Sullivan's Mail Cart Job Let Him Eat Cake

In an appearance on a now-defunct Connecticut TV show, someone once asked Kevin Sullivan what he wanted to be when he grew up. He answered a lawyer.

It was a prophetic moment, although Sullivan said he has no recollection of that happening, nor does he remember ever wanting to be a lawyer. That is, at least until he decided to go to law school. And his first job certainly had nothing to do with law, or the former lieutenant governor’s eventual passion for public policy.

Sullivan, now president and CEO of The Children’s Museum in West Hartford, got his first real job as a mail room clerk at Connecticut General Life Insurance.

It may sound mundane, Sullivan said, but he made the most of it, making sure to push his mail cart in the general direction of office parties to score some free cake.

When Sullivan started at Trinity College, he was involved in a work-study program. Trinity was increasing its reach into the community, Sullivan said, and it decided to create a center to match students with community projects. Sullivan was assigned to that center, and it was “probably the beginning of many things for me,” he said.

Sullivan left college with a major in non-Western studies and a profound urge to stay out of school, at least for awhile. So he seized upon the tumultuous political times and scored a job as the executive director of the Caucus of Connecticut Democrats. It was a grassroots political group, which groomed several big-time Connecticut politicos, including Sen. Joe Lieberman.

When Sullivan left the caucus, he worked on a couple of political campaigns and then got a job with the department of education. Then, a decade after he left college, he decided to go back for a law degree. It’s not something he would recommend, he said, but his age gave him some perspective. In his first year, a professor called on him, and he wasn’t prepared. The whole room stood aghast.

“And I said, I got to tell you, that’s not the worst thing that’s happened to me,” he said.

After law school, Sullivan practiced law and then segued back into public policy. He was elected mayor of West Hartford and then to the state senate. Eventually, he rose to lieutenant governor, a part-time position that also accommodated his work at Trinity College, where he reenergized the Learning Corridor project.

His new position at the museum presents a “very interesting opportunity” and “a huge challenge,” he said.

“Everything I’ve had a chance to do, I look back and say, ‘that was a great experience,’” Sullivan said.

MY FIRST DOLLAR