Mark Nielsen (attorney)

Mark Nielsen
Chief of Staff to the Governor of Massachusetts
In office
2006–2007
GovernorMitt Romney
Preceded byBeth Myers
Succeeded byJoan Wallace-Benjamin[1][2]
Chief Legal Counsel to the Governor of Massachusetts
In office
2004–2006
GovernorMitt Romney
Preceded byDaniel Winslow[3]
Succeeded byBrian Leske[4]
Member of the Connecticut Senate
from the 24th district
In office
1995–1999
Preceded byJames H. Maloney
Succeeded byDavid Cappiello
Member of the Connecticut House of Representatives
from the 138th district
In office
1993–1995
Preceded byLawrence Anastasia
Succeeded byDavid Cappiello
Personal details
Born (1964-08-25) August 25, 1964 (age 60)[5]
Hartford, Connecticut[6]
Political partyDemocratic (2023–present)[7]
Other political
affiliations		Republican (1982-2023)
EducationHarvard College (AB)[8]
Harvard Law School (JD)

Mark D. Nielsen (born 1964) is an American business executive, former elected official, and attorney.

Nielsen's current position is chief legal and regulatory officer of Frontier Communications Parent, Inc. (NASDAQ: FYBR), at the company's offices in Norwalk, Connecticut. Frontier is America's fourth largest landline telecom company providing data and voice services in 25 states.

Nielsen started his legal career in 1990 as an associate lawyer at the Hartford law firm of Murtha, Cullina, Richter & Pinney, concentrating on federal and state litigation.

Nielsen's public roles have included state representative in Connecticut (1992-1994), state senator in Connecticut (1994-1998), and staff member to Mitt Romney when Romney was Governor of Massachusetts. Nielsen served as Romney's chief legal counsel from 2004 to 2006, and his chief of staff from 2006 to 2007, succeeding Beth Myers in that position.[9]

In his memoir, In My Time, Vice President Dick Cheney acknowledges that he was initially angered by Nielsen’s favorable comments about Cheney's opponent in the 2000 election, Senator Joe Lieberman, but that, upon reflection, he couldn’t disagree with what Nielsen had said about Lieberman.[10]

Nielsen is an honors graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, and currently serves as a member of the Adjunct Faculty at Columbia Law School.[11] His brother Steven Nielsen is CEO of Dycom Industries, Inc. (NYSE: DY)[12] and his wife Jane Nielsen is COO of Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE: RL).[13]

  1. ^ "28 Nov 2006, 2 - North Adams Transcript at". Newspapers.com. 2006-11-28. Retrieved 2022-06-05.
  2. ^ "8 Dec 2006, 38 - The Boston Globe at". Newspapers.com. 2006-12-08. Retrieved 2022-06-05.
  3. ^ "Archived copy". www.mass.gov. Archived from the original on 19 September 2005. Retrieved 13 January 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. ^ "Romney's chief of staff leaves to run PAC".
  5. ^ "CNN/AllPolitics Election '98". CNN.
  6. ^ "Mark Nielsen".
  7. ^ "Connecticut Voter Registration Portal".
  8. ^ "Mark D. Nielsen - Office of the Governor's Legal Counsel". www.mass.gov. Archived from the original on 23 September 2005. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  9. ^ "Frontier Communications Names Mark D. Nielsen Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary (NYSE:FTR)". Archived from the original on 2017-11-07. Retrieved 2016-11-14.
  10. ^ Cheney, Dick (2012). In My Time: A Personal and Political Memoir (1st ed.). New York, NY: Threshold Editions. p. 275. ISBN 978-1-4391-7619-1.
  11. ^ "Mark Nielsen".
  12. ^ "Steven E Nielsen". Bloomberg News.
  13. ^ "Jane Hamilton Nielsen". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2023-05-26.