Kurt N. Schwartz
Undersecretary for Homeland Security & Emergency Management

Kurt N. Schwartz serves as the Undersecretary for Homeland Security and Emergency Management in the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security (EOPSS). Mr. Schwartz, who was first appointed as an Undersecretary by Governor Patrick in 2007, provides strategic leadership to the Massachusetts National Guard, the Department of Fire Services, the Commonwealth Fusion Center, and EOPSS's Homeland Security Division. Mr. Schwartz also serves as the Director of the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency where he oversees a staff of 80 people and an $8M operating budget. Mr. Schwartz also serves as the state's Homeland Security Advisor and member of the Governors Homeland Security Advisors Council under the umbrella of the National Governors Association.

Prior to serving as the Undersecretary for Homeland Security and Emergency Management, Mr. Schwartz served in the Patrick administration as the Undersecretary for Law Enforcement and Fire Services, where he provided strategic leadership to the Massachusetts State Police, Department of Fire Services, Office of Grants & Research, Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, Municipal Police Training Committee and Department of Public Safety. In this role, Mr. Schwartz also focused on policy and legislation in the areas of law enforcement, fire services, and emergency management.

Prior to his appointment at the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security in 2007, Mr. Schwartz served for eight years in the Office of the Attorney General as an Assistant Attorney General. For five years, he was Chief of the Criminal Bureau where he supervised a staff of prosecutors, investigators and state troopers and oversaw a number of large-scale, complex criminal investigations including the theft of $12 million from the Treasurer's Office, the year-long grand jury investigation of child sexual abuse within the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, and the multi-agency investigation into the ceiling collapse of the I-90 Connector Tunnel.

Prior to his employment in the Office of the Attorney General, Mr. Schwartz served for twelve years as an Assistant District Attorney in Middlesex County, including eight years as Chief of the Special Investigations Unit where he supervised a unit comprised of 20 assistant district attorneys, troopers, civilian investigators and support staff that focused on long-term investigations of organized crime, drug trafficking, corruption, murder-for-hire, insurance fraud, and other forms of economic crime.

Mr. Schwartz has also worked as a full-time police officer in Massachusetts, and as an emergency medical technician.

He is a graduate of Boston College Law School and Wesleyan University.

Curtis Wood
Undersecretary of Forensic Science and Technology

Mr. Wood has served as the Undersecretary of Forensic Science and Technology, within Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick's Executive Office of Public Safety and Security ("EOPSS") since April 2011. In that role, Mr. Wood is responsible for providing strategic leadership to the State Crime Lab, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, the Criminal Justice Information System, the Massachusetts 911 Department, and the state's witness protection program. Additionally, he has been charged with supervising the development and implementation of a Secretariat-wide information technology and information sharing strategy.

Prior to his appointment to EOPSS, Mr. Wood served the last 3 years as the Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Criminal Justice Information Services and as the Executive Director of the former Criminal History Systems Board. He also served as the Secretariat Chief Information Officer for EOPSS during this time. Before being appointed Commissioner, Mr. Wood served as the Deputy Director of the CHSB since 2002. While in these roles, he has held several national leadership roles, including representing Massachusetts at the FBI Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Advisory Policy Board (APB) and was elected to the Board of Directors of the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (NLETS): the International Justice and Public Safety Justice Information Network. He also serves as the Governor's appointment to SEARCH, the national justice and information sharing organization.

Mr. Wood began his 36-year public safety career in 1975 with the Massachusetts Department of Correction, serving in multiple roles including Commanding Officer of the Department's Fugitive Apprehension Unit and Chief Information Officer for the department. He has also worked in the private sector as a senior business and technology consultant leading large public safety and justice information technology engagements across the United States. Mr. Wood graduated from Salem State College with a BS in Communications and from Anna Maria College with a Masters Degree in Criminal Justice Administration.

Sandra M. McCroom
Undersecretary of Criminal Justice

Ms. McCroom was appointed the Undersecretary of Criminal Justice within the Patrick-Murray administration's Executive Office of Public Safety and Security (EOPSS) in March of 2010. In that role, Ms. McCroom supervises the functions and provides strategic leadership for the Department of Correction, the Parole Board and the Sex Offender Registry Board.

Ms. McCroom served as the Senior Development Coordinator in the Attorney General's Office under Attorney General Scott Harshbarger and returned to public service in 2008 when she was named the Executive Director of the Office of Grants and Research (OGR) at EOPSS. That office serves as the State Administrative Agency for federal and state criminal justice, homeland security, juvenile justice and delinquency prevention, violence against women, and highway safety funds. Additionally, OGR is the home of the agency's Research and Policy Analysis Division, which uses research and evaluation to promote public safety in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts by informing criminal justice and public safety policy. In that position she managed a staff of 50 employees that administer state and federal grants totaling more than $150 million. Ms. McCroom was responsible for overseeing the dissemination of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding allocated for public safety in the Commonwealth.

Before joining the EOPSS, Ms. McCroom served as the Executive Director of Roxbury Youthworks, Inc., a grassroots non-profit agency that combats juvenile delinquency in inner city neighborhoods. McCroom became a Peace Corps Volunteer in Thailand after graduating from Spelman College.

Karen M. Wells
Undersecretary of Law Enforcement

Karen M. Wells was appointed Undersecretary of Law Enforcement within Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick's Executive Office of Public Safety and Security (EOPSS) in April of 2011. In this role, her responsibilities include providing strategic leadership to the Massachusetts State Police, the Municipal Police Training Committee, the Office of Grants and Research and the Department of Public Safety. Ms. Wells also focuses on policy and legislation in the areas of law enforcement and public safety.

Prior to her appointment as Undersecretary, Ms. Wells served as the Senior Counsel for Law Enforcement and Fire Services at EOPSS. In that capacity, she coordinated strategy and policy development, legislation, long-term initiatives and implementation of programs related to law enforcement, crime-prevention, emergency management, fire services and public safety. She also assisted in the management of public safety agencies including: the Massachusetts State Police, the Municipal Police Training Committee, the Department of Public Safety, the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, the Department of Fire Services and the Office of Grants and Research.

Ms. Wells started her career as an Assistant District Attorney in Middlesex County. She was assigned to the Cambridge and Framingham District Courts before being assigned to the Special Investigations and Narcotics Unit, where she prosecuted high-level narcotics cases and conducted proactive investigations into complex financial crimes, corruption, and fraudulent schemes. Ms. Wells also served in the Office of the Attorney General for three years where she was an Assistant Attorney General in the Special Investigations and Narcotics Unit. She specialized in high-level narcotics and organized crime cases arising from long-term investigations conducted by the Massachusetts State Police and other law enforcement agencies. She then returned to the Middlesex DA's office where she served as the Deputy Director of District Courts, Prevention and Programs and then as the Deputy Chief of the P.A.C.T. (Public Protection, Anti-Terrorism, Corruption and Technology) Unit.

She is a graduate of Boston University School of Law and Colgate University.