As a published author, former presidential campaign organizer and program administrator in the defense industry, Mike McCue’s résumé is eclectic. Recently, the Mansfield resident added Rochester Town Administrator to his résumé.

McCue started full time on Aug. 1 replacing former Town Administrator Rich LaCamera whose last day was June 1. He was officially sworn in as Town Administrator Monday night.

“I’m thrilled to be here, and hopefully I’ll provide the town with a long, successful tenure,” McCue said.

McCue, 48, lives in Mansfield with his wife and three children. In that town, he served as a selectman from 2001 to 2007. He ran for the position after organizing campaigns for others.

“I had a good idea on how to run a campaign and how to be successful,” he said. “I would have regretted not running, and lo and behold I won on my first try.”

It also fulfilled an interest in politics he developed at age 15. McCue pursued that interest as an undergraduate studying history at St. Anselm College in New Hampshire.

There, he took a one-semester leave of absence to help coordinate Al Haig’s 1980 presidential campaign in New Hampshire.

“Every time he was in the state, I was his driver. I got to know him a bit,” McCue said.

Haig served as a U.S. Army general, U.S. Secretary of State under Ronald Reagan and White House Chief of Staff under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.

After college, McCue found work as a senior security manager in the Cambridge-based Draper Laboratory. The not-for-profit research and development laboratory focuses on improving technology in the fields of security, space exploration and other areas.

After 15 years in the laboratory’s special operations and land robotics directorate on classified projects, McCue decided to revisit his interest in public service.

“I had reached a certain ceiling at Draper Labs where I could have vied for my boss’s job, which I wasn’t interested in, or I could have sought advancement at another company,” he said. “Those were few and far between.”

He considered going back to school for a master in business administration degree until he discovered a program that seemed tailor made for him.

“I didn’t realize there was something called a master of public administration,” McCue said. “It entailed a very interesting melding of courses on budgets, finance, public service and regional and economic development.”

He attended Bridgewater State University and took one class a semester for six years while working full time to earn the degree.

In 2004, McCue began his career in municipal government as Walpole’s economic development and grants officer. Since then, he’s worked as Mendon’s town administrator from 2006 to 2007 and Avon’s town administrator from 2007 to 2014.

“I enjoyed [being a selectman],” he said. “When I took the job in Walpole I realized there was no way I could run again and do both jobs the way they should be done.”

Throughout his career, he’s found time to combine two passions, writing and history.

Nine articles written and researched by McCue have been published in magazines on American and Canadian history. One article told the story of the Fenian Brotherhood.

The group raided British army forts in Canada following the Civil War with the goal of pressuring Britain to withdraw from Ireland. It was his first magazine piece accepted for print.

“When I got that letter in the mail the feeling was just unbelievable,” he said.

He doesn’t have plans to write in the near future while he becomes acquainted with Rochester.

“My hope is in the next couple week’s to meet individually with each Selectman and see what their interests are and see what direction the board wants to take,” he said.