Jan Hochadel

Jan Hochadel was elected president of AFT Connecticut in May 2015. At the time, she was in her sixth year as an officer of the affiliated State Vocational Federation of Teachers, representing the Connecticut Technical High School System’s educators and support personnel. 

Hochadel held a variety of union leadership roles with SVFT, including serving on the grievance and arbitration committee and as the building representative for J.M. Wright Technical High School in Stamford. She previously served as treasurer of AFT Connecticut’s state employee unions coalition and on the executive committee as jurisdictional vice president for members employed under the State Employees Relations Act.

In addition to her union leadership roles, Hochadel has a deep background in education and public service. She taught science at both Wright Technical High School, where she was the 2006-07 teacher of the year, and Kaynor Technical High School in Waterbury. She also served as an after-school supervisor, class adviser, a Beginning Educator Support Team mentor and chemical hygiene officer while working as an educator in the CTHSS.

In 2016, Hochadel was elected as an AFT vice president where she sits on the organizing committee. She was re-elected in 2018 to another two-year term and additionally serves on the AFT Public Employees program and policy council.

Since 2015, she has represented her state federation on the Connecticut AFL-CIO's leadership board, and in 2017 was elected as the state labor umbrella’s executive vice president. In 2019, she was elected to co-chair the inter-American regional executive committee of Public Services International, the global voice for public employee unions.

In late 2018, then Gov.-elect Ned Lamont tapped Hochadel to serve on his transition committee. His administration selected her in spring 2020 for a major role on the state’s Reopen Connecticut panel to address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. She represented teachers and school support staff on the public education subcommittee charged with developing plans to safely resume in-person learning.

Hochadel earned her Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of New Haven and holds a Master of Science degree in education and an 092 Intermediate Administrator Certification from Sacred Heart University.