A ruggedized, two-piece electrical connector. One piece, which may be configured for mounting to a daughtercard, is assembled from wafers. Each wafer includes a shield member and signal contacts held by an insulative member. Within the insulative member, the signal and ground contacts run in spaced, parallel planes. Both signal and ground contacts terminate in pads along a mating segment of the connector. The second piece of the connector, which may be configured for mounting to a backplane, has a housing with slots to receive the mating segments of the wafers. Within the slots, the backplane connectors have contacts that provide at least four points of contact with each pad. The contact points are at least two different heights on each side of the pad.