UTEC CEO Gregg Croteau to transition to new executive chair role, search to begin for new CEO

UTEC CEO Gregg Croteau, who has led the organization for 23 years, announced Tuesday that he would become executive chairperson of the nonprofit when a new CEO is chosen. (Courtesy UTEC)

UTEC's Training Center for Excellence Director Nichelle Sadler will be promoted to executive director of the training center as it aims to bring its model of working against young adult violence in local cities to the national level through training and policy work. (Courtesy UTEC)

Edwin Mercado, of Lowell, left, and UTEC CEO Gregg Croteau at UTEC's 20th Anniversary Gala on Nov. 6, 2019. (Julia Malakie/Lowell Sun)

UTEC holds a HiSET graduation for young adults who earned their high school equivalency degree on July 8, 2022. From left, CEO Gregg Croteau, educator Niles Lashway and culinary instructor Shambra McDowney Zoom with graduate Filix Nieves who has moved with his family to Puerto Rico and is now a chef there. (Julia Malakie/Lowell Sun)

LOWELL — UTEC CEO Gregg Croteau, who has led the organization for 23 years, announced Tuesday that he will transition to the new position of executive chairperson with the nonprofit as it looks to bring its model to the national level.

Croteau has served UTEC Inc., formerly known as the United Teen Equality Center, since 2000, shortly after the organization's founding in Lowell. He will remain as CEO until a successor is found in a search led by NRG Consulting.

"I have been honored to serve as CEO after being hired by the founding group of young adults back in 2000," Croteau said in a statement. "I’m thankful to the Board for its support and for providing me the opportunity to take on this new role which I believe will allow me to best serve our mission. In partnership with our Board, staff, and young adults, I am very much looking forward to the search for our next CEO."

Reflecting on his time as UTEC's CEO, in an interview Croteau praised the growth the organization has experienced. It started with a budget of just $40,000 from a grant from the city of Lowell, and grew to a $15 million budget today, which benefits youth who have faced gang violence through programs like the Streetworker Program, Behind the Walls and Social Enterprise program. The growth of the organization is poised to continue, Croteau said.

"Just in the last week we received word that we will receive a three year, $600,000 grant from the Kresge Foundation to expand the work of the Training Center for Excellence at the national level," said Croteau.

He said that several years ago, UTEC received requests to go into other cities across the country and help implement policies and programs that would help keep youth away from gangs and related violence. At the time, UTEC declined the offers, preferring to continue to focus its work on the struggles youth can face in cities in the Merrimack Valley.

Now, with the Kresge Foundation grant funding, Croteau said the organization can expand its advocacy efforts to the national level through training and policy work from UTEC's Training Center for Excellence.

"Given the recent Kresge Foundation award, and as part of the coordinated leadership changes that will help support UTEC's overall growth, I am excited to also announce the promotion of Nichelle Sadler to the role of Executive Director of the UTEC Training Center for Excellence," Croteau said in a statement. "Nichelle's dedication, passion, and leadership will be instrumental as we elevate the role of our Training Center moving forward."

Sadler first joined UTEC in 2012, serving for two years as the director of youth promise. She returned in 2018 for an interim role, and remained there to serve as the director of the Training Center for Excellence. Sadler began her career of working against gang violence in youth as an outreach worker in Boston in the 1990s, at a time when gang violence was at its height in the city.

"I have really run the gambit of roles in this line of work," Sadler said. "UTEC is one of the best organizations to serve this population, not just in the state, in the entire country."

Sadler said she looks forward to using the things she and UTEC have learned over the last 24 years and sharing the organization's model with similar groups across the country.

Croteau said in a letter to members of UTEC's Advisory Council that the idea of a successor for CEO has been considered for some time, and that he will still be very much involved in the organization.

"My thinking has largely been shaped by a couple of key considerations. First, candidly, how can I carve out some additional personal time to spend with my family – including the incredible joy of now being a grandparent! Second, during a time of continued growth, how can I be most helpful to UTEC at this key juncture in our development? This shift seems to check both boxes," Croteau wrote in his letter. "As Executive Chair, I will be specifically responsible for overseeing fundraising, policy advocacy, and other external stakeholder relations. I am really looking forward to further focusing on these areas that are critical to our sustainability, while also having a little extra time for swimming lessons with my grandkids!"

The chair of UTEC's board, Scott Mellen, praised Croteau and said he was excited to see the expansion of the organization's model.

"Gregg has really made UTEC what it is today, and his elevation to the role of Executive Chairperson is well-deserved," Mellen said in a statement. "We are now looking for another dynamic leader to serve as our new CEO, and we believe this new leadership structure will allow us to take our next step forward as an organization."

UTEC was founded in Lowell in 1999 by young adults who sought to develop their own teen center in the midst of gang violence. It has since grown to also serve Lawrence and Haverhill, and has also grown in its scope. Through the Streetworker Program, UTEC streetworkers assist in reducing city violence through gang peacemaking.

For youth who have found themselves behind bars, the Behind the Walls program works with the Middlesex and Essex County sheriff's offices and the state Department of Correction to address the mental health of incarcerated young adults and work on a plan to reintegrate them into society when they are released.

Through the UTEC social enterprise programs, young adults are given a space where they can earn income and work experience through work like mattress recycling, food service and woodworking.

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