The MAPS Person of the Year Award recognizes individuals who have demonstrated an outstanding commitment to helping MAPS and the immigrant communities we serve. It is the highest honor bestowed by the agency each year.
Award Recipients:
2026: Senator Michael Rodrigues, Chair, Ways and Means Committee
2025: Bishop Cristiano Barbosa, Archdiocese of Boston
2024: Robert F. Rivers, Chair and CEO, Eastern Bank
2023: Manny Lopes, Executive Vice-President, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts
2022: Gilda M. Nogueira, President and CEO of the East Cambridge Savings Bank
2019: Margareth Shepard, Framingham City Councillor
2018: The Secretary-General of the United Nations, His Excellency Mr. António Guterres
2017: Lawrence (Larry) K. Fish, Chairman, Fish Family Foundation
2016: David Simas, JD, Assistant to President Barack Obama and Director of the White House Office of Political Strategy and Outreach
2015: Joseph A. Curtatone, Mayor of Somerville
2014: Claire Andrade-Watkins, Ph.D., Associate Professor at Emerson College, Filmmaker, Founder & President of SPIA Media Productions Inc., Volunteer/Co-Founder of CABO Inc.
2013: Anthony Silva, Radio co-host of the WBZ Afternoon News and the station’s New England Business Editor
2012: Sonia Chang-Diaz, Massachusetts State Senator
2011: Felipe Matos, Student Leader of the Trail of Dreams
2010: William Francis Galvin, Massachusetts Secretary of State
2009: The late Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino
2008: State Senator Anthony Galluccio
2007: Isaura Mendes, Community Leader
2006: The late Representative Deborah Blumer, D-Framingham
2005: Andrea Cabral, Suffolk County Sheriff
2004: Glenn Mello, Luis Pedroso and Mark & Elisia Saab, Lowell Area Community Leaders and Philanthropists
2003: M. Teresa Cardoso, Somerville School Committee member
2002: Dr. José Figueiredo, former principal of the Harrington Middle School in Cambridge
2001: Dr. Howard Koh, former Mass. Commissioner of Public Health
2000: Board and Employees of the Cambridge Portuguese Credit Union
1999: Joseph Teixeira, former partner of Arnold Communications
1998: State Rep. António F.D. Cabral
1997: Henrique de Campos Meirelles, former BankBoston CEO
1996: Gil Santos, WBZ Radio and TV personality
1995: State Representative Timothy J. Toomey, Jr.
1994: Mayor Michael E. Capuano, Somerville, currently US Congressman