Aaron Vega
SPRINGFIELD — After a nationwide search that yielded more than 100 applicants, the board of directors for the Western Massachusetts Economic Development Council (EDC) named Aaron Vega, director of Planning & Economic Development for the city of Holyoke, as its new president and CEO.
“I’m very excited,” Vega said. “For me now, this role makes total sense on my trajectory, but there’s no way I was planning this. I’m astonished and very thankful to be able to do important work in my home region.”
Armed with ideas and a developing vision for the EDC, he looks forward to building relationships, fostering trust, and creating new supports and connections for all stakeholders.
“I will take what I’ve been doing in Holyoke to a bigger scale,” Vega said. “My plan is to use the first months of next year to be out there listening to mayors, planning directors, people in the business community, developers, manufacturers. Whether you do or don’t know me, you’re going to know me, and I’m anxious to talk to you next year.”
Vega is charged with carrying on the legacy of Rick Sullivan, who has served the EDC for 11 years and will work his last day in the lead role on Dec. 31. Sullivan is credited with massive economic development in the region and, in the last years of his tenure, securing $70 million in state investments for food science, quantum computing, and clean tech.
“I was part of the group that hired Rick,” said Charles D’Amour, chair of the search committee that recruited Vega as well as the executive chairman of the board of directors of Big Y Foods Inc. and a member of the EDC. “My goal in this search, from the beginning, was to find someone who could build on Rick’s leadership and legacy of work and successes. I feel very good about the process and very good about Aaron being chosen to be our next leader. Things have come full circle.”
Holyoke Mayor Joshua Garcia, who has worked closely with Vega for three years on matters of economic development in the city, added that “Aaron is the guy folks understand and respect and will come to the table for to work on strategy to get to an end goal. That makes him a good fit for the EDC role.”
Vega was a Holyoke city councilor for four years before he was elected in 2012 to the Massachusetts House of Representatives, serving three terms in the 5th Hampden District. Since January 2021, Vega has led the Office of Planning & Economic Development in Holyoke, where he lives with his wife, Debra, a dance teacher at Mount Holyoke College; they are both co-directors and instructors at Vega Yoga Mobile in Open Square and have four children.
The son of activist Carlos Vega, Vega grew up in South Holyoke, living briefly in New Hampshire and graduating from Mascenic Regional High School in 1988. He attended Holyoke Community College and earned a dual bachelor’s degree from Keene State College in psychology and film studies. In his first career, he worked as an editor for PBS documentaries, collaborating on several films with Ken Burns.
Top on Vega’s agenda in 2026 will be building new relationships, bringing people together, and proving that he’s action-oriented and likes to get things done. “I’m a good convener, and I have a way of getting people on the same page. Finding things we can agree on and build on is a skill set I bring to the table,” he said.
He wants to focus on supporting municipalities and their economic development officers so when the EDC invites new businesses into the area, there are mechanisms in place for assuring they can leap the hurdles of site planning, zoning, and special permitting. “We want to make sure we are inviting businesses and making the right connections so they have a smooth transition,” he said.
A second focus will be marketing the Western Mass. hub and selling the region’s natural resources, entertainment, and quality of life to businesses that visit. “You can live in a farmhouse in a hilltown and be in Springfield in 20 minutes,” he noted.
As a successful Latino in the region, Vega also wants to urge the Latino community in the region to take ownership of their cities, become elected officials, open a business, and make a home here. “My message to all young people, and definitely the Latino community, is: your home is here,” he said, musing that perhaps the region needs a youth ambassador group. “I want the youth to have a voice in the future of this area.”
Sullivan said Vega is walking into a great opportunity in the region with a hugely supportive business community, board of directors, and membership all focused on growing the Western Mass. economy. “Aaron obviously has a professional lifetime of responsibility to the region, both politically and from an economic development lens,” Sullivan said, “and I think he will do a great job.”
