Select Board Offers Bedford Town Manager Post to Matthew Hanson

The Select Board on Monday unanimously voted to offer Matthew Hanson the position of Bedford Town Manager.

Hanson, town manager of Tyngsborough, also served two terms as a Chelmsford selectman. He will succeed Sarah Stanton, who resigned in April to accept a position as Undersecretary of Economic Strategies in the Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development.

The Select Board moved into executive session following the vote, presumably to discuss contract terms.

Deliberations took less than 10 minutes, following lengthy separate interviews Monday with Hanson and the other finalist, Gregory Johnson, town administrator of Maynard.

Select Board members agreed that either finalist would be a good choice, but they also felt that Hanson’s experience better prepares him for the task.

“His answers were very Bedford specific,” added member Shawn Hanegan.

Hanson was hired as Tyngsborough Assistant Town Administrator in November 2015 and promoted 17 months later. The position title was changed to Town Manager last December.

Hanson earned undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Massachusetts, Lowell; his master’s was in regional economic and social development. Early in his career he worked as a program manager for the Lowell Police Department and a management intern in the city manager’s office.

The new town manager has been an elected Chelmsford town meeting representative for 13 years and serves on the board of directors of the Middlesex 3 Coalition, the regional economic development consortium.