Ruth Brennan

Born and brought up in New York City, Dr. Ruth Brennan is a human resource management and communications consultant, with 10+ years of experience in the public and private sectors and 20+ years of consulting experience. 

On the personal side, Dr. Brennan is the widow of Judge Daniel E. Brennan, Jr. She has two children: Danna, a cum laude graduate of George Washington University, now serving as a U.S. State Department foreign service officer in Baghdad, with her husband Joachim, also a foreign service officer, and Benjamin, a business management graduate of James Madison University, currently a development coordinator in New York City. Benjamin and his wife Rachael, a senior member services representative for HealthPass, will make Ruth a grandmother in November 2011. 

After moving to Connecticut, Dr. Brennan joined the administration of Mayor Leonard Paoletta in Bridgeport, CT. as Director of Human Resources Development, during which time she represented the City administration in partnerships with organizations such as the United Way, the Council of Churches, ABCD, The Boys and Girls Club and Rotary. She was also responsible for developing programming in response to City needs for disability services, youth and Hispanic services, community affairs and ageing. 

When the Paoletta administration ended, Dr. Brennan became Director of the Executive MBA Program at the University of New Haven.  She joined BIC Corporation as Director of Human Resources five years later, after consulting with BIC for several months and headed up the team that successfully negotiated its union contract (the cost savings resulted in BIC remaining in Connecticut).  She also integrated the company’s human resources function with its Canadian and Mexican subsidiaries and created union-management partnerships in areas such as health benefits and managed care workers’ compensation. 

Dr. Brennan has built a consulting reputation on her ability to find multipliers in diverse business situations, on her understanding of the changing nature of the business landscape and on her insight into merging the “business” and “human” sides of such issues as disaster planning, change management, execution, acquisition and talent integration, rebranding and leadership.  She is an expert in implementing the principles of “employers of choice.” She has been a successful executive coach, with clients ranging from a CEO of a major health organization, a Global Brand Manager of a multi-national entertainment company and a new Human Resources Vice-President. 

Dr. Brennan served as Board President of the Connecticut P. T. Barnum Festival, was one of the first female members of the Bridgeport Rotary, actively fund-raised for the American Diabetes Association, has been a guest speaker for numerous business organizations and one cruise line and has authored a book entitled Listening for a President (Praeger Press, 1990), that analyzes the impact of five leadership dimensions on presidential rhetoric and leadership. She has taught at Fairfield University (Graduate School of Corporate and Political Communication), U. of New Haven (Executive MBA) and Sacred Heart U (MBA).