Amanda M. Teo, a career public servant who has managed and advised two of the state’s largest public law offices, will serve as the Executive Director of the acclaimed Rappaport Center for Law and Public Policy at Boston College Law School, announced Odette Lienau, the Marianne D. Short, Esq., Dean.
Teo succeeds the retired Elisabeth “Lissy” J. Medvedow, the Center’s inaugural executive director, who was named in 2015 following a $7.53 million endowment gifted from the Phyllis & Jerome Lyle Rappaport Foundation.
“The Rappaport Center has become a central part of both our law school community and the greater Boston legal community,” said Lienau. “We are grateful to the Rappaport Foundation, to faculty directors Michael Cassidy and Daniel Kanstroom, and to Lissy Medvedow, who was such a driving force in the Center’s success over the past decade. I could not be more thrilled with the selection of Amanda Teo for this crucial role moving forward, as we look to build upon that success through the next decade of shaping public policy leaders who can ensure that law serves the greater good in the world.”
“I am excited to work with the talented staff, faculty, and students at Boston College Law School and the outstanding advisory board and alumni of the Rappaport Center to advance the mission of creating and mobilizing leaders in state and local public policy,” said Teo. “Policy is the bridge between our vision of a just world and our reality, and there is no more timely or urgent challenge than cultivating a community of doers who can talk and listen across difference, are committed to making a difference, and are empowered with the tools to build and strengthen that bridge.”
Teo most recently served as Counsel to the US Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, where she advised the leadership team on strategic planning and cross-functional policy initiatives. At the US Attorney’s Office, she also served as Assistant US Attorney in the Civil Rights Unit. Previously, she was Chief of Staff in the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office—the state’s largest DA’s office—and led efforts to transition the office toward a more public health-focused and data-informed model of prosecution. Prior to assuming her role on the executive team, she spent almost a decade as an Assistant District Attorney in the Appeals Unit.
Teo has a master’s from Harvard University and received her JD cum laude from Harvard Law School, where she served as Executive Editor of the Harvard Law Review. She clerked for the Hons. Sandra Lynch and Kermit Lipez on the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. She also taught for almost a decade at Harvard University, where she conducted doctoral work in English and American Literature and was a fellow at the Bok Center for Teaching and Learning. Teo is a 1999 summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Princeton University.“
“Amanda’s strong background in public service and her engaged intellect are a perfect fit for the Center’s mission.”
Rappaport Center Faculty Director Daniel Kanstroom
“I am very happy to welcome Amanda to BC Law,” said professor Daniel Kanstroom, the Center’s faculty director. “Her strong background in public service and her engaged intellect are a perfect fit with the Center’s mission of mentoring students and bringing in leading practitioners and academics for discussions of—and research about—major contemporary issues of law and public policy. I am personally excited to work with Amanda to help the Center move in new directions as we sustain the legacy of Lissy Medvedow’s excellent work over the past ten years. I am grateful to Lissy, to [Senior Associate Dean for Strategic and Student Affairs] Jen Perrigo, the hiring committee, and to the Rappaport Board for all of their hard work during this transition process. I am confident that we will all be proud of the work that Amanda will do.”
The Rappaport Center convenes the region’s policymakers and thought leaders in generative discussions on critical public policy issues through its Distinguished Public Policy Series. Each year, the Center puts together fifteen or more forums, conferences, and symposia to address pressing societal problems with leaders and innovators from government, business, academia, and the nonprofit world.
To inspire future public leaders, the Center also underwrites a funded summer fellows’ program for twelve public-service focused students from eight Massachusetts law schools, providing opportunities for them to work in a state or local government agency and to help advance high-profile, important policy initiatives and key priorities. In a five-year assessment of the program conducted in 2021, over 55 percent of alumni who responded reported that after completing the fellowship, they worked or currently work in the nonprofit or public sectors, and over 90 percent agreed that the fellowship has positively impacted their careers. Alumni of the fellowship include current City of Boston Mayor Michelle Wu.
To further engage future public servants, the Center frequently hosts Distinguished Visiting Professors at BC Law School for semester-long stays. Selected for the breadth of their public sector experience, the luminaries—including Jane Swift, former acting governor of Massachusetts; Richard Cordray, former director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; Geraldine Hines, former associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court; Doug Jones, former US senator of Alabama; and Jeffery Robinson, CEO of The Who We Are Project—teach a seminar on public policy, deliver a community address, and meet with students, faculty, and members of the BC and Rappaport Center communities.
Phyllis Rappaport has been the chair of the Rappaport Foundation since its founding in 1997. Her spouse, Jerome Rappaport, who played a significant role in shaping and reinvigorating Boston and its institutions, died in December 2021 at age 94. The Rappaport Foundation has continued to advance Jerome Rappaport’s legacy by inspiring new generations of collaborative leaders in policy, medicine, and arts.
“Jerry Rappaport was a visionary leader,” said then-Interim BC Law Dean Diane Ring in BC Law Magazine upon learning of his passing. “He led by example, in a way that raised others up and enriched his community.”
“As one of many young people who walked through doors opened by Jerry’s commitment to public service, I know his legacy will continue to have a profound impact on our city,” added Boston Mayor Michelle Wu.
The strength of today’s Rappaport Center for Law and Public policy is a testament to the work of Medvedow, who brought to the program an extensive background in law and public policy.
In addition to her distinguished career in nonprofit management, she was an appellate prosecutor at the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office, where she briefed and argued numerous cases before the First Circuit Court of Appeals, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, and Massachusetts Appeals Court. Medvedow has served as a member of the ABA Advisory Commission to the Standing Committee on Public Education; Governor’s Special Commission on Civic Engagement and Learning; Governor’s Commission on Sexual and Domestic Violence; Supreme Judicial Court Standing Committee on Substance Abuse; and the Massachusetts Law Review Board of Editors.
During her tenure as executive director, the Rappaport Center supported close to 120 emerging public policy leaders and hosted nearly 150 panel discussions, debates, and convenings. “Lissy has done incredible work at the Rappaport Center, which has deeply impacted the next generation of public leaders,” noted Dean Lienau. “It has contributed significantly to law and public policy in the Commonwealth and beyond, and also built a wonderful foundation for the transition to Amanda’s executive directorship going forward.”
Photograph of Amanda Teo by Diana Levine