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  • Norm Stembridge

Norm Stembridge

Zoning Board of Appeal member

Norm is a lifelong resident of the City of Boston. Growing up in the Roxbury neighborhood, he now resides in Dorchester. He is a graduate of the Boston Public Schools, having graduated from The English High School. Norm eventually enrolled in, at the time Norfolk State College, now Norfolk State University (NSU). NSU is a Historically Black College and University in Norfolk, VA. The school currently has an enrollment of approximately more than 5,000 students.

Norm graduated from Norfolk State with a B.A. in Economics in May of 1976. He enjoyed his time at NSU very much and has fond memories of his college years. Norm remains in touch with his classmates and friends from NSU.

In late 1976, Norm began a career in technology at the then First National Bank of Boston, also known as Bank of Boston and later as BankBoston. Prior to the Internet, client servers, and mobile technologies, Norm worked in data processing. This environment consisted of managing and operating large computers in large computer rooms. Norm keeps up with mainframe and other technologies and has done presentations on the subject matter.

During the early to mid-2000s, Norm was part of mergers with Fleet Bank and eventually Bank of America. After many enjoyable years working in banking and technology, Norm retired from Bank of America in December of 2016. Currently Norm works on a very part-time basis picking up, driving, and delivering vehicles throughout New England and other parts of the East Coast.

For the last 18 years, Norm has volunteered to work with Roxbury and the City of Boston. In the mid-2000s, the neighborhood and the city came up with the Roxbury Strategic Master Plan. This was and is a plan to promote positive economic development in the neighborhood. The plan has focused on reclaiming large, long abandoned parcels of land from the days of urban renewal, displacement, and abandoned highway construction policies. The policies that created these conditions began in the 1940s. The physical damage was done to Roxbury in the 1960s.

In 2004, Norm was selected by former Mayor Thomas M. Menino to sit on the Roxbury Strategic Master Plan Oversight Committee. As of today, he still serves as Co-Chair of the committee. From then until now, the committee and the City have overseen the commitment of approximately $520 million in development dollars in Roxbury. There is also more proposed development on the board.

In 2019, Norm joined the Boston Network Users Group (BNUG). In late 2020, Norm began working with the group’s president, Adam Frost. Norm, Adam, and others from Move up Global (MUG) have worked to teach computer skills to teachers in the Musanze District of Rwanda. Norm has enjoyed this experience very much. He looks forward to when the teachers can teach these skills to their students. In 2022, Norm also became a member of MUG’s Board of Directors.

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