Jason Jakubowski

Adjunct Professor (SPP) and President and CEO, Connecticut Foodshare (MPA 2001)

Connecticut Foodshare

Jason Jakubowski is President & CEO of Connecticut Foodshare, the official Feeding America food bank serving the entire state of Connecticut. With a dedicated team of 120 employees and more than 5,000 volunteers, Connecticut Foodshare distributes more than 40 million meals each year through a statewide network of 600+ pantries and mobile distribution sites. Throughout Jason’s tenure, Connecticut Foodshare has been named a “Top Workplace” five times by the Hartford Courant and Hearst newspapers; and in 2020, Jason received the prestigious C-Suite Award from the Hartford Business Journal for his organization’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prior to joining Connecticut Foodshare, Jason served as Vice President of External Relations at Hospital for Special Care and he worked as the Director of Corporate & Community Development at Charter Oak State College. Jason holds adjunct faculty appointments at both the University of Connecticut School of Public Policy and Central Connecticut State University’s Department of Political Science.

Jason holds both a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science and a Master of Public Affairs from the University of Connecticut, and he is a graduate of Harvard Business School’s Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management program. At the age of 21, Jason was elected to the New Britain City Council followed by two terms as City Treasurer. In 2012, he was one of Connecticut’s seven Presidential Electors for Barack Obama.

Jason has chaired the Board of Directors at both Leadership Greater Hartford and Community Health Resources, and he currently chairs Feeding America’s national Policy Engagement and Advocacy Committee (PEAC). Jason also serves on the boards of the Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce, the West Hartford Chambers of Commerce and the United Way of Connecticut. He served on the Transition Teams for Governors Ned Lamont (2018) and Dannel P. Malloy (2010), and in 2019 he received the Distinguished Leadership Award from the National Association of Leadership Programs. In 2021, he received the Polaris Award for Visionary Leadership from Leadership Greater Hartford.

Jason currently lives in West Hartford with his wife and five children and was a longtime coach with the West Hartford Youth Baseball League.