Former Sen. Scott Brown to Discuss Business Climate at ACG Boston’s Growth Conference 2013

Scott Brown, who in 2010 became the first Republican elected to the U.S. Senate to represent the state of Massachusetts since 1972, is scheduled to deliver the keynote address at ACG Boston’s Growth Conference 2013 on May 29. Brown is expected to address such topics as the current climate for business in New England, the challenges facing the business community and what role government should play.

An opponent of the 2.3 percent excise tax on medical devices in the Affordable Care Act, Brown is considered an advocate for medical device makers, which are playing a growing role in New England’s economy. For more on the sector, see “Medical Devices Drive Health Care M&A” in the June issue of Mergers & Acquisitions.

Brown is best known for beating Democrat Martha Coakley, the former Mass. attorney general, in a 2010 special election for the U.S. Senate seat held by the late Ted Kennedy, a Democrat who represented the Bay State for 47 years from 1962 to 2009. Brown later lost the seat in the 2012 general election to Democrat Elizabeth Warren, a former Harvard Law School bankruptcy professor who served as Chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).

“The voters spoke, and I get it,” Brown said at a Worcester Economic Club meeting on May 15. “Living goes on. I'm not going to cry in my beer.”

In March, Brown joined law firm Nixon Peabody LLP as counsel in the firm’s Boston office, where his practice is focusing on business and governmental affairs as they relate to the financial services industry as well as on commercial real estate matters, according to the firm.

Brown is also reportedly considering a move to New Hampshire in order to run for a Senate seat there in 2014.

More than 600 dealmakers are expected to attend ACG Boston’s event, held at the State Room, which overlooks Boston’s harbor from the 33rd floor of the Sixty State Street skyscraper. Local food and craft beer from New England breweries will be featured.

There will also be a silent auction, with proceeds going to The Victim Relief Fund of The One Fund Boston, which will be used to assist victims of the bombs during the Boston Marathon in April.

Mergers & Acquisitions is covering the event, including conducting video interviews with Brown and other participants. Tune into our videos later in the week at themiddlemarket.com/video.