Executive Director

Jen DeLessio is a dedicated community advocate and a passionate resident of Madison for 18 years. She is excited to bring her professional leadership and personal commitment to her new role as the first Executive Director of Main Street Madison. Jen and her husband, Steve, live in the city of Madison with their two daughters.

Jen's passion for this role is deeply personal. Growing up, she saw her father serve the city of Oneonta, New York, for nearly 30 years, and his work helped make their beautiful and historic downtown a special place to grow up. This has inspired her to align her professional life with her personal commitment to community service here in Madison.

Recently, Jen has been actively contributing to the Madison community by volunteering for Horizon Elementary School and serving as a preschool teacher at Madison Methodist Church. She also championed fundraising efforts for the Make-A-Wish Alabama 2025 Trailblaze Challenge, raising over $10k for critically ill children.

With over two decades of professional experience, Jen is a seasoned project leader with a proven ability to manage complex programs and collaborate with diverse stakeholders. In her previous roles at NASA, she led a multi-year project to mitigate significant program risk and served on a governance board responsible for space system safety. As an application engineer for ANSYS, Inc., she worked with a wide range of customers across different industries and achieved the highest customer support rating on the East Coast technical team due to her commitment to client success. Jen's experience in building relationships and communicating complex information to a variety of audiences will be an invaluable asset to the Main Street Madison program.

Jen holds a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology, a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics from Russell Sage College.

Jen is eager to bring her unique blend of professional expertise and genuine dedication to help guide Main Street Madison's foundational efforts and support the families, businesses, and historic structures that make the city special.