His career has spanned the Connecticut General Assembly, the U.S. Senate and the nonprofit world. He’s notably the leader who helped bring an educational replica of the schooner Amistad, a former slave ship turned symbol of freedom, to life.
Along the way, Chris Cloud also decided to become a business owner. He's a partner in the firm he co-founded, Camilliere, Cloud & Kennedy.
“We are a government relations firm based in Hartford. We've been around for over 20 years, and what we do is provide services for people to help navigate the legislative and governmental process here in the state of Connecticut,” Cloud said.
A lobbying pioneer
Cloud acknowledged that his role as a Black founder in Connecticut’s lobbying industry was a first.
“I was the first — that I'm aware of — Black person who had started their own lobbying firm here in the state of Connecticut,” he said. “Now, many other African Americans had been lobbyists who work for other organizations, big pharma or for the health care industry, et cetera, et cetera. But to open up and put your own shingle and eat what you kill, if you will, was a challenge for me.”
For Cloud, it was a natural extension of his upbringing and political experience.
“It was something that I was very familiar with, having worked once for [former] Sen. Chris Dodd and for Eric Coleman, who was a state senator from Hartford, Bloomfield and Windsor. And, I kind of followed in the path of my father, who had been a state senator here in Connecticut,” he said. “So, a lot of the people that I knew growing up were politicians. It was something that was very comfortable to me, and I felt like I could make a difference in that space.”
Shaping policy for clients
Much of the firm’s work involves anticipating legislative shifts and helping clients prepare before lawmakers convene, Cloud said.
“The challenges are really more about what the priorities are during a particular legislative session,” he said. “Last year's issues will not be next year's issues. Sometimes, you'll have carryover, but normally, there's a new set of legislation that may or may not impact our clients, and we try to identify those early, before the session.”
As he awaits the start of Connecticut's next legislative session, Cloud said he's looking ahead. “Right now is a phase where I'm looking at what are some of the trends, what do we think are going to be popular issues in February of next year, and try and prep our clients for those issues going forward.”
Keeping the business going
Running a lobbying firm, Cloud said, means handling far more than just legislation.
“Owning your own business, as you can imagine," he said, "there are various aspects of the business that you always have to pay attention to.”
That means securing clients, managing finances, keeping up with state ethics requirements and never missing networking opportunities.
“If you don't know how to play golf, I would learn how to play golf right to become a lobbyist, because it's an integral part of the process,” Cloud said. “Quite frankly, all those things have to kind of come together to make the firm work very well.”
No off days
Cloud said the work rarely slows.
“There are no off days in lobbying,” he said. “I can sometimes get phone calls at 11 o'clock at night from a client, or 7:30 in the morning. And when clients hire us, they're looking for our best advice and counsel.”
That constant pace is what fuels him.
“That's what I really love about the business, is that I read the paper in the morning and I'll see something, and then I immediately start to think about, how will this impact my clients? How can I help them either learn about the issue, to resolve a problem or to prevent a problem going forward.”
How to follow in his footsteps
Asked what guidance he’d give to young people considering his line of work, Cloud emphasized political involvement.
“Get involved in local elections. Volunteer on a campaign. Young people: become an intern,” he said. “Getting that kind of taste of what it's like — the legislative process. Being in the actual capitol building is a great way for people to start, and many of the firms like mine will have that kind of internship.”
He also pointed to opportunities with the state legislature itself.
“There's also an internship program that the state legislature runs, and I would encourage young people to investigate that as well at cga.gov.”
