Meet Board of Ed candidate Erica Breckner Schwedel

Erica and her husband, Andrew, moved to New Canaan in 2010 and have two middle school children who attended West School and are currently enrolled at Saxe Middle School. Erica has volunteered for many New Canaan organizations and institutions over 15+ years. She was a Board member for the New Canaan Newcomers for five years, the Young Women's League of New Canaan for five years, the New Canaan CARES parent Board for two years and served on the West Elementary School Parent Teacher Council for three years, including as co-president for two years. Erica currently serves as a board member and the Chair of Governance at the New Canaan Community Foundation, the program lead for the boys 7-8 grade Squash Team, and a parent volunteer and webmaster for New Canaan’s Boy Scout Troop 70.

Erica is currently finishing a four-year term on the Board of Education, in which she is also Secretary of the Board. She serves on three Board committees, the Executive committee (3 years), the Communications committee (4 years) and the Facilities committee (since its inception 1 year ago). Erica also participated in the parent-led Dome committee to renovate the Planetarium at New Canaan High School. 

Erica approaches her role on the Board of Education with preparation, commitment, and respect for the process. She attends all the meetings, comes ready to contribute, and asks questions that aim to strengthen the Board’s collective thinking, deepen understanding, and support transparency for parents and the broader community.

Erica earned a B.S.E. in Operations Research Engineering from Princeton University and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Her professional experience includes management consulting for PricewaterhouseCoopers, IBM and Bain & Company. Her non-profit educational experience includes roles in development for Achievement First Charter Schools and grants management in Education for the Dalio Foundation.