On January 3, 2007, Michael Fedele was sworn-in as the 107th Lieutenant Governor of the state of Connecticut.
Born in Minturno, Italy, on March 30, 1955, Mr. Fedele has been a Stamford resident since immigrating to Connecticut as a child with his parents in 1958. He grew up in Stamford and has spent most of his years living and working in Fairfield County.
Mr. Fedele is the founder and Chairman of Stamford, Connecticut-based Pinnacle Group, which delivers information technology solutions and services through a network of offices located in the United States. He was instrumental in establishing the company’s presence in the information technology market and has received numerous awards for work The Pinnacle Group has done in the field of information technology.
Mr. Fedele began his public service in 1983, when he was elected to the first of two terms on Stamford’s Board of Representatives. In 1992, Mr. Fedele was elected to the Connecticut General Assembly to represent the 147th House District of Stamford and New Canaan, where he served until 2002. As State Representative, Mr. Fedele held a number of leadership posts, including Ranking Member of the Legislature’s Insurance and Real Estate Committee and Assistant House Minority Leader. He also served on the Legislature’s Banks, Transportation and Workforce Development Committees.
During his successful legislative career, Mr. Fedele supported numerous business-friendly bills such as legislation to enhance the role of Connecticut’s community-technical colleges in job training, phase-out the succession tax, build the state’s network of economic clusters and establish new enterprise zones in communities affected by defense industry cutbacks.
In addition, as a leader on the legislative committee with oversight of the state’s insurance industry, Mr. Fedele played key roles in passing laws that banned drive-through deliveries, required insurance coverage for mastectomies and prostate cancer and helped shape the landmark Managed Care Reform Bill of 1997.
Mr. Fedele’s work in the Legislature has earned him various accolades. The Connecticut Association of Life Underwriters gave Mr. Fedele its Legislator of the Year Award. The Connecticut Legal Immigrant and Refugee Coalition honored Mr. Fedele for his outstanding public service. In 2002, he received an award from the Italian government for his work on behalf of Italians living abroad.
Locally, Mr. Fedele is widely regarded for his work in Stamford. He is a former member of the Board of Directors of The Stamford Health Systems, the Yerwood Center, the Stamford Education Foundation and CTE, which is a community action agency that addresses the basic causes of poverty in the Stamford, Darien and Greenwich communities.
Since becoming Lieutenant Governor, some of the many projects and responsibilities Mr. Fedele has taken on include taking the lead on economic development issues in numerous business sectors—last year he flew on the inaugural flight from Hartford to Amsterdam then spent three days visiting 19 European companies--in The Netherlands, Germany and Italy. More recently Lieutenant Governor Fedele traveled to China with National Lieutenant Governors Association on a humanitarian and trade mission.
Back here he produces a monthly cable show promoting various state agencies and programs that highlight positives in the State of Connecticut and meets on a regular basis with constituents and business owners. He is also close to fulfilling his election promise of visiting all 169 towns during his four year tenure.
Lieutenant Governor Fedele has also become a regularly invited guest on Fox Business Channel's "Bulls and Bears Happy Hour" with hosts Rebecca Diamond and Cody Williard. They enjoy his perspective on business, finance, Wall Street and politics both as Lieutenant Governor and as a successful business owner. The show airs Monday through Friday from 5-6 p.m. and is shot at the Waldorf Astoria's Bull and Bear Bar on Park Avenue in New York City.
Lieutenant Governor Fedele was recently invited to be a guest lecturer at Harvard where he spoke to a political science class. The class was entitled The Road to the White House and examined the role of presidential campaigns and elections in American politics. He shared personal stories of his experiences in politics--both from the campaigning and governing perspective--and discussed the importance of voter education and action.
He has also been active and supportive of our servicemen and women: welcoming National Guard Units back to Connecticut with Governor Rell or sending them off with prayers and wishes for safe keeping, participating in Old Saybrook's celebration of Wreaths Across America and supporting American Warrior's Connecticut Honor Flight.
Wreaths Across America has become a national movement: the idea of Morrill and Karen Worcester, owners of Worcester Wreath Company who, several weeks before Christmas, load up tractor trailers (donated and driven by volunteers) with thousands of their wreaths (10,000 this year alone) and drive them from Maine to Arlington, Virginia to be laid at every headstone in Arlington National Cemetary. For two years now, Lieutenant Governor Fedele has participated in the festivities honoring the Worcesters, the volunteers and the servicemen who gave their lives for our country.
American Warrior's Connecticut Honor Flight is a trip organized by Air National Guardsman Christopher Coutu that brings World War II Veterans to Washington, D.C. free of charge to see the memorial built in their honor. Christopher first brought his idea to Lieutenant Governor Fedele several years ago: one press conference, two trips and numerous events later, with Lieutenant Governor Fedele's continued support, Connecticut Honor Flight is going strong with a third trip on the calendar and a fourth and fifth trip in the works.
Governor Rell has appointed Lieutenant Governor Fedele to the following task forces:
Connecticut HealthFirst Authority
Connecticut Judicial Information System as Co-Chair of the IT task force
Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) Initiative
Connecticut Employment and Training Commission
A native of Minturno, Italy, he attended Stamford public schools, graduating from WesthillHigh School. He attended FairfieldUniversity as well as NorwalkStateTechnicalCollege.
Mr. Fedele has lived in Stamford for 50 years with his wife Carol of 32 years. They have three children: Michael, Briana and Alesandra.
