Contact:
Morgan Schwanky
Michigan Municipal League
(734) 669-6320
[email protected]
www.mml.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 17, 2023
Monroe Mayor Selected as League President
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. – Sault Ste. Marie Mayor Don Gerrie has been named as the Michigan Municipal League’s 2023–24 Vice President.
Gerrie was selected Vice President by the 20-member Board of Trustees on October 18 during the Michigan Municipal League’s Convention in Traverse City. The Board also named Monroe Mayor Robert E. Clark as President. As Vice President, Gerrie is in line to become League President in 2024–25.
Gerrie said he was honored to be selected as the Board’s Vice President and pledged to work with Board President Clark and the full Board on the organization’s ongoing efforts in creating the places we all want to live and work in.
“Since I was elected, the League has always been my go-to place for any educational opportunities or assistance that our community has needed,” Gerrie said. “Every community is unique in its makeup, but the League provides support and guidance that can help unite us all on a successful path to the future. It is an honor and humbling experience to be able to serve for an extraordinary organization with such exceptional talent.”
Mayor Gerrie was elected to his mayoral position in 2019 and was re-elected in 2022. Gerrie served as a Sault Ste. Marie City Commissioner from 2007 to 2019, at which time he was elected mayor. Gerrie holds a bachelor’s degree from Alma College in business administration/accounting.
He has worked as an area director for the USDA Rural Development since 2003.
His wife Jaimee is an Associate Professor of Nursing at Lake Superior State University and has a legal nurse consulting business.
They have always enjoyed outdoor activities on Lake Superior in the summer, watching their kids play hockey every winter and now seeing their first grandchild start to grow up.
In addition to selecting Gerrie and Clark as the Board Vice President and President, the League membership also elected five new Board members during its annual meeting Wednesday, October 18. The new members are City of Wayland Mayor Jennifer Antel; City of Greenville City Manager George M. Bosanic; City of Farmington Mayor Pro Tem Joe LaRussa; City of Rogers City Mayor Scott McLennan; and City of Hastings Mayor David J. Tossava. All five were appointed to four-year terms on the 20-member board.
The new Trustees join Clark, Gerrie and the other volunteers who remain on the 2023–24 Board: Joshua Atwood, Lapeer City Commissioner; Rebecca Chamberlain-Creanga, Troy City Councilmember; Stephen Kepley, Kentwood Mayor; Valerie Kindle, Harper Woods Mayor; Robert La Fave, L’Anse Village Manager; Raylon Leaks-May, Ferndale City Councilmember; Joshua Meringa, Grandville City Councilmember; Khalfani Stephens, Pontiac Deputy Mayor; Deborah Stuart, Mason City Manager; Keith Van Beek, Holland City Manager; Mark Washington, Grand Rapids City Manager; Stephanie Grimes Washington, Detroit Director of Government Affairs; and Tim Wolff, Lake Isabella Village Manager.
The League Board, and League CEO/Executive Director Dan Gilmartin also thanked the outgoing Trustees for their years of service: League President Barbara Ziarko, Sterling Heights Councilmember; Peter Dame, City of Portage Chief Development Officer; and Carla Filkins, City of Cadillac Mayor.
For additional information, contact the League’s Morgan Schwanky, Content Developer, Marketing and Communications, at (734) 669-6320 and [email protected].
Michigan Municipal League is dedicated to making Michigan’s communities better by thoughtfully innovating programs, energetically connecting ideas and people, actively serving members with resources and services, and passionately inspiring positive change for Michigan’s greatest centers of potential: its communities. The League advocates on behalf of its member communities in Lansing, Washington, D.C., and the courts; provides educational opportunities for elected and appointed municipal officials; and assists municipal leaders in administering services to their communities through League programs and services. Learn more at mml.org.
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