Senator Daniel A. Wolf Served 2011 - 2016 Democrat - Cape and Islands

Dan Wolf is a third-term Massachusetts State Senator representing the Cape and Islands District. He is also the Founder and Chief Executive Officer for Cape Air in Hyannis, Massachusetts. On November 4th, Dan was elected by the people of the Cape and Islands to serve a third term as State Senator.

After graduating from Wesleyan University with a bachelor’s degree in political science, he then moved to Cape Cod to earn his private and commercial pilot licenses. He has worked as a community and union organizer in the Boston area and managed the Chatham Municipal Airport, where he also worked as a flight instructor and aircraft mechanic.

In 1988, Dan and a handful of others founded Cape Air and Nantucket Airlines. They began with six employees and one airplane flying one route. Cape Air is currently one of the largest independent regional airlines in the country, serving dozens of communities and hundreds of thousands of passengers annually in regions as diverse as Key West, rural Missouri, upstate New York, and Guam. Cape Air employs over 1,000 people and is one of the largest employers in the region. Dan is acting CEO and continues to stay current with his Air Transport Pilot license, flying as a pilot for Cape Air when his schedule permits.

Within the Massachusetts Senate, Dan serves as the Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development. Last legislative session, Senator Wolf actively worked on the state’s historic minimum wage and unemployment insurance reforms, one of the nation’s first Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights, and legislation to strengthen the enforcement of Massachusetts wage laws. Senator Wolf also serves as the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Steering and Policy.

In 2014, Dan was awarded by:

the Massachusetts Workforce Professionals Association and the Massachusetts Department of Career Services with the 2014 Career Center Champion Award for his strong advocacy of job training and employment and career services for all of the Commonwealth’s workforce;

the SEIU Local 509 with the 2014 Legislator of the Year Award for his efforts in the Senate on raising the Commonwealth’s minimum wage and reforming the unemployment insurance system;

the Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety (MassCOSH) with the distinguished Public Leader Award for his advocacy in employment and safety issues such as protecting domestic workers, expanding workplace safety standards, and increasing benefits for families of fallen workers;

the Massachusetts Community College Council (MCCC) with a MCCC Legislative Award for his commitment to public higher education;

the Massachusetts Chapter of the American Planning Organization with the Legislator of the Year Award for championing zoning reform in Massachusetts and for being a leading advocate for smart growth as a means to encourage sustainable economic development, increase housing and protect the environment;

the Massachusetts Family Planning Association with the 2014 Family Planning Award for his support of reproductive rights and family planning services in the Senate.

As a business and community leader, Dan has served on many of the region’s most important non-profit and civic organizations, including the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce (as President for one term), the Association to Preserve Cape Cod, the Arts Foundation of Cape Cod, Housing Assistance Corporation, the executive committee of the Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank, the Federal Reserve Bank’s board of advisers, and many others. Under his leadership Cape Air has received recognition for being one of the most philanthropic companies in southeastern Massachusetts. Moreover, in line with his business vision and community values, Cape Air is now partly employee-owned.

He and his wife Heidi Schuetz live in Harwich on Cape Cod.