East Hartford Mayor Michael P. Walsh will be appointed chairman of the State Contracting Standards Board, following the resignation of the current chairman, Gov. Ned Lamont announced Friday.
In a surprise move, Walsh announced in early July that he will not seek re-election as mayor this fall.
Walsh will begin his new role with the State Contracting Standards Board at the end of his term in November, Lamont said.
The current chairman, Lawrence Fox, announced during a board meeting Friday morning that he was planning to step down in September. He has served as chair since 2018
The State Contracting Standards Board consists of 14 members who are appointed by the governor and the leaders of the General Assembly. The group is responsible for providing oversight related to state procurement. Board members are unpaid volunteers.
Walsh is known as a pro-business mayor who has championed several new projects in East Hartford.
“Mayor Mike has been intimately involved in the operations of town and state government for many years, not only through his role as mayor but also as a town finance director and a state strategic initiatives and accountability officer,” Lamont said. “He’s also worked as an accountant for one of our nation’s largest insurance companies and for a local public accounting firm. I trust that he will do well as the board’s chair.”
Walsh, who took office in November 2021, served as the town’s finance director from 1998 to 2019, and then as undersecretary of strategic initiatives and accountability for the Office of Policy and Management within the Lamont administration.
Before working for the town, he served for 11 years as the assistant director of financial reporting at Cigna. He also worked for six years as an accountant at a local public accounting firm.
“In every position I’ve served, my priority is to bring good government, which I define as the delivery of efficient and effective policies, procedures, and practices that demonstrate to the public that their government operates in a transparent manner, instilling confidence along the way,” Walsh said. “Delivering good government in this manner had served me and the agencies I’ve worked for well over the 40 years I’ve been involved, so everyone should expect the same from me in this role on the board.”
