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Alumni Q&A: The Money Man

Tim Cahill (CAS’81) holds the keys to the bank in Massachusetts

Interview by Rogelio Fussa

Timothy P. Cahill (CAS’81) is serving his second term as state treasurer of Massachusetts. As the commonwealth’s chief financial officer, Cahill oversees several departments, including the Lottery and the state Retirement Board.

 

Previously, Cahill was the Norfolk County treasurer, from 1997 to 2002, and a city councilor in his hometown of Quincy, Massachusetts, from 1987 to 2003. He was also a successful small-business owner. He earned a bachelor’s in political science from BU. BU Forward asked him about his memories of BU, the start of his political career, and his advice for today’s students.

 

BU Forward: How were you different when you left BU than when you started?

 

Tim Cahill: I was a typical wide-eyed freshman. Even though I was only coming eight miles up the road, I had never really been out of Quincy. So it was a whole new world. It was as if I went across the country.

 

I got some scholarships and some financial aid. I come from a family of nine, so there was no money in the house. I was a commuting student the first semester, and that was tough because I wanted to fit in, and obviously it’s hard to fit in as a commuter. So I spent a lot of time at the George Sherman Union, upstairs at the old library. And then the second semester I moved right over the BU Bridge to Cambridge. I went from a three-bedroom, one-bathroom house with eleven people to a big old Victorian house, where I had my own room. Two grad students were in other rooms. I mean, I went from total chaos to total silence. I think probably the second semester is when I grew up the most. 

 

I had Murray Levin and Howard Zinn as professors. [Zinn’s course] opened my eyes to the world and to politics, trying to analyze and understand, not just believe what people tell you. I didn’t become a disciple of Zinn, so to speak — actually I think I came into college much more liberal than I went out — but he did have an impact on me. I remember his classes clearly and how he questioned the establishment — it was not something I had ever done.

I came out of BU much more confident than when I went in. I thought I was pretty confident; I did well in high school, I was an athlete, thought I was a pretty cool kid, but I was pretty insecure. I went from not knowing what I wanted to do in life to coming out knowing I wanted to be in politics.

 

How did you get involved in politics?

 

I went through BU’s internship program to Washington, D.C., and spent the first semester of senior year working for a congressman, [former U.S. Representative] Brian Donnelly (SED’69), who was also a BU grad. It kind of opened my eyes up and made me want to be in elective office.

 

When I came back, I had already made up my mind to run for city council, and I announced I was running for the seat about a week after I graduated. It was tough because most of my friends were graduating, partying, having fun, and I had jumped right into a political life. I didn’t win, but it was a great experience. And it led to where I am today.

 

What advice do you have for current students?

 

Now it’s almost standard to take a semester and travel outside of the country. It wasn’t the standard in those days; only the really smart, cool kids knew about opportunities abroad. I would absolutely say to travel abroad, and to do an internship, to find out if you’ll actually like doing what you’re thinking of doing.

 

A lot of young people are lost when they get out of school, because there is no other rung on the ladder, unless you go right to grad school. And if you’ve been kind of going along the path that you’ve been told to go on, and all of sudden there is no one to tell you what to do, it can be scary. But if you’ve taken some risks in college, then you’re prepared.  

 

You’re a graduate of a liberal arts college. What do you think the relevancy is for liberal arts in today’s economy?

 

I think it’s more relevant than it’s ever been. If you can think and you can write, you’re prepared for everything. When we’re hiring people, we look for people with liberal arts backgrounds, and it doesn’t matter whether they’re crunching numbers or putting together plans to build schools or managing our money for us. You can get the other skill sets along the way, either in graduate school or by experience, but if you miss the humanities in college, you almost never get it unless you want to teach yourself.

 

After I lost my election, two friends and I  wanted to open up our own business, so we opened up a restaurant. This was pre- Starbucks in those days, but we had this Starbucks-like store, selling gourmet coffee and special pastries and everything. We didn’t know we had a concept that could have actually made us rich. My skill set was just talking to people, engaging in conversations. I could talk about politics, sports, the gamut, so my job was to pour the coffee and try to talk to people as they came in about whatever was interesting or whatever they were interested in. And I think the liberal arts background was helpful then. It gave me this broad background.

 

I wish I had read more, taken Shakespeare, theater. Especially for a politician, it would have been nice to have taken some theater. I did take a public speaking course [at the College of  Communication], but politicians are actors, let’s face it.

 

In 2007 you received an Eisenhower Fellowship, an opportunity for emerging leaders to exchange ideas and build relationships with leaders from all over the world. Tell us about your experience.

 

I went to India and to Ireland last year. The focus of the program was urbanization, so I spent all my time in cities and tried to figure out what makes a successful city and an unsuccessful city.

 

I chose India and Ireland because I wanted to understand how they had turned their economies around, how they had gone from being two of the poorest nations in the world to two of the wealthiest nations in the world. What was unique? What was different? How did it happen? I wanted to try and apply those lessons to Massachusetts.

 

What really was stressed for me was how important healthy economies are to the well-being of cities and countries and states. If you can get the economics right, the rest is easy, or easier. If you miss it economically, and you start to backslide, it’s really hard to turn it around. Look at Michigan, look at Ohio, potentially Massachusetts — not yet, but it could certainly happen if we don’t grow our population, if we don’t create opportunities for people. I don’t think I understood [before the trip] how important the economy is — and the perception of the economy is — to your standing in the world.

After the tsunami in 2004, I remember reading a story about how the Indian government basically said, we will solve this problem ourselves, we don’t want the world to give us money, we appreciate it, but we’ve got enough money in this country and we’re going to fix it. I met with some people who were part of the disaster mitigation process, and there’s a certain pride that they have that they were able to do more in the southern part of India themselves than we’ve been able to do in New Orleans, which is amazing. That’s what a strong economy can do. I’m trying to see how that fits into Massachusetts.