SOUTH HADLEY — It’s official: South Hadley has a new town administrator.
The Select Board signed a contract last week with Lisa Wong, 41, the current town manager in Winchester. Wong comes to South Hadley with an impressive pedigree, which includes serving as the mayor of Fitchburg from 2008 to 2016 — the first Asian American woman to become a mayor in Massachusetts history.
“My success in South Hadley is the town’s success, and the town’s success is my success,” Wong said in a phone interview Tuesday. “I see myself as somebody who can certainly bring a fresh perspective and fresh ideas based on the work I’ve done across the state and across the country.”
Wong will begin work on Oct. 31, and her contract runs until June 2024. Her salary will begin at $156,000 during her first year, and will jump to $165,000 and then $175,000 in the subsequent years of the three-year deal.
That pay is higher than the $119,000 that current Town Administrator Michael Sullivan made in the last year of his contract, during which he worked a shortened four-day week.
Sullivan told the Select Board at its special meeting to discuss the contract on July 27 that the town raised its proposed pay for the open job after shuffling around some positions in town hall, making room for a larger salary for its chief executive.
“I know that there’s some people in the community, rightfully so, who will look at that and feel a little sticker shock,” Sullivan said. “But that really is the market rate. The Select Board chair and the Select Board vice chair were very diligent in making sure that the contract wasn’t overextended or went beyond the parameters of what’s found in the marketplace today.”
Wong’s name is one known across the state after turning around the finances of Fitchburg, where she had previously served on the city’s redevelopment authority as a 22-year-old who had recently finished earning three degrees from Boston University. A high school valedictorian who grew up in North Andover, she is the daughter of Chinese immigrants.
She is also familiar with western Massachusetts, which is where her husband is from. In 2014, she married Anthony Soto, a Holyoke native who served on the City Council and ran for mayor.
Wong said that, as the parent of a 3-year-old, she is excited about the proximity to family, space and quality of life that the Pioneer Valley provides. And because of her connections to western Mass., she has a lot of familiarity with South Hadley.
“Mostly as a customer and visitor, somebody who has frequented a lot of the small businesses there,” she said. “A lot of first dates … For me it’s a lot of happy memories.”
But it’s not those experiences that drew Wong to South Hadley. As someone who enjoys the wonky details of municipal management and planning, she’s looking forward to working on economic development in South Hadley.
“I really like that technical work and to work with neighborhoods, residents and business — that we’re collectively working toward a goal,” she said. “It’s kind of fun to have a place with special projects they want to move forward.”
As somebody who began her career of municipal work for a redevelopment authority, she said she’s excited that South Hadley too has a redevelopment authority. She is intrigued by the work of supporting small businesses, revitalizing blighted buildings and other economic development work.
Wong also said local government, particularly during the continuing pandemic, needs to innovate and offer good customer service despite obstacles.
“Given my upbringing, working in my family’s Chinese restaurant, I feel like customer service is at the top of what I’ve experienced and grown up with and admired about my parents,” she said.
That experience working in her parents’ restaurant taught her lessons she has carried into her career, she said — for example, when smoking was banned in restaurants, easing her concerns about her family’s health and that of their customers, but also cutting into the restaurant’s revenue after they lost customers.
“Issues are not as black and white as they seem,” she said. “There’s no one formula, but part of being in this field and loving this work is always thinking, and strategizing, and trying to improve and do better.”