Mary Z. Connaughton

Last updated
Mary Z. Connaughton
Member of the
Massachusetts Turnpike Authority
Board of Directors
In office
September 2005 October 2009
Personal details
Born (1960-08-03) August 3, 1960 (age 64)
Boston Massachusetts
Political party Republican
Alma mater University of Massachusetts Amherst, BBA, BA

Mary Zarrilli Connaughton [1] (born Mary Gina Zarrilli August 3, 1960 in Boston, Massachusetts) is a former board member of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority. Connaughton was a candidate for Massachusetts Auditor in 2010. [2]

Contents

Political career

Connaughton started her political career in 2004 as a Republican candidate for state representative in the Seventh Middlesex District of Massachusetts. She lost that open-seat race to then Ashland School Board member Tom Sannicandro.

In September 2005, Connaughton was appointed by Governor Mitt Romney to the board of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority. [3] There, Connaughton has gained notoriety as an anti-toll activist for her area, but wanted higher tolls for Boston and Western Massachusetts, appearing on numerous television and radio programs to discuss issues pertaining to the Turnpike.

In January 2010, Connaughton announced the commencement of her campaign for Massachusetts State Auditor as the Republican candidate. The seat was to be vacated by Joe DeNucci (D), who announced he would retire at the end of his term. She challenged Suzanne Bump (D), the former Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development under Governor Deval Patrick (D), for the Auditor's position. [3] Bump ultimately won the election by a narrow margin.

MA Auditor 2010 Election Results [4]
Bump, Suzanne Dem 992,680 49%
Connaughton, Mary GOP 944,475 46%
Fortune, Nat Grn 105,965 5%

Professional background

Connaughton is currently a partner in the business development firm of Ascentage Group (formerly Henniker River Group) and an adjunct accounting instructor at Framingham State College. Additionally, she serves on the Massachusetts Commission on Judicial Conduct.

Connaughton held the position of senior manager on the audit staff of Ernst and Young in the Entrepreneurial Services division and was Chief Financial Officer of the Massachusetts Lottery. Her other experience includes working as a financial consultant/CPA both independently and for a local firm and being chief financial officer of a privately held company. She was previously vice-chair of the Framingham Finance Committee and served on the board of directors of Commonwealth Corporation.

Connaughton earned her Master of Business Administration from Assumption College in 2009 and a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting and a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She also spent two summers studying English literature at the Trinity College, Oxford University Summer Seminar program. She is a member of the Massachusetts Society of Certified Public Accountants. [3]

Personal life

Connaughton was born at St. Elizabeth's Medical Center in the Brighton neighborhood of Boston. She lives in Framingham, Massachusetts with her husband and two children.

Related Research Articles

Carla Howell is an American politician, small government advocate and activist. She was the Libertarian Party of Massachusetts candidate for Massachusetts State Auditor in 1998, U.S. Senate in 2000, and Governor in 2002. She then served in multiple leadership positions in the U.S. Libertarian Party. She has also organized tax-cut initiative ballot measures in Massachusetts and worked for the Libertarian National Committee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Framingham, Massachusetts</span> City in Massachusetts, United States

Framingham is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. Incorporated in 1700, it is located in Middlesex County and the MetroWest subregion of the Greater Boston metropolitan area. The city proper covers 25 square miles (65 km2) with a population of 72,362 in 2020, making it the 14th most populous municipality in Massachusetts. Residents voted in favor of adopting a charter to transition from a representative town meeting system to a mayor–council government in April 2017, and the municipality transitioned to city status on January 1, 2018. Before it transitioned, it had been the largest town by population in Massachusetts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Massachusetts Turnpike</span> Toll road and Interstate Highway in Massachusetts, United States

The Massachusetts Turnpike is a controlled-access toll highway in the US state of Massachusetts that is maintained by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT). It is concurrent with the entirety of Interstate 90 (I-90) within the state, and is the longest Interstate Highway in Massachusetts, spanning 138 miles (222 km) along an east–west axis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Framingham State University</span> Public university in Framingham, Massachusetts, US

Framingham State University(Framingham State or FSU) is a public university in Framingham, Massachusetts. The university, then known as the Normal School in Lexington was founded in 1839 as the first state-supported normal school in the United States before becoming a full-fledged university. It offers undergraduate programs as well as graduate programs, including MBA, MEd, and MS.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Claflin</span> American politician (1818–1905)

William Claflin was an American politician, industrialist, and philanthropist from Massachusetts. He served as the 27th governor of Massachusetts from 1869 to 1872 and as a member of the United States Congress from 1877 to 1881. He also served as chairman of the Republican National Committee from 1868 to 1872, serving as a moderating force between the Radical and moderate wings of the Republican Party. His name is given to Claflin University in South Carolina, a historically black college founded with funding from him and his father.

