JSC: Biographies of Commission Members

MICHAEL P. THOMPSON, ESQ. - CHAIRPERSON

Michael Thompson is a partner with the law firm of Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge, LLP in Stamford. Attorney Thompson advises national and international clients in major insurance and reinsurance matters and has a broad commercial litigation background, particularly in the areas of international contract disputes, commercial fraud, trademark infringement and products liability. Attorney Thompson has appeared before courts and arbitration panels throughout the United States and has assisted in proceedings before various tribunals in the United Kingdom where he practiced for several years. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College (A.B., 1985), St. John's College (M.A., 1988) and the University of Connecticut School of Law (J.D. with honors, 1991), where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Connecticut Journal of International Law. Attorney Thompson is a member of the Connecticut and American Bar Associations and is a member of the Law Society of England and Wales.

Attorney Thompson resides with his family in Redding where he serves on the Zoning Board of Appeals and as Secretary of the Republican Town Committee.

VACANCY- VICE CHAIRPERSON

KATHY BACH

Kathy is a results-oriented, community activist with a background in the private and public sector. Her BFA is from the University of Connecticut, her further business and marketing education from the Xerox Corporate Training Center; together, the tools to creatively solve complex challenges. Highlights of Mrs. Bach’s two years as the Chairperson of the Tolland Town Council are a Code of Ethics Ordinance for all town employees, elected and appointed officials; a Veteran’s Recognition Commission; two improved bond ratings from Moodys and Fitch; multiple interactive community forums to involve the public in the workings of their local government; a successful resolution of a DOT project at the I-84/Exit 68/Route 195 junction (to UCONN); and the initiation of a Capitol Region Council of Governments sponsored vehicular, bike and pedestrian traffic management project along Route 195, a main artery through town. This study encompasses the sensitivities of the historic town green and transitions through aquifers to the commercial district.

Mrs. Bach continues to serve on the CRCOG Route 195 Study committee and is an active member on the Tolland Historical Society Board of Directors. Kathy is the curator of the Old Tolland County Jail Museum, through which supplemental programs to the K-12 school curriculum are developed and provided, both in the classroom and in the local museums. She also continues as UCONN Pi Beta Phi House Corporation President, a member of the Republican Town Committee and member of the Congregational Church Choir. Kathy is a Justice of the Peace.

Some past accomplishments include: Chairperson of Tolland Town Council, Board of Education and Tolland Senior Center Building Committee; Member of the Office of Policy & Management, Procurement of Private Services Committee and Secretary of the State Citizenship Task Force; Recipient of Tolland Citizen of the Year, Rockville Chamber of Commerce Education Award, Channel 3, Jaycee & Jaycee Women’s Connecticut Outstanding Citizen Award, Who’s Who, Various Civic, Scouting and Political awards.

Kathy and her husband are the sixth generation to live on the family farm at Leonard’s Corner in Tolland. It is here where they built his veterinary business in 1977, raised their two children, and are currently preserving the endangered Dutch Belted breed of cattle.

SALLY BOWMAN

Sally Bowman brings close to twenty years’ worth of sales and management experience to her newly-appointed role as a member of the Judicial Selection Commission. Having spent twelve years working in retail sales and management for her family-owned and operated hardware store, she embarked on a career in real estate five years ago with Calcagni Associates Real Estate in Cheshire. After four years in real estate sales, she was chosen to become the Assistant Sales Manager of the Company’s Cheshire office, and, later that year, assumed the Sales Manager’s position in their North Haven office. After six months in North Haven, Ms. Bowman is back in her hometown as Bowman Real Estate in Cheshire.

A 1990 graduate of Adelphi University in Garden City, New York, Ms. Bowman earned her B.A. in Business Management. She has served on numerous boards and committees in her community, which include Co-Founder of the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life of Cheshire, The Cheshire Crusade Against Cancer, Allocation Volunteer for the United Way of Greater Waterbury, Board Member of the Cheshire Historical Society, and member of the Cheshire Kiwanis Club. Ms. Bowman is a member of the National Association of Realtors, The Connecticut Association of Realtors and the Greater New Haven Board of Realtors.

TIMOTHY BRIGNOLE, ESQ.

Timothy Brignole is a principle in the law firm of Brignole, Bush and Lewis, LLP. The law firm of Brignole, Bush and Lewis, LLP is a litigation law firm, which handles predominately personal injury claims, contract litigation, civil rights claims, legal malpractice defense, real estate boundary line disputes, and rights of ownership and access claims. Mr. Brignole has been a practicing trial lawyer in the State of Connecticut since 1982, after graduating from Suffolk University Law School. He predominately practices trial advocacy in Hartford County; however, has handled cases in every Superior Court in the State of Connecticut, as well as the Federal District Courts of Connecticut, and Federal Court of Appeals in the Second District. Mr. Brignole has argued landmark cases before the Connecticut State Supreme Court and Connecticut Court of Appeals. He is an active member of the Connecticut Trial Lawyers Association and a former member of the Board of Directors, and is currently a nationally certified Civil Trial Advocate under the National Board of Trial Advocacy, an American Bar Association accredited organization.

