Adam Pacheco

MPA Fellows, Class of 2025

Fire Captain, Town of West Hartford

I joined the Town of West Hartford in 2008 where I work as a Fire Captain executing emergency operations, program development and delivery, personnel training and development, as well as grant writing. In addition to the traditional hierarchy of the organization, I have served in roles of union leadership as a Vice President, Treasurer, and negotiator. These roles gave great experiences in labor and management relations, government contracting, understanding and navigating workplace benefit structures, budgetary impacts, and the negotiation and arbitration processes. I am also a certified HazMat technician working with the Capitol Region Hazardous Materials Response Team serving Hartford county. Prior to coming to West Hartford I completed my undergraduate studies at the University of New Haven in 2006 where I earned a B.S. in Fire Science with a minor in criminal justice. I successfully completed a number of internships with local fire departments and fire marshal offices. I proceeded to achieve certification through the state of CT Fire Marshals office as a Fire Marshal and Fire Investigator in addition to attending Capital Community Colleges paramedic program where I became a licensed and practicing paramedic serving the City of Waterbury. I was also on the board of directors for Valley Emergency Medical Service, a regional entity serving the Naugatuck valley towns. The education I received has allowed me to work in a number of different areas, disciplines, and organizational types within the fire and emergency services.

Beyond the fire and emergency services my public service extends to the housing sector where I served for the past 5 years as a housing commissioner to the City of Derby, CT. As a Housing Commissioner, I was responsible for providing safe and sustainable housing for hundreds of socioeconomically distressed families, the elderly, and disabled persons. The housing needs were met by keeping a sharp pencil and effectively blending federal and state programs. Within this role, I successfully developed the skillset of writing grants, which has transitioned to being an essential skill as the housing commissioner and as a Fire Captain. My serving in this role has challenged my thought processes and has driven a change in my perspective, showing me communities’ need for, more than ever, quality public administrators.

I now find the next chapter in my career bringing me back to the well of formal education in the UConn MPA program. As I grow in my career, I look to provide higher level direction through policy analysis and forward looking policy development. When I approach the concept of managing a public entity, I heavily weigh the intended mission, how to ensure the execution and delivery of programs, and the people within the organization are meeting those goals. I believe that that the MPA program will challenge me to think differently about my own personal development and the way I perceive organizations, people, and the behaviors that move them through bettering my understanding of organizational theory and providing me tools to navigate dynamic and diverse workplaces. With the completion of my MPA at UConn, I look forward to implementing my new and refined skills of programmatic management, performing and interpreting complex public budgeting, and the ability to recognize, resource, and implement dynamic revenue models while employing sound and proven fiscal controls. I anticipate the MPA program will provide me the skills necessary to shepherd a policy or project through a changing organization and maybe even more importantly, an organization through a changing community. I believe UConn will prepare me to ensure that the organizations I serve will be prepared and best positioned to promote a high service culture with in and project competency and resource through service to the public being served.