Vincent Francis Zarrilli was an American businessman and activist. Zarrilli owned and operated the cookware store called The Pot Shop in Boston and other locations within Massachusetts. He was also a noted critic of the Big Dig in Boston.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christy Mihos</span> American politician and businessman

Christy Peter Mihos was an American politician and businessman from Massachusetts. He was an Independent candidate for governor of Massachusetts in 2006. He ran for the Republican nomination for governor in 2010, but did not receive enough votes at the Republican Convention to qualify for the primary ballot.

The 2006 Massachusetts general election was held on November 7, 2006, throughout Massachusetts.

The Massachusetts general election, 2010 was held on November 2, 2010 throughout Massachusetts. Primary elections took place on September 14, 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Sannicandro</span> American politician

Dr. Tom Sannicandro is an entrepreneur, disability advocate, American politician, and attorney. He is the founder of SpecialNeedsTrustsOnline.com, a non-profit website providing information and estate planning documents to families with children with special needs. He is on the Board of Directors of the Inclusive Higher Education Accreditation Council, Inc., an independent accrediting agency for college and university programs that serve students with intellectual disabilities. He was the director of the Institute for Community Inclusion, a global disability research and policy center at UMass Boston from 2017 to 2019. From 2005 to 2017, he served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, representing the 7th Middlesex district. Previously he served as director of the Massachusetts Association of Community Colleges.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suzanne Bump</span> American politician

Suzanne M. Bump is an American politician who served as Massachusetts State Auditor from 2011 to 2023, the first woman elected to this role in the state's history. She is also a former State Representative and state Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development.

A Massachusetts general election was held on November 3, 1964, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

The Massachusetts general election, 2014 was held on November 4, 2014, throughout Massachusetts. Primary elections took place on September 9, 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diana DiZoglio</span> American politician

Diana DiZoglio is an American politician who is the current Massachusetts State Auditor. A member of the Democratic Party, DiZoglio had previously represented the 1st Essex District in the Massachusetts Senate from 2019 to 2023. The district included her home city of Methuen as well as Newburyport, Haverhill, Merrimac, Amesbury, Salisbury, and four of eight precincts in North Andover.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2018 Massachusetts gubernatorial election</span>

The 2018 Massachusetts gubernatorial election took place on November 6, 2018, to elect the governor and lieutenant governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Republican governor Charlie Baker and lieutenant governor Karyn Polito sought reelection to a second term in office, facing Democratic challengers Jay Gonzalez and Quentin Palfrey, respectively. Candidates were selected in the primary election held on September 4, 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2018 Massachusetts elections</span>

The 2018 Massachusetts general election was held on November 6, 2018, throughout Massachusetts. Primary elections took place on September 4. Early voting took place from October 22 through November 2.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yvonne M. Spicer</span> American educator and politician

Dr. Yvonne Michelle Spicer is an American educator, democratic politician, and a former mayor from Framingham, Massachusetts. She was inaugurated on January 1, 2018, becoming the first African-American woman to be popularly elected mayor in Massachusetts, and served until January 1, 2022. She was previously the Vice President for Advocacy and Educational Partnerships at the Museum of Science in Boston, Massachusetts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Becca Rausch</span> American politician

Rebecca Lynne Rausch is an American attorney and politician from the commonwealth of Massachusetts. A member of the Democratic Party, she represents the Norfolk, Worcester and Middlesex district in the Massachusetts Senate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barbara Gray (politician)</span> American politician

Barbara E. Gray was an American Democratic politician from Framingham, Massachusetts. She represented the 39th Middlesex district from 1973 to 1974, the 56th Middlesex district from 1975 to 1978, and the 6th Middlesex district from 1979 to 1996 in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. She was first elected as a Republican, but switched parties in October 1990.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 Massachusetts Governor's Council election</span>

An election was held on November 8, 2022, to elect all 8 members to the Massachusetts Governor's Council. The election coincided with elections for other offices, including governor, and U.S. House of Representatives.

References

  1. Bierman, Noah (April 17, 2010). "A candidate by any other name". Boston.com. Retrieved April 22, 2010.
  2. Cheney, Kyle (August 13, 2009). "Framingham's Mary Z. Connaughton "leaning towards" a run for state auditor". The MetroWest Daily News.
  3. 1 2 3 Haneisen, Rob. "Connaughton gets big crowd at fundraiser", The MetroWest Daily News , Framingham, 3 February 2010. Retrieved on 2010-04-06.
  4. "Massachusetts 2010 Statewide Election Results: Coakley, Grossman, Galvin, Bump |". Archived from the original on 2015-07-22. Retrieved 2013-02-01.
Party political offices
Vacant
Title last held by
Michael Duffy
Republican nominee for Auditor of Massachusetts
2010
Succeeded by
Patricia Saint Aubin