Mary Jo has served the public for her entire career. She will use her work and personal experience and expertise to help individuals, families, and small businesses be safe, feel secure and thrive. Mary Jo’s professional, personal, and public service past has given her firsthand experience and insight into all operations and departments of the County, outside of the Court system.
Mary Jo has led large teams, managed over $30 million in projects, and responded to natural disasters. She has developed, analyzed and managed multi-million dollar budgets, increased services and outreach without increasing taxes, and made decisions driven by the needs and input of people. She has collaborated with local officials to make communities and people safer and better able to bounce back from natural disasters.
As a civil engineer working in DuPage County, she spent her first years working with the DuPage County offices, permitting her stormwater and floodplain management designs. She also designed stormwater management improvement projects that protected people from flooding for the County. From there, she transitioned to working at the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the National Flood Insurance Program, both in the Regional office in Chicago and Headquarters in Washington, DC. As a federal servant, Mary Jo met with community elected officials and homeowners on their flood issues, then managed the creation of maps and strategies to protect people and property from flooding. She worked on a team that developed a $1 Billion initiative to help communities become more resilient to floods and other natural disasters.
Mary Jo left FEMA to return home to the Chicago area and continued work in community resilience. She became Vice President of Project Delivery for a Lisle engineering firm that worked with ComEd to modernize the power grid and make it more resilient to storms. In 2016, Mary Jo founded her own strategy consulting firm. The focus of her firm is to help small businesses, non-profits and government agencies use strategy in all processes and procedures to continually improve their efforts and make planful, intentional, and data-driven decisions.
Today, Mary Jo serves as the Lisle Township Supervisor - the first Democrat elected to this office - and is doing the work of the people. In this role, she oversees the social services administered by the Township, as well as chairs the Township Board. She has applied her experiences in the Township to build relationships with other social service agencies and non-profits, increase the reach of the Township and introduce its services to those who had never before known what the Township did, and better align the services provided to the needs of the community. Additionally, Mary Jo founded the SEE Youth Coalition (formerly named the Youth in Crisis Coalition) in response to the alarming number of youth suicides in the communities that comprise the Township. This Coalition is a partnership of schools, local & DuPage County government agencies, non-profit organizations, concerned parents, and mental health practitioners working toward the common goal to reduce suicides and disrupt the journey that may lead to suicide.
Mary Jo is a member of the Advisory Committee for the West Suburban Community Food Pantry in Woodridge. She has volunteered on Rebuilding Together teams, helping repair and rebuild homes for those in need. She also enjoys volunteering to support STEM activities - from e-mentoring girls interested in STEM careers to judging the SCARCE Sustainable Design Challenge.
Mary Jo has been married to her husband Mark for 18 years. When returning to the area from DC, Mark and Mary Jo together decided to move their young family to Lisle, knowing this was where they wanted their kids to grow up and someday raise their own families. Their 3 young boys (now ages 10, 8, and 6) keep them busy with activities and school functions. And in an effort that will surely someday embarrass her kids, Mary Jo has participated in Career Day and Engineers Week with her kid’s schools. While an active business owner and involved in many aspects of her community, Mary Jo’s family is the light of her life and ongoing motivation for all she does.
Connect with Mary Jo
Email: elect.maryjomullen@gmail.com
