We are personally really, really sad to lose our friend Dean Pagani to Washington, D.C. We just hope it’s temporary. Few know the Connecticut media and political scene as well as Dean, and more importantly he’s just a great guy. Dean’s wife Kate Kiernan (also a terrific person) has started a new job as Senior Counsel with the American Council of Life Insurers. Dean will probably head down by the end of the year.
Dean is currently a Senior Vice President for public relations and public affairs at Cashman + Katz but started his career (along with many other luminaries) at WPOP radio. He was there for six years, first as morning anchor but becoming news director very quickly. He eventually took a job with the CT Senate Republicans as a press aide to the memorable Dell Eads among others. Governor John Rowland knew Dean was a talent and hired him to be his Communications Director. Not many make the leap from Press Secretary to Chief of Staff, but Dean stayed on and served in the top administrative job for two years –rough ones, at that. Along the way he took two leaves of absence for re-election campaigns in ’98 and ’02.
Unfortunately we also lose Dean’s blog Media Attache and his weekly column in the Hartford Business Journal.
One of Dean’s great strength is that he’s a man of few words, so as those who have worked with him know, he takes care with what he says and writes and therefore his communications are all the more meaningful. He also happens to be one of the best “roasters” in the state (some of you will remember the old AP Broadcast dinners) but we hope he will return if his servies are called upon.
It will be great to hear about his next phase in D.C. but we hope this Manchester native will come back before too long. Best wishes to both Dean and Kate.
