State Senator Ken Donnelly has spent most of his life living in and serving the 4th Middlesex district. Born in Cambridge, Ken moved to Arlington at age 7, attended the public schools, and raised a family with Judy, his wife of 38 years.

For 35 years, Ken worked for the town of Lexington as a fire fighter and a lieutenant within the fire department. As a leader, Ken consistently exhibited compassion towards those in need of assistance, made important decisions under pressure, and fostered a team environment in order to attain common goals. Ken has brought the skills he developed as a firefighter to everything he has done in his professional life.

During his time at the Lexington fire department, Ken used his leadership experience on Beacon Hill. For seven years, Ken served as the legislative agent for the Professional Fire Fighters of Massachusetts and worked collaboratively with various coalitions to write and pass important legislative initiatives. Ken played an instrumental role in the crafting and passage of the 1987 landmark pension reform which helped curb pension abuse, improve oversight, and increase the accountability of local retirement boards so that future generations would not be burdened with a large unfunded liability.

In 1996, in recognition of his expertise in this area, Ken was appointed by the State Auditor to PERAC, where he served as one of seven commissioners responsible for over 60 billion dollars in assets in 106 retirement systems with over 400,000 active and retired members. During his tenure on the Commission, he worked to ensure stable, solvent pensions for subscribers while keeping municipal costs down and investment returns as high as possible. Ken’s expertise has also been recognized by municipalities, unions and elected officials across the Commonwealth who continue to call on him to educate and advise them on matters regarding employee pensions and health care.

In 1993, Ken became the Chief Financial Officer for the Professional Fire Fighters of Massachusetts. With his financial and managerial experience preparing and overseeing a 1.5 million dollar budget, Ken understands how we can best use the state’s resources especially in times of fiscal uncertainty.

Ken is the Senate Chairman of the Joint Committee on Veterans and Federal Affairs and Vice Chair of the Joint Committee of Education. Ken was recently appointed by the Senate President to the Special Commission to study the Massachusetts Contributory Retirement System. This 15-member commission is charged with performing a comprehensive study of the public pension system in Massachusetts and will provide reform recommendations to the Legislature by September 1, 2009.

Ken holds a BA from the University of Massachusetts and is a graduate of the Harvard University Trade Union Program. Ken and Judy have 3 children and are the proud grandparents of 4.