Budget director brings straight talk, solutions

Melissa McCaw handles pressure well.

Help Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin chart a plan to keep the capital city out of bankruptcy? Check.

Accept a new role as state budget director? Check.

Get up early and make dinner — and chocolate chip cookies — for her family, in time to leave for work by 6:30 a.m.? Check.

Help Gov.-elect Ned Lamont craft a solution to Connecticut’s long-term fiscal crisis, a problem developed over seven decades? Get back to her on that one.

For McCaw, who brings 17 years of fiscal policy experience to her new post, each challenge is approached with equal parts focus, precision, and a deep appreciation for the services and families behind the budget numbers, according to those who know her well.

“I trusted Melissa implicitly and that trust was wellplaced,” said Walter Harrison , former president of the University of Hartford and McCaw’s boss from mid-2009 through 2016. “Some budget people can be bean-counters. Melissa understood how the university budget was put together, what each particular part of it was, and what was at stake.”

At times McCaw recommended tough spending cuts, but also additions to programs that delivered big returns on investment. “When she had to be, she could be tough, but in a very pleasant way.”

“She has a powerful command of the substance of her craft, but she also has an ease and a quiet confidence that makes her both effective and a pleasure to work with,” said Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin, who asked McCaw to join the city when he took office — three years ago — as it flirted with insolvency.

“I knew that Melissa would never hesitate to tell me what was going wrong as well as what was going right,” he said. “But she’s the kind of leader and manager who doesn’t just say ‘We’ve got a problem.’ She always brings serious, thoughtful solutions.”

McCaw, 39, was tapped by Lamont earlier this month to join his administration and become the first-ever African-American secretary of the state Office of Policy and Management.

The OPM secretary typically is referred to as the state’s budget director. But the office also takes the lead role in policy, planning and labor relations for the executive branch.

It demands a rare degree of focus and versatility, qualities McCaw’s fans say the new director has to spare.

“She is, without a doubt, the hardest-working person I’ve met in my life,” said former Hartford City Councilor Julio Concepcion, who will join the state House of Representatives in January. “The budget in the city is not the easiest to understand and she always knew exactly what she was talking about. She did her homework.”

McCaw has had a strong hand in state and Hartfordarea finances for nearly two decades.

A native of Norwalk, McCaw’s first job out of college was in 2001 as an OPM budget specialist under then-Secretary Marc S. Ryan.

“I found her to be incredibly bright, dedicated and really professional,” said Ryan, who added that McCaw arguably is better prepared to lead presentday OPM than many of her predecessors would be.

Why does Ryan say this? Because the needs of the job have changed dramatically.

Though the OPM secretary must function both in the fiscal policy and political worlds, the scales are not as balanced as before. And Ryan, a Republican, said McCaw, a Democrat, is particularly well-suited for this role right now.

Connecticut is entering a 10-to-15-year period during which surging retirement benefit costs — stemming from decades of inadequate savings — are projected to place unprecedented pressure on taxes and all areas of spending.

The state needs a budget director who can clearly communicate sobering news, while offering realistic solutions that offer hope down the road.

After the past eight years of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s administration, legislators have heard on many occasions that Connecticut is paying the price now for the fiscal sins of governors and legislatures dating back as far as 1939.

But many say it will be up to Lamont to explain just how severe the challenge of paying that bill will be.

“I’m not sure that the sober news will be welcomed, but they will get the sober news because their constituents that elected them are expecting them to make responsible decisions for the state of Connecticut,” McCaw said, adding that it won’t come without some solution options and some hope.

“You can learn the skills on the job to interact with Democrats and Republicans in the legislature,” Ryan said. “But you really gain trust by being knowledgable and truthful with folks. Melissa would always tell me what she felt. She always knew what you needed to know about any subject matter.”

With a bachelor’s degree in government from Wesleyan and a master’s in public administration from the University of Connecticut, McCaw brought nearly 15 years of experience at OPM, then as the University of Hartford’s budget director, with her when she joined the Bronin administration in January 2016.

“I believe that Gov.-elect Lamont respects the broad work I’ve done in Hartford,” she said. “I think my track record will speak for itself. Time will tell.”

But that doesn’t mean McCaw is all about fiscal planning or delivering sober budgetary news.

“I always looked forward to seeing her,” Harrison said, “She’s just warm and pleasant. A real person.”

“She has a light-hearted side,” Concepcion said. “She is very easy to talk to.”

A native of Norwalk with “strong roots in Middletown,” McCaw, 39, lives in Hartford with her husband, Willis, and their three young children.

With an 11-year-old son, Jordan, and daughters, Grace, 7 and Gabrielle, 4, McCaw said there are other important questions to solve between now and the time she officially begins her new post.

“Who’s going to feed the babies, right?” she quipped. “I’m a very dedicated mom.”

McCaw