Attorney Brignole is involved in serving the State of Connecticut as a former Commissioner of the Department of Transportation - Bradley Airport Commission, and was the co-chair of Governor William O’Neil’s Commission on the Connecticut State Duck Stamp, which was a Commission that evaluated the benefits and detriments to the State of Connecticut in adopting a Duck Stamp in this State. Mr. Brignole has acted as an Attorney Trial Referee in the Connecticut State Courts since 1999. Locally, Mr. Brignole is a founder for the Granby Football Team, a private booster club, which established JV and Varsity football in the Town of Granby, and, for the past eight (8) years, has been a soccer coach for a local girls travel soccer team in the Town of East Granby, and a past Director of the in-town soccer program for the Town of East Granby.

WILLIAM BRIMMER

Bill Brimmer is the Managing Vice President of Right Management for their Connecticut and Westchester markets in the Northeast Region. He brings with him extensive experience as a client relations executive, experienced in initiating business strategies with Fortune 1000 companies and has helped individuals and organizations in the areas of counseling, executive coaching, managing change, reorganization, performance assessment and management, and defining and implementing team development strategies. Mr. Brimmer has a career background in consumer packaged goods and pharmaceutical industries. At Carter-Wallace, he held a variety of responsible field sales management and headquarters staff roles, as well as many years with two global human resource consulting companies.

Civic activities and charitable organizations consume his time in Newtown, CT. He is an active member in the Society for Human Resource Management and belongs to several chapters of this organization and serves on the State of Connecticut Northwestern Workforce Board of Directors.

WILLIAM DYSON

State Representative Bill Dyson served the citizens of the 94^th Assembly District in New Haven in the House of Representatives from 1976 until 2009. His past legislative positions include Chair of the Appropriations Committee, membership on the Human Services Committee, Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee, Commerce Committee, Judiciary Committee and the Planning and Development Committee. He served two terms as Assistant Majority Leader and one term each as Assistant Minority Leader and Chair of the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus. He has held the position of Vice Chair of the International Affairs Committee of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators.

Representative Dyson served as Chair of the Legislative Management’s Day Care for Capitol Employees Subcommittee and was instrumental in the founding of the Capitol Child Development Center in 1988. He is the Chair of the Connecticut Commission on National and Community Service and is on the Board of Directors for numerous non-profit organizations including Drugs Don’t Work! and the New Haven LEAP.

He received a Sixth-Year Degree in Administration & Supervision and an MS in Urban Studies from Southern Connecticut State University. He received a BA in Social Studies from Morris College in Sumter, South Carolina. He recently retired from the New Haven Public Schools System.

DEBORAH HUTTON, ESQ.

Deborah Hutton serves as Chief Legal Counsel to the House Republican Office in the Connecticut House of Representatives, where she supervises the research and legal staff. She provides legal advice, interprets state statutes, performs research on policy issues, and writes legislative proposals for House Republican Leadership. She previously served as Vice President of Government Affairs, Connecticut for Cablevision Systems Corporation based in Bethpage, New York. She was formerly a member of the public affairs practice group at the law offices of Updike, Kelly and Spellacy, P.C. in Hartford from 2001-2006 representing a variety of clients before the Connecticut legislature and its state agencies. She began her career in government in 1993 in the House Republican Office serving in different capacities on staff. She is formerly the co-chair/legislative liaison to the young lawyers section of the Connecticut Bar Association and served as a member of the advisory board for Best Buddies Connecticut. She received her B.A. and J.D. from the University of Connecticut.

LAURA JORDAN, ESQ.

Laura Jordan received her B.A. and J.D. from the University of Connecticut. Attorney Jordan serves as counsel to the Majority Leader of the Connecticut House of Representatives, advises Democratic Leadership on legislative proposals before the House of Representatives, provides parliamentary procedural advice during sessions, as well as participates in negotiation and drafting of high-profile legislation. In 2004, Attorney Jordan served as the Democratic Counsel for the bipartisan Impeachment Committee and advised Speaker of the House Moira K. Lyons on all aspects relating to the impeachment of then-Governor John Rowland. Attorney Jordan provides campaign finance, ethics, Freedom of Information Act, and general legal advice to the 107-member Democratic Caucus and serves as a campaign adviser and fundraiser. Attorney Jordan formerly served as in-house counsel to the Department of Social Services and as an attorney for a nonpartisan research office at the General Assembly.

MICHAEL P. KOSKOFF, ESQ.

