Jesse Burque – MassMEP Employee Highlights

Jesse Burque has been with MassMEP for 2 months as Finance Director. “I’m still figuring the job out in its entirety. Basically, my role is to manage and report on the financial status of the organization. This involves letting everybody know where our expenses are, where are income is coming from, reporting that information out and making sure we are in compliance.”

Providing insight into his career Jesse continues, “I’ve been in the finance industry for the last 20+ years working for private and public companies. I got to a point in my last job that I thought it was time for a change. I reached out to a recruiting agency, actually the same person that got me the last job that I went to 8 years ago. I’ve never worked for a non-profit before, so I’ve really been enjoying coming to work every day and learning. It’s been a lot of fun.”

Working with numbers is not for everyone and Jesse has a passion for it. “The work I do is repetitive work on a monthly basis which requires closing out the books each month. Every month I like to do my job better, faster, and with continuous improvement in mind. I enjoy trying to get my work done as quickly and accurately as possible, so I have more time for the fun stuff, which is analytics. I want to show it to the leadership team and help them understand the numbers. It also helps make sure we are on track with our NIST funding, as well as with all the different grants we have. It ensures our costs are lined up, and that we are able to draw down on those grants.”

Outside the office, Jesse’s number one passion is spending time with his family. He has 3 boys who are all big into sports, primarily football, baseball and basketball. “I love watching my kids play sports and have enjoyed coaching them over the past 13 or so years. And now with COVID, its sort of been ‘hey what am I going to do with myself?’ We’ve found other things to do, like playing tennis and taking walks, and playing board games. We’ve spent the time bonding.”

How well do you know Jesse? Two of these statements are true and one is not. Can you guess which one?

1) I bowl in a bowling league here in Auburn MA.
2) I married my high school sweetheart.
3) I played tennis in college.