Meet the County Clerk

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Nassau County Clerk Maureen O'Connell began her professional career as a Registered Nurse at North Shore University Hospital upon graduating from Flushing Hospital and Medical Center School of Nursing. During her service there she designed and implemented the H.O.M.E. pilot program for the home-based management of cancer patients of the hospital. She also co-authored numerous articles regarding hospice care.

Ms. O'Connell holds a B.S. in Health Care Administration from St. Joseph's College and earned her Juris Doctor from St. John's University School of Law, receiving the American Jurisprudence Award in Insurance Law. She combined her knowledge of law and health administration by practicing in the areas of civil litigation, elder law and health regulatory compliance in the second largest law firm in Nassau County at the time.

Ms. O'Connell served as Trustee and Deputy Mayor of the Incorporated Village of East Williston from 1991 through 1998. Ms. O'Connell is a member of the Nassau County Bar Association having served on the Medical-Legal and Elder Law-Social Services-Health Advocacy Committees, and is a member of the Oncology Nursing Society. She has served the community as a member of the Mercy League of Roslyn and the Willistons, and the American Cancer Society Breast Cancer Detection team. She serves on the Board of Directors of the St. John's University School of Law Alumni Association and the Maternity & Early Childhood Foundation. In addition, she is a member of the School of Nursing Advisory Boards of Nassau Community College, Molloy College, and State University of New York at Farmingdale, as well as an adjunct faculty member of the Adelphi University School of Nursing. Ms. O'Connell has been named one of the 50 Most Influential Women in Business by Long Island Business News.

In February 1998, Ms. O'Connell was the first woman elected to the New York State Assembly to represent the 17th District, which included parts of the towns of Hempstead and North Hempstead in Nassau County, New York. During her tenure as State Legislator, Ms. O'Connell served as the Ranking Member of the Assembly's Health Committee and in 2001, chaired the statewide taskforce on the critical shortage of nurses. She also served on the Assembly Judiciary, Insurance and Ethics Committees. She was a member of the Sexual Assault and Violence Education (S.A.V.E.) taskforce on sex crimes and violence against women and children. Ms. O'Connell developed a distinguished record of constituent service and promoted numerous community based programs. Further, she worked on numerous measures that were enacted into law.

In November 2005, Ms. O'Connell was elected countywide to the Office of Nassau County Clerk and overwhelmingly re-elected in 2009 and 2013. As County Clerk, an office created by the New York State Constitution, Ms. O'Connell serves as Clerk of the Supreme and County Courts and is also responsible for maintaining the official index of documents relating to real property ownership in Nassau County. Upon taking office, she processed over a million backlogged records. With the assistance of state grants awarded to the office, Ms. O'Connell implemented a conversion of paper land records to an electronic platform. Utilizing enhanced technology to further modernize the office, Ms. O'Connell is continually developing new initiatives including the electronic filing of documents for State Supreme Court actions, electronic filing of land records and interfaces with New York State creating paperless filings. Ms. O'Connell remains committed to always enhancing the level of service provided by the County Clerk's Office to the public in an efficient and secure manner.

A lifelong resident of Nassau County, Ms. O'Connell resides in East Williston with her husband Don where they raised their son.