Mary Welander

Mary Welander was elected to her first term in the General Assembly in 2020 and proudly represents the 114th district which includes the city of Derby, and the towns of Hamden, Orange and Woodbridge. Mary is Co-Chair of the Internship Committee and serves on the Children’s, Education, and Public Health Committees.

A resident of Orange, Mary was elected to the Orange Board of Education in 2017 and most recently served in the roles of Vice Chair for both the Finance subcommittee and the Policy, Personnel, and Transportation subcommittee. Mary’s strong commitment to children and education continues as she served on the successful School Reopening Committee for the Orange School district responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, and is currently the President of the PTA of her school. Mary also serves as one of two Connecticut Ambassadors for the Sandy Hook Promise Organization.

In that Ambassador role Mary has helped bring common sense, community building violence prevention programs to schools, houses of worship, and organizations across the state. She also successfully lobbied members of Congress for bi-partisan support and federal funding for the STOP School Violence Act, and testified at the first Federal Listening Session on School Safety on behalf of SHP.

Mary’s broad management and planning background encompassing experience from education and childcare, live theater and events, and the medical field allows her to approach problem solving with a strong real-life perspective.

Coming from a military family, Mary has a strong commitment to public service as all three of her younger brothers are combat veterans and both her parents served on local boards in the small Western Massachusetts town where she grew up.

A graduate of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Mary is now a proud resident of Connecticut along with her husband Matt, a professor at the Yale School of Drama who also has a consulting practice, their three school-aged children, and their dog Bauer.