A second person has announced a primary challenge to Democratic Massachusetts U.S. Sen. Edward Markey.

Business executive Steve Pemberton, whose memoir about his time as a foster child was turned into a movie, started his campaign Tuesday with a web video and events scheduled for New Bedford, Boston and Worcester.

The 52-year-old Framingham resident in a statement said he is running because "we need leaders who understand the human toll of failed policies and the cost of willful indifference to our families."

Shannon Liss-Riordan, a workers' rights lawyer, announced in May she would challenge Markey.

Pemberton is a New Bedford native and Boston College graduate. A former college admissions counselor, he has been an executive at pharmacy company Walgreens and is currently chief human resource officer at technology company, Workhuman.