Rep. Gail Lavielle, Neighbor

Gail Lavielle was elected to Connecticut’s House of Representatives in 2010 to represent the 143rd district, which includes most of Wilton and the eastern part of Norwalk and, following redistricting, will also include part of Westport west of the Saugatuck River. She is a member of the General Assembly’s Appropriations, Education, and Transportation Committees.  She also sits on the Higher Education Consolidation Committee and is a member of the Long Island Sound Caucus.  Rep. Lavielle brings to public service many years of executive leadership in the business world, as well as practical education experience teaching at the university level. Drawing on her real-world skills and expertise, she has developed or supported many proposals to make Connecticut’s government less costly and more efficient, create a fertile climate for jobs, reduce the tax burden on people, businesses, and municipalities, and make the state more competitive as a place to live, work, raise a family, and retire.  In 2011, Rep. Lavielle was honored with the Tip of the Cap award for education advocacy. In 2012, she was named a Legislative Champion by the Connecticut League of Conservation Voters. She was also a member of the budget-writing team that developed and proposed a fully vetted no-tax-increase biennial budget in 2011 and a set of no-tax-increase midterm budget adjustments in 2012. She has fought for improved rail service for commuters, equitable state funding forNorwalk’s schools, mandate relief for high-performing school districts, and protection of municipally owned open space.

Rep. Lavielle worked for more than 25 years in finance, marketing, and communication, holding executive leadership positions with Fortune 500 corporations, and held Series 7, 66, and 31 securities licenses. As chief executive of a subsidiary of the Interpublic Group, she turned a company around, managed it through a severe recession, and doubled revenues while running it for five years at a substantial profit. She also served as Senior Vice President of Suez Environment, the world’s largest water and wastewater services company, managing people in more than 30 countries and working closely with the financial community to build its understanding of complex government contracts.

Rep. Lavielle has shared the lessons of her real-world business experience with students at UConn, where she taught upper-level courses to undergraduates.  An advocate of the benefits of a well-rounded education, she holds an MA in French from Yale and a BA in English from Cornell, as well as an MBA in finance from UConn.  A former music critic, she wrote reviews for The Wall Street Journal and is the author of a book on opera.

Before her election to the General Assembly, Rep. Lavielle was active in public service on both the state and municipal levels.  As a member of the CT Public Transportation Commission, she defended the interests of Fairfield County on issues including the upgrading of the Danbury branch line, rail station parking and access, the renovation of the Wilton train station, and the development of pedestrian and bike paths.  She also served on the state’s Advisory Council for Professional Standards for School Administrators and the Governor’s task force on rail station parking and access, and was a founding member of the Norwalk River Valley Trail steering committee.

Her work as a member of Wilton’s Board of Finance has given her practical experience with the particular issues faced by Connecticut’s towns and cities in a difficult economic environment.  She also served on Wilton’s Energy Commission.

Rep. Lavielle is active in many local service, civic, and cultural organizations.  She serves on the Board of the Norwalk Senior Center, as well as the Advisory Boards of Wilton Go Green, ITN Coastal CT, and Norwalk Hospital.  She is a member and supporter of the Friends of the Wilton Library, the Wilton and Norwalk Chambers of Commerce, the Wilton, Westport, and Norwalk Historical Societies, Ambler Farm, the Friends of Sherwood Island, the Aspetuck Land Trust, and Earthplace.

She has also served on the Board of the Girl Scouts of Southwest Fairfield County and the Stamford Symphony Chairman’s Council, and has been a delegate to the Yale Assembly. She resides in Wilton with Jean-Pierre, her husband of 27 years.