Gerry Connolly

Gerry Connolly

Chairman, Fairfax County

Board of Supervisors

Gerry Connolly and Cathy, his wife of 28 years, live in Mantua and have been

residents of Fairfax County for the past 24 years. They have a 13-year-old

daughter, Caitlin Rose.

Gerry was elected Chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors on

November 4, 2003. He began his term on January 1, 2004. Previously, Gerry

served nine years as the Providence District Supervisor. As Chairman of ten

members of the Board of Supervisors, Gerry oversees a budget of $4.5 billion

and a county that, based on size, would make it the nation's 13th largest city,

12th largest school district, and 6th largest office market. He serves as the

Chairman of the County's Legislative Committee and is Vice-Chair of the

Economic Advisory Committee. Gerry is a member on the Boards of the

Northern Virginia Transportation Commission (NVTC), the Northern Virginia

Regional Commission (NVRC), of which he is Vice Chairman, and the Metropolitan

Washington Council of Governments (COG) where he is past Chairman and

has served as a key member of the region's Emergency Preparedness Taskforce.

Gerry represents Fairfax County on the Board of the Virginia Association of Counties

(VaCo) where he serves as President. He is on the Board of Directors for the Executive

Committee of the Foundation for Virginia, an entity that seeks to educate the public

and policy makers about unmet funding needs in core government services.

Gerry also serves on the Boards of Directors for the following groups: Fairfax

Partnership for Youth, the American Red Cross of the National Capital Area, the

Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Washington Initiative Board

of Trustees, the Medical Care for Children Partnership, the Institute for Regional

Excellence and the University of Virginia - Virginia Institute of Government.

In 2000 Gerry received COG's Scull Award, the region's highest award for leadership,

for his work on promoting telework/telecommuting throughout the Metropolitan

Washington Region. In 2002, he received an environmental achievement award from

the Hunter Mill Defense League and Fairfax Trails and Streams has announced that

Gerry is receiving an award for his role as "father" of the 38-mile-long Cross-County

Trail. He has been recognized by the Fairfax Federation of Citizens Associations for his

authorship of the County's Value Engineering program that has saved taxpayers millions

of dollars, and by the Fairfax Firefighters for his role in improving public safety. In 2005

Gerry received an award from Catholics for Housing for outstanding political leader.

Gerry's career as a public official began on March 28, 1995 when he was overwhelmingly

elected as the Providence District Supervisor to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors,

and was re-elected to a four-year term in November that same year. Gerry was unopposed

for re-election in November 1999.

Gerry is a dedicated community leader, and his leadership and common-sense approach

to community issues marked his term as Mantua Citizens Association (MCA) president and

his two terms as president of the Fairfax County Federation of Citizens Associations, the

premier nonpartisan citizen organization in Fairfax County. (He was the first president to

be re-elected in the Federation's 54-year history.)

The Star-Texaco storage facility oil spill at the Pickett Road tank farm was discovered

during Gerry's tenure as MCA president. Under his leadership, the community and officials

from Fairfax County, the state, the Environmental Protection Agency, and Fairfax City began

working together to resolve the devastating problem. Gerry's cool leadership under great

stress allowed the Mantua community to come together and heal.

In 1992-93, Gerry served on the Fairfax Government Reorganization Commission, chaired

by former Virginia Governor Linwood Holton. In addition, he was the Providence District

representative to the Fairfax County Airports Advisory Committee.

Gerry received a B.A. in Literature from Maryknoll College in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, and an

M.A. in Public Administration from Harvard University in 1979.

After graduating from Harvard, he began a 10-year career with the U.S. Senate Foreign

Relations Committee. His ability to grasp and manage a wide range of complex issues led

to his managing committee oversight of international economic issues, international narcotics

control, and United Nations and Middle East policies. He wrote numerous published reports,

notably on U.S. policy in El Salvador, Central America, Israel, and the Persian Gulf region.

During his tenure with the U.S. Senate, Gerry developed a reputation for pragmatism and

the ability to reach out to Democrats and Republicans alike to get things done.

In 1989, Gerry joined SRI International (formerly Stanford Research Institute) where he

served as the vice president of the Washington Office. He managed a 100-member staff

and was responsible for an annual multi-million dollar budget and for guiding SRI relations

with senior federal government officials. Gerry's ability to tackle a broad range of issues led

to his responsibility for research projects on economic policy, trade, investment, and general

oversight of Washington legislative and regulatory developments. During his eight years at

SRI, Gerry worked closely with Fortune 500 and business leaders throughout the United

States, Europe and Asia.

Gerry also helped found the Washington International Corporate Circle program, a specialized

program that provided international corporate executives from major European, Asian and

North American companies with strategic counsel and policy analysis on business issues. Since

1997 Gerry has been a public affairs consultant specializing in strategic advice to domestic and

international corporate clients, and is currently Director of Community Relations for SAIC, one

of the county's largest employers and a sponsor of Celebrate Fairfax, the Fairfax County fair.