Mark Nielsen (attorney)

Mark Nielsen (born August 25, 1964) is an attorney who has worked in the public and private sectors.

Nielsen's current position is Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of Frontier Communications Corporation (NASDAQ: FTR), at the company's headquarters in Norwalk, Connecticut.^[1] Frontier is America's fourth largest ILEC telephone company providing wireline voice, data and video services in 29 states.

In the 1990s, Nielsen worked as a lawyer at the Hartford law firm of Murtha, Cullina, Richter & Pinney, while simultaneously serving in the Connecticut Legislature.

Nielsen served as Mitt Romney's chief legal counsel, and later Chief of Staff, when Romney was Governor of Massachusetts (2003-2007). One aspect of his work for Gov. Romney that attracted considerable media attention was Nielsen's successful legal effort to oust Matthew Amorello as Chairman of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority for his managerial failures in overseeing the $14B "Big Dig."

Nielsen served as an advisor to Romney’s presidential campaigns in 2008 and 2012. In both campaigns, he took on a variety of sensitive special projects. In their book, Double Down: Game Change 2012, John Heilemann and Mark Halperin discuss Nielsen's role in "vetting" Romney's potential running mates including Gov. Chris Christie, Sen. Marco Rubio, and his eventual choice, Rep. Paul Ryan.

Nielsen is frequently quoted on the topics of M&A and corporate governance.^[2] He is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School. His brother Steven Nielsen is CEO of Dycom Industries, Inc. (NYSE: DY).

References

1. Mary Kenney. "CALLING BACK HOME - Frontier recently acquired operations in Connecticut, where the company has been headquartered for almost 70 years, to serve its physical neighbors for the first time - Modern Counsel". modern-counsel.com. Retrieved 2015-03-31.
2. http://www.metrocorpcounsel.com/articles/33863/hallmarks-successful-deal-frontier%E2%80%99s-recent-acquisition-offers-road-map-ma-planning-a

• http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/1998/states/CT/H/05/mark.nielsen.html
• http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=95565
• http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2011-08-02/politics/35271489_1_romney-campaign-mitt-romney-homeland-security
• http://www.metrocorpcounsel.com/articles/19910/striving-first-class-corporate-compliance-changing-world
• http://www.metrocorpcounsel.com/articles/24426/insider-advice-building-effective-board-processes
• http://modern-counsel.com/frontier/