The list of Malloy administration and campaign alumni in the political consulting and public affairs business is growing with the launch of Intersect Public Solutions by Brian Durand and Michael Mandell.
Durand left state government on Jan. 9 as chief of staff to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. Mandell, a former executive director of the Connecticut Democratic Party, was a policy advisor to Malloy for three years and his deputy campaign manager in 2014.
“It’s exciting. It’s a big change of pace,” Durand said. “Michael’s been a consultant. I did it at Global for a number of years.”
Durand worked at Global Strategy Group, whose clients included Malloy’s campaigns, for nearly three years, leaving at the end of 2010 to join the Malloy administration in the Office of Policy and Management and six years then in the office of the governor, half as deputy chief of staff and half as chief.
Mandell was a policy adviser to Malloy in the first three years of the administration, then became the deputy manager of the 2014 re-election campaign. He was executive director of the state Democratic Party for three years after the start of Malloy’s second term.
Their old boss, meanwhile, had his own transition this week: He taught his first class as the Rappaport Distinguished Visiting Professor at his alma mater, Boston College Law School.