Sarah V. Compo Pierce 2024-2027

Sarah V. Compo Pierce was elected the first woman Mayor of the City of Watertown in November 2023 earning 70% of the vote, one of the biggest wins in City history.

Sarah Virginia Compo was born in Watertown on November 23, 1985 to Thomas and Judy Palumbo Compo. After graduating from Immaculate Heart Central in 2004, she attended SUNY Geneseo, where she studied Communications and Business. During her time at SUNY Geneseo, she spent a semester interning in New York City at NBC’s Today Show. Following graduation, she worked as a reporting assistant to then Today Show Financial Editor and bestselling personal finance author Jean Chatzky. 

Mayor Pierce returned to Watertown in 2010, accepting a position at WWNY-TV 7 as a reporter and weekend anchor. In 2012 she joined the staff of State Senator Patty Ritchie, where she would spend more than a decade of her career. In Senator Ritchie’s office, Mayor Pierce served in a number of roles, eventually as her Chief of Staff for the final few years of the Senator’s tenure in the Senate. In that role, Mayor Pierce was one of the youngest Chiefs of Staff in the New York State Senate, as well as the first woman to serve as a Chief of Staff in the 48th Senate District. Currently, Mayor Pierce works as a senior writer and producer for a personal finance-focused media company. In addition, she and her husband Paul own North Country Grave Grooming, a company specializing in the care of gravesites throughout Northern New York. 

Mayor Pierce was appointed to Watertown City Council in January of 2019 to fulfill the term of now Senator Mark C. Walczyk, who at the time was serving on Council and elected to the New York State Assembly. In November of 2019, she was elected to a full Council term, serving January 2020 through December 2023. 

Mayor Pierce is the great-granddaughter of William J. Flynn, who served on City Council from 1946 to 1962 and also ran for Mayor, though he was unsuccessful. In her Mayoral acceptance speech, she noted her win was the continuation of that family dream. 

She is married to Paul A. Pierce and the couple have one daughter, Virginia Flora.