Executive Director, UTEC
Hired as UTEC’s first executive director, Gregg Croteau has overseen the growth of the agency from a grassroots safe haven to a nationally recognized youth development agency. Located in Lowell, Massachusetts, UTEC’s mission and promise is to ignite and nurture the ambition of proven-risk youth to trade violence and poverty for social and economic success.
Croteau came to UTEC with youthwork experience that ranged from streetwork to program development. With an interest in Vietnamese culture, he spent two years working and conducting research in Hanoi, Vietnam, gaining fluency in Vietnamese language and history.
Croteau has been appointed to a number of city and state commissions, including the Governor’s Anti-Crime Council, Governor’s Advisory Council on Refugees and Immigrants, and the Massachusetts Health Disparities Council. He testified in 2007 at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on gang violence through the invitation of the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy. He has received recognition such as the Robert Wood Johnson Community Health Leader Award and Youth Advocacy Foundation’s Commitment to Justice Award. Recently, Croteau has been appointed to the Governor’s task force on Economic Opportunity for Populations Facing Chronically High Rates of Unemployment.
Croteau received his B.A. from Wesleyan University, while receiving his Masters of Social Work, along with associated masters coursework in Southeast Asian Studies, from the University of Michigan.