Elena Trueworthy was appointed as interim Commissioner for the Connecticut Office of Early Childhood (OEC) effective October 1, 2025.
Trueworthy has been with OEC since 2019, first as Governor Lamont’s appointee to serve as the director of the agency’s Head Start State Collaboration Office. In 2023, she was appointed deputy commissioner.
Previous positions
Before that, she was associate director of early childhood investments with the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, where she co-managed a portfolio of grants that support child health, parent education and leadership, community engagement, family child care, bilingual career pathways, and program capacity building. She also worked from 2011 to 2016 as the director of the organization’s Hartford Area Child Care Collaborative, in which she led a 350-member collaborative to improve child care quality and access.
From 2001 to 2011, she worked in two Head Start positions with the Human Resources Agency in New Britain — special services senior manager and family and community development manager.
Volunteerism and education
An active member of her community, Trueworthy has volunteered with several organizations, including the Connecticut Latino and Puerto Rican Affairs Commission and various local community-led groups. She earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Connecticut and a master’s degree in human services from Springfield College.