Jen Benson was elected to represent the Massachusetts 37th Middlesex District on November 4th, 2008. She took office on January 7th, 2009.

Jen's commitment to public education led her to run for the Lunenburg School Committee in 2003. She served for over five years on the committee and became the elected Chair. Jen began her tenure on the board during a difficult time for the schools and was instrumental in rebuilding the relationships between the schools, the town, and the other town boards.

• As a member of the Lunenburg School Committee, Jen brought the schools and town together to create a balanced budget for five straight years, while also improving the education and test scores of the children.
• As Chair of the School Committee, Jen was responsible for a budget of $15 million and has worked effectively as liaison to the Finance Committee and member of the Capital Planning Committee.
• As member of the Primary School Building Committee, Jen worked with architects, builders, and town officials to build an outstanding new school while completing the project on budget.

Jen has also served as Chair and Vice-Chair of the Lunenburg Democratic Town Committee, where she re-energized community activists and helped to elect strong leaders to represent the region.

Jen and Brent Benson have been married since 1993. Brent works for Oracle Corporation as a Software Applications Architect. Jen and Brent have three children, Hannah, 17, Maya, 15 and Noah, 111 who all attend the Lunenburg public schools.

Jen grew up in Rochester, NH. She attended Rochester Public Schools and graduated from Spaulding High School. She began her college career at Rochester Institute of Technology for photography and transferred to Florida Atlantic University where she graduated with a BA in Art History.

Her father, Bill, worked as an journeyman patternmaker at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. When Bill was laid off, just as Jen was due to arrive, he became a letter carrier for the US Postal Service. After 13 years as a letter carrier, Bill went on to become a realtor and then back to patternmaking in Beverly, MA.

Jen's mother, Betty, began working in the post office as a clerk after Jen started kindergarten. She soon moved up to her own rural route, and started taking night courses. She graduated with a BS in Accounting from New Hampshire College. Betty began to work her way through the US Postal Service and after receiving her MBA at the University of New Hampshire, she worked all the way up to the USPS Headquarters in Washington, DC.

Jonathan, Jen's brother, is an architect in Concord, NH. He is a graduate of Syracuse University. He still lives in Rochester, NH with his wife Lisa, and their 2 children, Emily and Sarah.