Brookfield First Selectman Debate Slated for Oct. 15

Brookfield First Selectman candidates will face off on Thursday, October 15 at 7 p.m.

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The debate will be moderated by Scott Benjamin and held at Whisconier Middle School, 17 W. Whisconier Rd, Brookfield, Connecticut 06804.

Candidate Profiles:

• Bill Tinsley for First Selectman
• Information provided by the Brookfield Republican Town Committee

Bill is a retired business executive. He has held senior executive roles with Duracell, Thomas & Betts, and Chesapeake Corp. He also owned and operated a local small business (2002-2010) with his family, and has worked as a management consultant in the consumer package goods, pharmaceutical, and supply chain services industries.

Bill, 64, was elected First Selectman in November 2013. He was also twice elected to the Brookfield Board of Finance and served as its Chairman for the last two years of his tenure (2003–2011). Additionally, he was a former elected member of the Brookfield Board of Education (1995-1999) and served as its Vice Chairman.

Bill has an MBA degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Business and a BA from the University of the South. He has also had prior volunteer roles as a soccer coach, and fundraising initiatives with the United Way of Northern Fairfield, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation of CT, and the National Minority Supplier Development Council. He continues to be an active volunteer with the Handy Dandy Handy Man Ministry led by Pete Brady.

Bill has been a Brookfield resident since 1987 and his wife Mary is a Brookfield native. They are members of St. Marguerite’s Parish and are the parents of five children—four of whom survive their brother, Richard Bryan Tinsley, who passed away in 2010.

William Jason Tinsley resides in the Atlanta area where he works as a consultant to City and County municipal government boards and commissions, especially in the area of public project management and finance.

Dr. Brian Andrew Tinsley and his wife Jessica live in West Hartford where Brian is the Chief Orthopedic Surgery Resident for UCONN’s residency program. He works at Hartford, St. Francis, and Children’s, and John Dempsey Hospitals. He has undergraduate and medical school degrees from Boston University. Brian has served as a Special Olympics mentor, and worked as a Red Cross Disaster Relief volunteer in Louisiana following Hurricane Katrina.

Staff Sgt. Patrick Ryan Tinsley (U.S. Army) has served tours of duty in Afghanistan, Kuwait, and the Ukraine. He is currently based in Vicenza, Italy were he resides with his wife Andrea. He is a Brookfield High School (2008) graduate where he was named to the all-state ice hockey team. He attended WCSU.

Katherine Alexandra Tinsley also graduated from Brookfield High School (2009), and is a University of Connecticut (2013) alumnus. Kate was a volunteer “Guard Dog” at UCONN and also helped organize fund raising events there for Relay for Life. She anticipates beginning a career in law enforcement. She is a Ridgefield Police Officer, and continues to reside in Brookfield.

Bill sees Brookfield as a great place to live with vast potential for being an even better and stronger community. In 2013, Bill decided to run for First Selectman because he shared a common concern with an ever increasing number of our residents: that Brookfield was on a spending, taxing, and borrowing trajectory that will hurt our community’s future, affordability and quality of life. Since being elected in 2013, Bill has led the course corrections, and provided a number of solutions that have put Brookfield back on the affordability path (spending and property tax control, economic development, and conservative management of the town’s debt and other obligations).

• Steve Dunn for First Selectman
• Information provided by the Brookfield Democratic Town Committee

Steve Dunn, recently retired from a long career in the corporate banking world, brings his leadership skills and expertise in finance, bonding, management of pension assets and insurance to the job of First Selectman of Brookfield. Steve has worked for JPMorgan Chase, Citibank and Banker’s Trust Company in various capacities, eventually heading a group at JPMorgan Chase responsible for over $2 trillion of client assets.

The Dunn family has lived in Brookfield for 32 years. His four children, Cate, Cullen, Conor and Jack, are 13 year alumni of Brookfield schools. Steve has been active in the community through his leadership in Boy Scouts and as a baseball, lacrosse and soccer coach. Steve has worked with Odyssey of the Mind, guiding Brookfield teams to state and national competitions. He is currently a state judge for Odyssey of the Mind.

With his wife, Cassie, Steve led a successful community-wide effort to build a new track at Brookfield High School. They raised over $120,000 in donations. Thanks to their efforts, in 1998 Brookfield High School held its first home track meet in 10 years at the new track. Steve and Cassie are the founders of the Mother’s Day 5 K race, with proceeds designated for support and maintenance of the track.

Steve Dunn is a graduate of Manhattanville College and has an MBA in finance from Fordham University.