Prior to joining Brown & Weinraub, Michael Cassidy served as Governor Andrew Cuomo’s assistant director of state operations, where he helped oversee the day-to-day management of all state departments, agencies, and authorities – an enterprise with a budget exceeding $135 billion and130,000 employees. In this role, Michael helped coordinate policy and communications strategy and played a critical role managing the flow of information between the Governor’s office and the state bureaucracy. His responsibilities also included overseeing public finance issues for the Governor’s office. This included working with the Division of Budget and public authorities on the issuance of billions of dollars in tax-exempt debt, as well as the creation and implementation of a new financing vehicle that provided state debt issuers with an additional resource to finance capital needs. Michael was a senior member of the Hurricane Sandy Recovery & Mitigation Working Group, where he was an integral part of the team that helped guide New York through one of the worst natural disasters in history. He earlier served as special assistant to the commissioner and legislative liaison for the New York State Office of General Services.

Before joining the Cuomo administration, Michael served as legislative director of the New York State Senate Committee on Investigations Taxation & Government Operations, an expansive committee charged with overseeing the workings of state government. He was also the Senate’s principal staff liaison to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Capital Program Review Board, which is responsible for overseeing and developing the MTA’s $25billion, five-year capital plan. Michael began his public service in the office of former Assembly Majority Leader Ron Canestrari. 

Michael serves as commissioner of the City of Albany Civil Service Commission; a member of the Rockefeller College Advisory Board; Maria College Board of Trustees; the New York League of Conservation Voters – Capital Region Board of Directors; the Citizens Budget Commission Transportation &Infrastructure Committee; the Albany County Democratic Party Executive Committee; and the New York State Democratic Committee Standing Committee on Ethics. He previously served as a member of the Albany Municipal Water Finance Authority and director of the Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza Performing Arts Center Corporation. In addition, he is chairman of the Council of Governing Boards and a trustee of the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities.

Michael holds both a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Public Administration from the University at Albany’s Rockefeller College of Public Affairs & Policy. He has been recognized in both City & State and the Irish Echo as a “40 Under 40 Rising Star”; City & State “Responsible 100 –New Yorkers invested in improving our communities”; and City & State “Gov Tech Power 50” which called Brown & Weinraub “one of the most powerful New York firms for tech companies”.