Meet Mike
Mike’s work
Mike’s career in public service began when he was appointed to lead the Department of Financial Regulation, Vermont’s consumer watchdog agency, by Governor Peter Shumlin (D) in 2016. He was later reappointed by Governor Phil Scott (R).
Mike also expanded the Department’s supervision of online securities trading and cryptocurrency platforms during his tenure. In 2022, a DFR probe of the digital-asset company BlockFi led to a multi-state $100 million settlement.
With the onset of the pandemic, Governor Scott asked Mike to lead the State’s COVID-19 modeling and he appeared regularly at COVID press briefings. DFR also required health insurers to cover the cost of testing and treatment for COVID-19 and directed premium relief of over $25 million back to Vermonters. Additionally, Mike led a volunteer team of employees who administered $32 million of COVID hazard pay grants to 20,000 front-line Vermont workers. The program was created and administered in just over 10 weeks during the first year of the pandemic.
In 2019, DFR explicitly prohibited insurers from using age to deny gender-affirming care to Vermont youth. Mike also instituted a series of initiatives to address senior financial abuse, including enhanced penalties and establishing a victim restitution fund with increased awards for vulnerable Vermonters who have been targeted by investment scammers.
In addition to his duties at DFR, in 2018 Pieciak was elected president of the North American Securities Administrators Association, the oldest international organization devoted to investor protection, and served a five-year term on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee in Washington, D.C.
In 2022, Mike was elected Vermont State Treasurer. In his first term, Mike has focused on increasingly the supply of housing, investing in climate mitigation, and growing the middle class by alleviating poverty.
Mike currently lives in Winooski, Vermont with his partner and dog and serves on the board of Outright Vermont, an LGBTQ+ advocacy organization.
In the news
VT Digger - 117 lawmakers decry recent acts of homophobia in Vermont, cite ‘disturbing pattern’ nationwide
Vermont Public - Climate Superfund Act would make oil companies pay for climate damages in Vermont
VT Digger - Treasurer Mike Pieciak and Treasurer Erick Russell: How baby bonds will strengthen Vermont’s economy
Vermont Public - Vermont Treasurer on his first year in office, new school construction and baby bond proposal
Photos courtesy Skylar Maguire