CHELSEA -- Harry Spence found another crisis just in time.

The smooth, Harvard-educated lawyer, who was credited with saving the Boston Housing Authority in the early 1980s, had tried being a developer and a teacher. Neither job fit.

"In the beginning of this year I made the decision I needed to make, which was I love doing public work," Spence said recently. "I like in particular public institutions that are in crisis, and that's the work that immensely satisfies me."

F...