Our President
Matt Bach is president of the 117,000-member Massachusetts Teachers Association. A 25-year educator in Andover, Bach taught history at Andover High School and served as president of the Andover Education Association prior to his election as MTA president.
He is a longtime activist for powerful unions and dignity for all educators, seeing the work of a unionist as intrinsically connected to classroom work. Bach was elected president in May 2026. Prior to that, in addition to serving as president of his local, he was a member of the MTA Executive Committee and Board of Directors.
He is a co-founder of a regional bargaining council, the Merrimack Valley Bargaining Council, which seeks to expand stronger contract standards regionally, across locals.
“Public education is the greatest invention of humanity and the foundation for democracy and progress on economic, racial and gender equality,” Bach said. “Yet educators know that powerful political and economic forces relentlessly seek to squeeze our craft with austerity and commodify our labor, with corporate ed tech and artificial intelligence products further consuming our already-inadequate budgets. The only force capable of defending public education is not a friendly administrator or a better-than-average member of the political class – it is our union.”
Bach was elected as the Andover Education Association president in 2019.
As president in Andover, Bach led the 800-member union on a three-day strike in 2023 that led to impressive gains for members, including 12 weeks of paid parental leave, a living wage for Education Support Professionals, additional planning time for elementary school educators and more recess for students.
The starting salary for Instructional Assistants in Andover rose to $39,142 over the four-year contract, a 34 percent increase. Top pay increased by almost $10,000, to $50,103. Teacher pay increased by 15.5 percent over the contract.
Bach grew up in Buffalo, N.Y., the son of a father who ran a small towing business and a mother who was a registered nurse. He earned degrees in history and the history of art and architecture from St. Bonaventure University and Harvard University and began his teaching career in 2001.
As MTA president, he is committed to advancing the gains of the MTA over the past decade, including defeating charter school expansion and advocating for a just school funding system and a fairer tax system.
“I love teaching and the classroom is one of the most dynamic worksites in our society, but it needs protection,” Bach said. “I have been very gratified to see former students become educators, and even more gratified seeing them on the picket lines as union members defending their craft.”
Our Vice President
Deb Gesualdo is the vice president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association and a longtime advocate for labor and social justice.
Elected as vice president in May 2026, Gesualdo previously was president of the Malden Education Association, a Massachusetts director for the National Education Association and a member of the MTA Board of Directors. She also has served on the executive committee of the NEA’s National Council of Urban Education Associations.
Prior to her election as Malden president, Gesualdo was a longtime, K-8 music teacher. She started teaching in 2004.
Once she became the Malden local president in 2017, she focused on organizing members and opening bargaining to members and the community. As local president, Gesualdo led her union through a one-day strike in 2022. This action resulted in gains for educators, in particular classroom aides, and a commitment to housing security by the district’s administration. Under her leadership, Education Support Professionals in Malden had salary increases of 37 percent, over an initial three-year contract, and 60 percent over six years. The Malden contracts also instituted paid parental leave and expanded sick leave for members.
Collective action and solidarity among members led to these gains, Gesualdo said.
“A union does not belong to a handful of leaders,” Gesualdo said. “A union must belong to its members.”
Originally from southern California, Gesualdo has lived in Massachusetts for most of her life. She holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree from Gordon College.
She is committed as MTA’s vice president to keeping members informed and involved, improving organizing and strengthening collaboration among locals.
“Our power comes from working people acting through deep democracy, building unity and using our collective strength,” Gesualdo said.
