Deb Goldberg

American politician
the ecologist

Deborah Beth Goldberg (born May 11, 1954) is an American politician and lawyer. She is the Treasurer of Massachusetts, serving since January 2015. She was a member of the Board of Selectmen for the town of Brookline, Massachusetts from 1998 to 2004, serving the last two terms as chair. Goldberg was a candidate in the 2006 Massachusetts Democratic primary election for lieutenant governor. In 2018, Goldberg was re elected as State Treasurer.

Goldberg was raised in Brookline and graduated from Boston University (B. A., '75), Boston College Law School (J. D., '83), and Harvard Business School (M. B. A., '85). Goldberg's family immigrated to Massachusetts and opened a grocery store in Boston's North End in 1892. The family opened additional stores and their business grew into what eventually became Stop & Shop, the largest supermarket chain in New England. Goldberg helped run this family business when she was younger and attributes some of her stance on advocating for local issues to her upbringing with a family run market. She relates to her constituents with rhetoric such as "I say my family is your family" in her speeches. Though she received an MBA, she states “my real MBA came from working in the business.” The strongly worded rebuke resulted in a vocal reader response and a separate endorsement from Stan Spiegel, a Brookline Tab columnist and Brookline Town Meeting member.

On February 27, 2014, Goldberg formally announced her candidacy for State Treasurer. At the Massachusetts Democratic Convention, she was the top vote getter in the race for Treasurer, winning 38.9% of the vote. Goldberg was the first to release a televised advertisement in the race on August 4, 2014. Goldberg was seated as Treasurer January 21, 2015 after defeating Republican Mike Heffernan in the general election.

In 2018, Goldberg was re elected to her position as State Treasurer with 67.6% of the vote. She defeated State Representative and Republican National Committeewoman Keiko Orrall who was unopposed for the Republican nomination.

Prior to becoming Treasurer, Goldberg served as president of the board of directors of Adoptions with Love, was an Advisory Board member of the Greater Boston Food Bank, is a Commissioner on the Town of Brookline's Neighborhood Conservation District Commission, was Senate President Therese Murray's appointee to the Treasurer's Commonwealth Covenant Fund, and sat on the advisory board of the Taubman Center for State and Local Government at Harvard Kennedy School. Goldberg is involved with various events for Jewish organizations such as the Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action and was the first Jewish woman elected to statewide office in Massachusetts.

In November 2014, it was reported that Goldberg had admonished an employee of Adoptions with Love for seeking employment with the State Treasurer's office without first informing her current employer of her job seeking plans. Goldberg came to this knowledge in her official capacity as Treasurer elect, and her actions were seen as a breach of ethics.

Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Democratic Primary Election, 2006PartyCandidateVotes%DemocraticTimothy Murray351,95142.6DemocraticDeborah Goldberg280,66134.0DemocraticAndrea Silbert192,16523.3DemocraticWrite ins1,6020.2
Massachusetts Treasurer & Receiver General Democratic Primary Election, 2014PartyCandidateVotes%DemocraticDeborah Goldberg202,81942.7DemocraticBarry Finegold149,47031.4DemocraticThomas Conroy122,19825.7DemocraticWrite ins8480.2
Massachusetts Treasurer & Receiver General Election, 2014PartyCandidateVotes%DemocraticDeborah Goldberg1,120,19255.1RepublicanMichael James Heffernan828,89440.8Green RainbowIan Jackson81,9074.0Write insWrite ins1,6650.1

She is married to Michael Winter, with whom she has two children.

Goldberg received the 2016 Excellence in Leadership Award from The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston (JCRC) and the Massachusetts Association of Jewish Federations (MAJF)'s "Women in Leadership" reception. In 2023, Goldberg received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Boston Arts Academy, Boston's only public arts high school, honoring her deep rooted connection to the arts.