Mark Nielsen, who spent nearly 12 years as chief legal officer of Frontier Communications in Norwalk, has joined Hartford-based law firm Day Pitney as of counsel following Frontier’s $22 billion sale to Verizon Communications, which closed in January.
Nielsen will be based in Day Pitney’s Stamford office, working in the firm’s Corporate and Business Law Department. He has nearly two decades of experience with in-house legal work at major public companies, including stints at Raytheon and Praxair.
At Frontier, Nielsen shepherded the company through four multibillion-dollar mergers and acquisitions, a $17 billion bankruptcy restructuring, a shareholder activist campaign, three CEO transitions and numerous high-stakes court cases, according to Day Pitney’s announcement.
Frontier, which was headquartered in Norwalk before relocating to Dallas in 2023, was the largest fiber internet provider in the U.S. at the time of the acquisition.
Nielsen’s background also includes work in the public sector. From 2004 to 2007, he served as chief legal counsel and later chief of staff to then-Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, advising on legal aspects of policy decisions, drafting legislation and executive orders, and overseeing daily operations of the state government.
Earlier in his career, he was elected to the Connecticut House of Representatives in 1992, then won two terms in the state Senate representing Greater Danbury.
Nielsen, a Ridgefield resident, holds degrees from Harvard College and Harvard Law School and is a member of the adjunct faculty at Columbia Law School. He is admitted to practice in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York.
