president, and his old one leading Wayfair’s expansion into brick-and-mortar stores. Among them: using data analytics to understand a target audience. For FCAS, that audience consists of people who aren’t engaged on the antisemitism issue, but might be open to learning more.
Since the announcement in May that he took over for Tara Levine (who remains with FCAS as chief partnership officer), Katz has been making the rounds with the media. He also testified at the State House before the Massachusetts Special Commission on Combating Antisemitism. Katz offered some sobering testimony at that June 9 hearing. Since the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023, the amount of social media posts and impressions with an antisemitic tone equaled the same amount observed in the previous 10 years.
“Unfortunately, the headwinds are growing,” Katz said in an interview. “This is getting harder. . . . The magnitude is scary and is underappreciated by many.”
Kraft has pledged a total of $145 million so far to the Foxborough-based foundation since its launch in 2019. The Norman and Ruth Rales Foundation pledged another $100 million in late 2023, and FCAS continues to raise funds to keep its mission going. The money has helped pay for a staff of nearly 30 people — as well as TV ads such as one that aired during the recent Super Bowl, featuring Tom Brady and rapper Snoop Dogg.
The foundation’s mission takes it well beyond media campaigns. It’s involved in partnerships with universities and other organizations — including high-profile work with Harvard University — to promote more engagement. And it’s using research and analytics to understand online trends and how to prevent the spread of prejudice.
For Katz, a father of two, the mission is deeply personal. He notes that his kids see a police cruiser parked outside of Hebrew school, and signs posted inside about how to react to sudden violence.
“I want to get to a world where my children, and children around the country, can celebrate religious holidays without fear,” Katz said. “I really hope that parents 10 or 20 years from now don’t have to have that conversation.”
Coakley joins small law firm for next gig
When Martha Coakley reached out to Ellen Zucker in March to refer her a case, something unexpected happened.
The former state attorney general asked how Zucker liked launching Zucker Law Group last fall after being a longtime partner at Burns & Levinson. The prominent Boston litigator said she couldn’t be happier, building her own practice with people she really liked working with.
“Well, if you ever want to make a change, of course we’d love to have you,” Zucker told Coakley.
Turns out Coakley, who had been at Foley Hoag for close to a decade, was looking to do something different. She had been in the public sector, including as Middlesex district attorney. She had been in the private sector, including a stint at controversial e-cigarette company Juul Labs.
Coakley even wondered if she should do something outside of law. But something felt right about exploring the opportunity with Zucker, whom she got to know through her advocacy for women’s rights and support of women political candidates.
This month Coakley joined Zucker Law Group as a partner, co-leading the firm’s governmental investigations practice with Paul Mastrocola. She also plans to work on business litigation, regulatory work, and reproductive rights.
As Coakley embarks on a new chapter, there’s one that she doesn’t miss: politics. She still follows the topic closely, and yes, she’s well aware that Scott Brown — who defeated her for US Senate in Massachusetts — is running again for a Senate seat, in New Hampshire.
Does she have any advice for an old foe?
“I do not,” she said. “Here he is on another path, and here am I on another path. We’ll see what happens.”
Poftak takes over at Research Bureau
As Steve Poftak starts as the Boston Municipal Research Bureau’s new president this week, he’s already got a big to-do list.
Keeping an eye on the city’s fiscal spending. Figuring out how best to structure the school system at a time of dwindling enrollment. Oh, and making nice with the mayor.
On that front, Poftak has a head start. He already knows Michelle Wu, dating back to his days at the Harvard Kennedy School where she would visit as a guest speaker. They both live in Roslindale, and even shared a high-profile Orange Line ride when he ran the MBTA as its general manager.
Poftak takes over the business-backed nonprofit for interim president Marty Walz, who has steered the organization for two years since the departure of Pam Kocher.
Walz helped oppose a proposal from Wu to shift more of the tax burden onto commercial payers and away from residential ones, a proposal that remains stalled on Beacon Hill. Amid heightened tensions over this issue, Wu backed out of speaking at the bureau’s annual meeting — normally an important spot on the mayor’s calendar, and the bureau’s. It was a slight that Wu’s opponent in the current mayor’s race, Josh Kraft, capitalized on.
Poftak has spent most of the last two decades in research, first at the Pioneer Institute and then at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston. He’s most well-known for his time running the T, as general manager, under then-governor Charlie Baker. Since stepping down in late 2022, he’s been working as a transportation consultant.
The bureau’s main focus has been on city finance and governance, though Poftak wants it to take a bigger look at economic competitiveness. After working remotely, he’s looking forward to getting back into an office; he’ll oversee a full-time staff of four people and a $900,000 budget.
He’s also looking forward to patching up things with the mayor.
“I’m hopeful to the extent that there’s been some fracture in that relationship, that we can mend that,” Poftak said, “and work together, [even if] not always agreeing, for the betterment of the city.”
Hendlers brew up another expansion
The Hendler brothers have come up with a new way to expand their brewing empire.
Jack’s Abby parent Hendler Family Brewing Co. is taking over most of the production of **Sloop Brewing Co.**’s flagship Juice Bomb IPA and Sloop’s other beers, and all sales and marketing work for Sloop’s portfolio, through a licensing agreement.
Jack’s Abby cofounder Sam Hendler says the deal will help bring production volume at his family’s Framingham company to around 130,000 barrels a year in 2026, up from 110,000 barrels. (Sloop and Hendler share the same primary distributor, Sheehan Family Companies.) He’s hopeful the deal will bring Sloop more of a presence in Massachusetts. But the focus, at least at the start, will be on growing its New York audience.
Unlike previous deals, such as those involving Night Shift and Wormtown, Hendler Family Brewing will not be taking an equity position in Sloop Brewing. The suburban New York brewer will continue to operate independently, out of its Hopewell Junction, N.Y., brewery and taproom.
“Two independent craft breweries walk out of the deal, both better positioned to succeed for the long term,” Hendler said.
The Hendler-Sloop deal is just the latest example of consolidation and cooperation amid the craft beer industry, which has been struggling amid rising costs and shifting consumer interests in recent years. As a result, the number of new breweries opening in Massachusetts, and nationwide, has essentially leveled off after two decades of expansion.
Hendler is continuing to consider other opportunities to add more brands to the company’s portfolio and its Framingham production line. Whether that involves equity investments, or unusual licensing partnerships like the one with Sloop, remains to be seen.
“We’ll either be pioneers or idiots,” Hendler joked. “Hopefully, the former.”
Jon Chesto can be reached at jon.chesto@globe.com. Follow him @jonchesto. Shirley Leung is a Business columnist. She can be reached at shirley.leung@globe.com.