Joyce Linehan

Joyce Linehan, a Dorchester MA native is the Chief of Policy to Mayor of Boston Marty Walsh. She is the daughter of John J. Linehan and Yvonne Linehan. As a Dorchester native, Linehan graduated from the Notre Dame Academy and attended College at Suffolk University until she flunked out. She eventually continued her studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston where she received her Bachlor’s Degree in Media and American Popular Culture and a Masters in American Studies. She received the Dr. Robert W. Spayne Research Grant for study at the Country Music Hall of Fame. Her master’s thesis — The Day My Mama Socked it to the Harper Valley PTA: Country Music Womanhood in the Second Wave of Feminism — received the American Studies Book Award from UMass Boston.

Linehan was a connector between Boston’s underground rock scene booking bands into small local clubs. Eventually this led her to becoming a manager. She managed the Smithereens, Six Finger Satellite and the Lemonheads. During her time booking gigs and managing she crossed paths with legends like Courtney Love from Hole, Bullet LeVolta, Perl Jam’s Eddie Vedder and Nirvana. In the ’90s, Linehan took a job as A & R director at Sub Pop a Seattle label that is well known for launching the grunge band Nirvana into mainstream stardom. When Warner Brothers bought out Sub pop.

In the 1990s, her Dorchester home served as the East Coast offices of the storied grunge label Sub Pop, where Linehan worked as a promotions director and talent scout. Over the years, Hole’s Courtney Love and Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder were among the hundreds who hung out at her legendary pad. She currently resides at Ashmonticello, a larger version of Linehan’s old place, on Burt Street, which the Phoenix once called the “most famous and best-loved rock-and-roll crash pad in Boston history.” Bikini Kill, Smashing Pumpkins, Elliott Smith, the Jesus Lizard, and Stereolab all stayed there over the years.

When Joyce left the label, she became the manager of the Pernice Brothers. When Joyce Linehan and Joe Pernice didn’t see eye to eye with their former label, they decided to create their own label creating Ashmont Records. Their record label released numerous records including Yours, Mine and Ours, by the Pernice Brothers released in 2003. The two also co-wrote the book Pernice to Me: A chronicle of close to two years' worth of petulant banter between Ashmont Records co-owners Joe Pernice and Joyce Linehan, most of which has appeared on Twitter.

Linehan is also the President of Ashmont Media, a public relations company that specializes in the development of innovative and realistic media campaigns for arts and culture groups in the Boston area. Some of her clients include ArtsEmerson, Fruitlands Museum, Handel & Haydn Society and Institute of Contemporary Art.

In 2000 Linehan begun to swing between arts and politics. She helped out in many campaigns including John Kerry’s 2004 Presidential Election and Elizabeth Warrens run for U.S Senate in 2012. Linehan never saw herself as a political operative, working all campaigns as a volunteer until she took the job as Chief of Policy in 2014 for Mayor Walsh. In an interview for Boston Magazin in 2014 Linehan stated: “I mean, define ‘pay,’” she said. “I do it so that the place that I live in is better.” When Marty Walsh was running for Mayor he knew that he needed Linehan on his side. She volunteered with the campaign and then took the job as Chief of Policy.

Linehan is the founder of the Dorchester Arts Collaborative; an animal advocate and leader in the fight to end breed-specific legislation; and serves on the board of Interim House, a residential substance abuse treatment center.

Awards: In 2012, she received an Unsung Heroine of Massachusetts award from the Massachusetts Commission of the Status of Women. She has also been honored by The Irish Echo for her commitment to working people, and by Company One for her commitment to theater. She is a lifelong resident of Dorchester.