James O'Keefe

husband, father, son, grandson, Green Party activist, Quality Assurance engineer, two time candidate for Treasurer of Massachusetts, youth soccer coach

James O'Keefe, a lifelong Massachusetts resident, grew up in Boston. He graduated from Boston Latin School in 1986, the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 1990 and earned a masters degree in Economics from Boston University in 1998. At Boston University, he focused on environmental and labor economics while also working part-time.

He has worked in the computer software field since 1990 chiefly as a Software Quality Assurance manager and engineer. He has worked for such companies as FTP Software, Athena Design, Thomson Financial, Oberon Software, Vignette, Wellington Management, and M-Qube. He is currently working for Verisign.

He has been a member of the Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts since 1996, and was its co-chair in 1999-2000, treasurer in 2000-2001 and membership director in 2007-2008. He helped found the Mystic River Greens in Cambridge and Somerville. He was the Green-Rainbow Party's nominee for Treasurer of the Commonwealth in 2002, achieving 8% of the vote, and 2006, achieving 16% of the vote.

He has lived with Melanie, his wife, in Somerville since 1992 and together they have two children, Liam and Emma. Among the many responsibilities he juggles in his life, James has coached his son's soccer team for the last four years.