Patricia M. Nolan

Patricia M. Nolan (Patty) is serving her third term on the Cambridge City Council, after serving on the Cambridge School Committee. Her central priorities are taking action on the climate crisis, affordable housing including middle class families, fostering community throughout the city, and accountability in government. Nolan moved to Cambridge from Stamford, Connecticut to attend college, the first in her family to attend Harvard College, where she majored in Government. After college, she did research in the field of American women’s history, was a policy researcher on work and family issues and a speechwriter for Brooklyn District Attorney Elizabeth Holtzman. She earned her Master's degree at Yale University's School of Management, where she founded a student newspaper. Ms. Nolan has broad experience in strategic planning and financial budgeting, serving in a range of positions since graduate school.

Her professional experience includes work with McKinsey, an international corporate consulting firm, with LISC (the nation's largest intermediary serving community development corporations), and with the ICA Group (specializing in worker-owned and community-based enterprises). She served as CEO of an environmental company and a telecom sales and marketing company. Ms. Nolan has been a consultant to a range of mission-based organizations including a legal staffing company, an environmental mutual fund, and a charter school founding group. Her City Council position is her primary job.

Patty and her husband, David Rabkin, a non-profit executive and software engineer, have two adult children who attended Cambridge Public Schools from Kindergarten through 12th grade. She enjoys working on the wide range of issues the City Council addresses. She hopes to use her energy and experience as a thoughtful leader, manager, strategic thinker, and analytically driven problem solver to help make Cambridge fulfill its promise as an innovative city and hub of best practices.

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