Crash course

Friends and foes agree on this much about Stephen P. Tocco : The man can make trouble. But he knows how to make nice.

After sparring and nearly reaching the point of no return with a challenger, the chairman of the state Board of Higher Education is known to flash his impish smile, let loose his low-key humor, and deflate explosive situations of his own making.

``I was livid," said Representative Kevin Murphy , House chairman of the Joint Committee on Higher Education, who said Tocco blindsided him last fall by publicly rolling out a financial aid proposal without consulting him. ``But he said he wanted a heart-to-heart. When our meeting was over, I said, `This is a guy I can work with.' "

Now, as Tocco, 59, seeks to win the chairmanship of the University of Massachusetts Board of Trustees, the question is whether his aggressive style would propel UMass-Amherst into a top-flight flagship or bog down the board in one-up manship and recriminations.

Tocco vies for the spot amid controversy. He says he has the votes to unseat Karl White , the chair man , at a special meeting set for Thursday , but others say his election -- pushed by Governor Mitt Romney -- is not a fait accompli.

Tocco, whose style has made him a go-to man in successive Republican administrations, says he must act as a consensus builder to be successful among the 19 voting member s on the UMass board. But during an interview in his 41st-floor office in downtown Boston, Tocco said he is prepared to do battle to fulfill Romney's mandate to elevate the profile of UMass-Amherst by improving its campus and its national rankings.

``UMass-Amherst becomes the brand of the public system," Tocco said.

Critics, higher education officials who would talk only off the record about their concerns, say Tocco's plan could put the five campuses, which now act like miniempires, on a collision course.

While some say that Tocco owes his ascension to the UMass board to his close political ties to Romney, others contend that Tocco has become well-versed in higher education policy in the seven years he has headed the state Board of Higher Education.

State officials and educators credit him for pushing through key initiatives, including improving state and community college graduation rates. The initiative initially met with resistance, but college officials say Tocco was dogged and eventually swayed college leaders. State college graduation rates in the past three years have gone from 44 percent to 49 percent.

``There has been tension between Tocco and the president of the institutions," said Dana Mohler-Faria , president of Bridgewater State College. ``But it was the sort of tension that caused the system to move forward."

Robert Antonucci , president of Fitchburg State College, put it this way: ``Steve is Steve. He's upfront, he's honest. Sometimes he may step on toes, but to get the system moving, you can't be a fly on the wall."

Tocco says the clash over graduation rates was necessary.

``The college presidents said I was supposed to be their advocate," he said. ``I said, `I can't be an advocate if I don't believe in the product.' "

Tocco grew up in Malden and later Reading, the son of a milk delivery man and stay-at-home mother. The oldest of five children, Tocco was an avid athlete at Reading High School and carried himself with an intense demeanor, his siblings recall.

``God love him," said Mary Cookson, his sister. ``He was never afraid to take the bull by the horns."

Tocco earned a bachelor of science in pharmacy and chemistry from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy in 1969, although Tocco says he never intended to make a career in pharmacy. He developed an interest in public policy in 1976 when he campaigned for his childhood friend, Edward J. Markey , as he sought his first term in Congress . Tocco soon after began running Markey's district office.

``Steve was a natural leader," Markey said. ``He could take any issue and work with people to try to reach consensus."

In 1980, Tocco left politics to head Associated Builders and Contractors, a trade association. Eleven years later, he returned to politics as a senior aide to Governor William F. Weld, who, a year later, named Tocco secretary of economic affairs. In 1993, Weld tapped him to head the Massachusetts Port Authority, where he stayed for four years, and clashed with then-Senate President William M. Bulger over how a sports and convention center would be paid for and designed.

In 1997, he joined an international trade unit of the law firm Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo, and two years later, became head of the firm's lobbying arm, ML Strategies, after its merger with the trade unit, the same year he was tapped to head the state Board of Higher Education

To critics, Tocco's dual role, as higher education czar and head of a lobbying firm of a law firm that touts higher education as a specialty, is a collision of interests.

``A person in that position has to be able to stand up and advocate for the wishes of the university against the wishes of the governor and the Legislature, and I don't know if you can do that if you are in the position that Steve Tocco is in as president of ML Strategies," said James Karam, the UMass Board of Trustees chairman who was ousted by Romney this month.

UMass trustees oversee a budget of $2.1 billion.

Tocco says he has sought to avoid conflicts of interest and has recused himself from Board of Higher Education votes that awarded his law firm work as legal counsel to UMass as it secured financing for construction. Tocco does not register as a lobbyist because he says he runs ML Strategies, but does not lobby on its clients' behalf. He said ML Strategies, which has five registered lobbyists, does not represent any institutions of higher education. State records show the firm represented Boston University in 2004, but Tocco says it no longer does. Tocco declined to provide a client list.

``He doesn't have a self-interested agenda," said Robert O'Leary of the Cape and Islands, who is the Senate chair of the Joint Committee on Higher Education . ``He really is an advocate for the system."

Tocco still lives in Reading with his wife, Cynthia Bouthot Tocco , who works for the British Consulate, and has three grown children. In his spare time, he said, he plays golf in Reading. But he says that time is limited: There is always background reading.

Tocco says he's gearing up for clashes anew if he wins control of the board.

``Disagreement is healthy," he said.

``If everyone agrees, I worry that I missed something."

Sarah Schweitzer can be reached at schweitzer@globe.com.