Resume

James R. Miron

  • Experienced attorney and management executive with labor and HR background
  • Proven change agent and leader
  • Strong analytical skills and exception problem solving ability
  • Persuasive verbal and written communication
  • Goal oriented with entrepreneurial spirit

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

TOWN OF STRATFORD, CONNECTICUT                                           December 2005 – December 2009
Mayor – Executive Management

  • Elected first ever Mayor of Stratford, Connecticut
  • Change agent responsible for ushering in new form of government to entrenched institution with dominant union presence
  • Senior executive responsible for all municipal operations of Connecticut’s 17th largest municipality with a population of 50,000 citizens, 2,000 businesses and infrastructure that included an airport and railroad station
  • Created $177 million annual budget; responsible for direct control of $88 million operating budget
  • Served as primary policy maker, bargaining agent and personnel director for municipality with six labor unions and exempt employees (approximately 500 employees)
  • Successfully negotiated pro-management and pro-taxpayer collective bargaining agreements with four bargaining units whose contracts had expired, including zero percent increases in each contract
  • Led efforts for cost containment in employee benefits through aggressive procurement practices and negotiations with bargaining units
  • Recruited, hired and supervised management team including nine “cabinet” level department heads
  • Sponsored and drove national award winning town wide community conversation on race and employee diversity program
  • Created employee health initiative and partnered with community to implement it
  • Implemented overhaul and update of Administrative and Employee Policy Manual to ensure compliance with federal and state law and other policies

LAW OFFICES OF JAMES R. MIRON, LLC                                        September 1994 – December 2005
Attorney-at-Law and Managing Member - Stratford, Connecticut

  • Served as legal counsel and advocated for individuals and business clients
  • Retained by multiple municipalities to provide legal services
  • Appointed Assistant Town Attorney for Town of Stratford from 1995-1997; handling a variety of legal matters including construction contracts; labor relations policy drafting; workers’ compensation defense; represented Pension Board and Building Needs Committees
  • Civil caseload included contract negotiations; worker’s compensation; negligence; premises liability; medical malpractice; construction defects and product liability cases
  • Criminal defense caseload ranged from misdemeanor to serious felony cases
  • Served as lead counsel on 15 civil and criminal jury trials to verdict
  • Advocated pretrial dispositions for civil and criminal clients
  • Contracted by State of Connecticut to provide Special Public Defender services to low income and indigent clients for misdemeanor and felony charges
  • Created annual double digit revenue growth for eleven consecutive years
  • Managed all business aspects of the practice, supervised office consisting of one full time attorney, two support staff and two affiliated of counsel attorneys

MILITARY SERVICE

UNITED STATES ARMY                                                                        August 1983 – June 1986
Texas, Georgia, North Carolina and Republic of Korea

  • Paratrooper and Vulcan Gunner – 82nd Airborne Division, Ft. Bragg, N.C.
  • Vulcan Gunner – 2nd Infantry Division, Republic of Korea
  • Achieved rank of Sergeant at age 20
  • Awarded two Army Commendation Medals; Army Achievement Medal; Good Conduct Medal; Overseas Service Ribbon; Army Service Ribbon; Parachutists Badge; Expert Rifle Badge
  • 82nd Airborne Division Distinguished Trooper Award; 82nd Airborne Division Trooper of the Month Award; 82nd Airborne Division Trooper of the Quarter Award; Runner up 82nd Airborne Division Trooper of the Year Award
  • 2nd Infantry Division Non-Commissioned Officer of the Month Award; 2nd Infantry Division Non-Commissioned officer of the Quarter Award
  • Honorably discharged

EDUCATION

WESTERN NEW ENGLAND COLLEGE SCHOOL OF LAW
Springfield, Massachusetts
Degree: Juris Doctor, February 1994

  • Editorial Board – Lex Brevis, law school newspaper
  • Vice Justice – Phi Alpha Delta

CENTRAL CONNECTICUT STATE UNIVERSITY
New Britain, Connecticut
Degree: Bachelor of Arts Political Science, August 1990

  • Awarded University Presidential Citation
  • Inducted into Pi Sigma Alpha – National Honor Society for Political Science
  • First Recipient of Connecticut Institute for European and American Affairs Professor Rothenbiller Scholarship to study abroad  for semester in Germany and Europe

BAR ADMISSIONS

  • Connecticut State Courts
  • District of Columbia Court of Appeals
  • Florida State Courts
  • United States Court of International Trade
  • United States District Court, Connecticut

ORGANIZATIONS

  • Board of Directors – Stratford Mayor’s Charitable Foundation, Inc.
  • Past Director – Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority’s (CRRA)
  • Past Member – Greater Bridgeport and Valley Metropolitan Planning Organization
  • Past Member – Conn. Dept. of Emergency Management & Homeland Security Region 1 Emergency Planning
  • Past Member – Steering Committee of Connecticut Coalition for Justice in Education Funding (CCJEF)
  • Past Member – Sikorsky Memorial Airport Advisory Board
  • Past Trustee – Connecticut State University Board of Trustees