Michael Bowen, 30, is an associate at Taft, Stettinius & Hollister. Last year, he was among Crain’s 20 in their Twenties.
“Bowen is now in charge of a campaign team that includes political consultant Jon Benedict of R Strategy Group and Bill Burges of Burges and Burges,” Richard Andrews reports. “Benedict will serve as chief strategist for the campaign. Burges, considered the town’s most experienced political consultant but who had been sidelined by Clarke earlier this summer, will direct the media effort.”
The Jackson campaign has not yet confirmed the hire, but Andrews says that Bowen will be on leave from his firm until the campaign wraps up.
Though he is young, Bowen’s mother was a Shaker Heights Councilwoman (Lynn Ruffner). He is also, at least in the estimation of University Circle Inc’s Chris Ronayne, quite the people person.
“What immediately struck me was Mike’s ability to navigate any room in town, any community,” Ronayne said in Bowen’s Crain’s write-up last year. “He is as at ease in a board room as he is in a church basement, and he was conversant on all sides of town. He really understands the networks in our community and that will take him far.”
Frank Jackson will square off against City Councilman Zack Reed on November 7.
This article appears in Sep 27 – Oct 3, 2017.
It sounds as if the internal polling is beyond rock solid…….and Bowen may be launching himself into the lucrative game of campaign consulting.