Commissioner

 

Thomas J. Saadi serves as Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Veterans Affairs since his reconfirmation by the Connecticut General Assembly in March 2019, after serving as Commissioner since February 2018.  Commissioner Saadi previously served as Acting Commissioner of the Department from October 2017 through February 2018, and prior served as Chief of Staff and General Counsel for the Department.  Commissioner Saadi is a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve.  He retired from the Danbury City Council after twenty years of service in March 2019, and previously served on the Danbury Zoning Commission, Board of Tax Review and is a Justice of the Peace.  
 
Prior to beginning his service with the Department of Veterans Affairs in May 2015, Commissioner Saadi served as an Assistant Attorney General and Special Prosecutor for the State of Connecticut for fifteen years handling numerous state and multistate cases and supervising investigations to stop false and deceptive practices and to recover funds and civil penalties for the State and Connecticut consumers.  While at the Office of the Attorney General he Co-Chaired a specialized team of Assistant Attorneys General responding to Veteran and Servicemember issues and served as the Acting Department Head of the Consumer Protection Division of the Office of the Attorney General.  
 
Commissioner Saadi received his Commission as a Judge Advocate (JAG) in the Army Reserve in November 2005. He completed the JAG Officer Basic training in 2006, JAG Officer Advanced training in 2014 and Command and General Staff College in 2016 graduating in the top twenty percent of the class.  Prior to his current Army Reserve assignment as Chief of Governance for the 352nd Civil Affairs Command he served as Chief of National Security Law for the 412th Theater Engineer Command after returning from an active-duty mobilization as the Senior Administrative Law Attorney at Watervliet Arsenal in New York from December 2019 - May 2020.  He served as Chief Legal Officer for the 411th Civil Affairs Battalion from 2014-2019 and with the 4th Legal Operations Detachment from 2005-2014.  Commissioner Saadi has received several military awards including the Meritorious Service Medal (w/2Oak Leaf cluster), Army Commendation Medal (w/3 Oak Leaf clusters) and Army Achievement Medal (w/Oak Leaf cluster) and the Overseas Duty Training ribbon (x4).  
 
Commissioner Saadi is a graduate of Immaculate High School in Danbury, Western Connecticut State University and received his Juris Doctor from Quinnipiac College School of Law (cum laude).  He is a member of American Legion Post 60, Catholic War Veterans Post 1042 in Danbury, the 4th JAG Officers Association, the Association of the United States Army and is a Life Member of the Reserve Officers Association.  He is active with other Veteran, civic and social organizations and is the recipient of many awards and recognitions for his public service including the Connecticut Law Tribune Impact Award in 2003, Elk's Lodge Citizen of the Year Award 2012, Amos House Charitable Community Service Award 2015, Danbury Athletic Old Timers Civic Award in 2017, American Dream Leadership Award and the Lebanon American Club Person of the Year in 2018 and a Department of Defense Certificate of Appreciation for leadership in Public Policy Changes positively impacting CT Service members and their families in 2021.

Commissioner Saadi was born in Boston, Massachusetts and is a first-generation Lebanese American making him the first Arab-American Commissioner of Veterans Affairs and the only currently serving Arab-American State Agency Commissioner in Connecticut.  He lived in Massachusetts until his family moved to Saudi Arabia in 1978 for his father’s employment and he returned to his mother's hometown of Danbury, CT in 1985 where he now resides with his wife Valerie Ventura-Saadi and their twin children.