This Sunday, July 7, in keeping with the Union Chapel tradition of hosting a lay speaker for the Sunday nearest to Independence Day, Robert C. Pozen, will address the congregation. Mr. Pozen is a former secretary of Economic Affairs for Massachusetts, senior lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management, and former president of Fidelity Investments. He and his family are summer residents of Vineyard Haven. His broad range of public and private sector experiences greatly qualify him to discuss the state of the American democracy.
Mr. Pozen comes to Union Chapel with a distinguished career in business, government and academia. He is a summa cum laude Harvard University graduate, and holds a law degree from Yale, where he also obtained a doctorate for a book on state enterprises in Africa. In 2001 and 2002, Mr. Pozen served on President Bush’s Commission to Strengthen Social Security, where he developed a plan to make the system solvent. In 2004, he became the executive chairman of MFS Investment Management, which now manages over $400 billion for mutual funds and pension plans. In 2007, he served as chairman of the SEC’s Committee to Improve Financial Reporting. He is currently an independent director of Medtronic, Nielsen and AMC (a subsidiary of the World Bank), and serves as chairman of the board of the Tax Policy Center, and on the advisory board of Perella Weinberg Partners.
Mr. Pozen frequently writes for the Financial Times, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and the Harvard Business Review. He recently published a book on our current financial crisis, “Too Big To Save? How to Fix the US Financial System,” and a guide for investors titled “The Fund Industry: How Your Money is Managed.” In 2012, he received critical acclaim for a popular book showing professionals how to get more done at work, titled “Extreme Productivity: Boost Your Results, Reduce Your Hours.”
Mr. Posen and his wife of 40 years live in Boston.
Union Chapel is located in Oak Bluffs on Narragansett avenue at the intersection with Kennebec and Circuit avenues. Handicap access is on Grove Street. Services begin at 10 a.m., with an organ prelude starting at 9:40 a.m. All island visitors are welcome.