Michael Koskoff is a principal in the Bridgeport and New Haven law firm, Koskoff Koskoff & Bieder. In addition to being a well known trial lawyer in Connecticut for more than forty years, Attorney Koskoff has a national reputation as both a trial lawyer and educator in the field of trial law. He has lectured to lawyers groups in more than 29 states and has served on the faculty of the National Board of Trial Advocates, the teaching arm of the American Association for Justice (formerly the Association of Trial Lawyers of America). He has also served as Chair of the Continuing Legal Education committee of the Connecticut Trial Lawyers Association for many years.

Attorney Koskoff is a life-long Connecticut resident and a graduate of the University of Connecticut School of Law. He has been a member of the Connecticut Bar since 1966 and has handled cases since then in every Superior Court in the state, as well as the federal courts of Connecticut. He has also handled cases in New York, Ohio and South Dakota. In addition, he has argued numerous appeals in the Supreme Court of Connecticut and the 2^nd Circuit Court of Appeals.

Connecticut Magazine and Connecticut Super-Lawyers have featured Attorney Koskoff as one of Connecticut’s top trial attorneys and he has been featured on both covers. Attorney Koskoff has consistently been listed in The Best Lawyers in America and has been a frequent guest commentator on Court TV. He has been admitted to membership in legal organizations both within and outside of Connecticut. Attorney Koskoff has been an active member of the Connecticut Trial Lawyers Association, as well as a member of the American College of Trial Lawyer and has held the office of President of the Connecticut chapter of The American Board of Trial Advocates. Attorney Koskoff is Connecticut's only member of The Inner Circle of Advocates, an organization limited to 100 top trial lawyers in the nation. He is one of three Connecticut lawyers to be invited to membership in the prestigious International Society of Barristers. Attorney Koskoff is featured in Damages, a nationally acclaimed book by Barry Werth. The book focuses on a malpractice case handled by Michael and his firm and has been used as a text at several law schools including University of Connecticut. In addition to malpractice cases Michael handles cases involving product liability and serious personal injury actions. He also has handles major civil rights and class action cases.

Attorney Koskoff actively supports community activities and was awarded the Dedicated Service Award of the National Association of Black Patrolmen, the Waverly Jones Freedom Award of the Greater Bridgeport NAACP, and the Dedicated Service Award of the Afro-American Educators Association. He is responsible for sponsoring a lecture series at the Quinnipiac College School of Law and donating a trial practice courtroom to the University of Connecticut School of Law.

KATHLEEN P. O'CONNOR, ESQ.

Kathleen P. O'Connor is an attorney in the law firm of McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP. Attorney O'Connor assists clients in developing and implementing strategies to achieve their public policy objectives, including drafting and monitoring legislation. She appears before executive and agency levels of government to negotiate settlements, contracts and mediated outcomes for many commercial clients and projects and represents both the New York Public Library and the Lincoln Center on matters ranging from state procurements to historical preservation. Attorney O'Connor is a graduate of Georgetown University (B.A.), University College of London (M.S., Research Psychology), and Fordham University School of Law (J.D.). Her Bar Admissions include Connecticut, New York, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Attorney O'Connor's government experience includes serving as Deputy Legal Counsel to Governor John G. Rowland and Assistant to the Counsel for Governor George E. Pataki, as well as Governor Rell's representative on the Connecticut Energy Advisory Board and Chairperson of the Judicial Selection Commission. She has also served as a law clerk to the Honorable Thomas J. Meskill of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1998 to 1999, as well as appeared for clients and argued in the Southern District of New York.

Attorney O'Connor is also a Trustee at the Wadsworth Atheneum, which is the nation's oldest art museum.

ROBERT J. ROSS

Chief Robert J. “Rob” Ross (Ret.) is the Director of the Division of Fire, Emergency and Building Services for the Connecticut Department of Public Safety. Prior to joining the staff of DPS, Rob was the Fire Chief/CEO for the South Fire District in Middletown from December 2005 to November 2007. Rob was the Connecticut State Coordinator for the TOPOFF 3 (T-3) counter terrorism full-scale exercise in 2004/05. Working for the University of Connecticut’s Homeland Security Education Center, Rob was responsible for coordinating the state exercise play and interaction with all local, state, federal, international, and private sector agencies involved in the T-3 exercise. During the exercise in April of 2005, he served as the exercise PIO, as well as the lead briefer for all VIP’s attending the Connecticut T-3 venue.

Rob began his public safety career with the City of Middletown Fire Department. Over his 22 years with the Department, he rose through the ranks serving his last five years as the Fire Chief and CEO, retiring from that Department in June of 2004.

Rob received his education and training in fire response and emergency management from the Connecticut Fire Academy, the National Fire Academy, Waterbury State Technical College and Oklahoma State University. He currently serves on the Board of the Wadsworth Authority, the Board of the Friends of the Wadsworth, is Director for the New England Association of Fire Chiefs in Connecticut and a member the Validation Committee for the IFSTA Fire and Life Safety Manual. Rob is a member of Middlesex County Fire Chiefs, Connecticut Fire Chiefs Association, New England Fire Chiefs, the International Association of Fire Chiefs and National Fire Protection Association.