Table of Contents
Get our free local reporting delivered straight to your inbox. No noise, no spam — just clear, independent coverage of Marblehead. Sign up for our once-a-week newsletter.
The Select Board will interview three finalists to succeed retiring Town Administrator Thatcher W. Kezer III on Wednesday, Nov. 4, and could appoint one of them that night.
The finalists are Topsfield Town Administrator Kevin Harutunian, former Oxford Town Manager Jennifer Callahan and Clancy David Main, chief financial officer for Haverhill Public Schools and a former Billerica town manager. An agenda posted Oct. 30 lists the interviews and an appointment vote, followed by an executive session for contract negotiations.
Harutunian has led Topsfield, a town of about 6,500, since December 2019. He spent the previous six years as chief of staff to Beverly Mayor Michael Cahill after working in commercial real estate, The Local News reported. He holds a master's degree in business administration from Boston College.
In 2024, Harutunian was one of three finalists for Tewksbury town manager; that board chose John Curran. Months later, the Topsfield Select Board raised his salary from $156,000 to $185,000, a decision some residents questioned at a January 2025 meeting.
Callahan represented the 18th Worcester District in the Massachusetts House beginning in 2003, became Millville's first town administrator in 2016 and was hired as Oxford town manager in 2018. She resigned in February, effective April 3, and Oxford's Board of Selectmen voted unanimously March 3 to place her on paid administrative leave until then, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette reported.
Callahan's lawsuit in Worcester Superior Court, filed in May 2025, accuses the town, two former selectmen and a resident of retaliating against her. The former selectmen deny the allegations and argue their statements are protected speech, according to the Telegram. The case is pending.
Main, a North Reading native, rose in Billerica from budget and management analyst to director of administrative services, assistant town manager and interim town manager before becoming town manager in October 2024 — succeeding Curran. He left for the Haverhill schools job in May 2025, seeking a better work-life balance after the birth of his second child, WHAV reported. He told the station he had attended more than 100 night meetings the previous year.
Main holds a bachelor's degree in political science and a master's degree in public administration from the University of Massachusetts Lowell.
Narrowed from 15
The Collins Center for Public Management at the University of Massachusetts Boston is running the search. The Select Board approved its recruitment profile Sept. 9, calling for five to seven years of municipal management experience.
About 15 people applied, according to Select Board member Erin Noonan, who chairs the screening committee. The committee began reviewing résumés Oct. 8 and interviewed a smaller group in closed executive sessions Oct. 16, 19 and 20. Its other members are Select Board member Jim Zisson, former Select Board member Jim Nye, Police Chief Dennis King and Finance Committee Chair Molly Teets.
Applicants' names remained confidential until the committee forwarded finalists. The appointment belongs to the Select Board.
Vote could come Wednesday
The hybrid meeting begins at 5 p.m. in the Select Board's Meeting Room at Abbot Hall, 188 Washington St., with remote access by Zoom. The agenda lists no interview order or times and notes that it is subject to change.
Select Board Chair Dan Fox said at the board's Oct. 28 meeting that members plan to interview the finalists and choose a new administrator Nov. 4. The recruitment profile lists a starting salary of $200,000 to $215,000.
Kezer retires Dec. 31. Two finalists hold jobs elsewhere, and any appointment still requires a negotiated contract. Wednesday, the board will decide whether to pick one of the three and open talks that night, eight weeks before the office turns over.
BEFORE YOU GO … Our reporting remains free and open to all. It is sustained by readers who choose to support it — by contributing so that routine, document-based local reporting continues without paywalls or promotional framing. Right now, 132 readers support The Marblehead Independent with monthly or annual contributions. Click here to become an Independent member.
