The Fund is governed by a 13-member Board of Trustees, composed of elected and appointed municipal officials. Administration is provided by MML’s Risk Management Services Division.

Learn more about serving as a Fund Trustee and how to apply.

Chair: David J. Tossava
Mayor, City of Hastings

David has over fifteen years’ municipal experience and has served as mayor of Hastings for eight years. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Michigan Association of Mayors.

Brian Boggs
City Council Member, City of Durand

Brian Boggs has more than 18 years’ experience in local government and is currently the Shiawassee County Administrator and a longtime member of the Durand City Council. Brian is an Assistant Professor for the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Programs in International Studies and Programs at Michigan State University. He has written extensively on educational organizational complexity, specifically as it affects urban schools and policy. He has most recently been published in Teacher’s College Record at Columbia with a piece titled, “Conceptualizing Virtual Instructional Resource Enactment in an Era of Greater Centralization, Specification of Quality Instructional Practices, and Proliferation of Instructional Resources.” Further, he has published book chapters in: Handbook of Urban Education Leadership; Handbook of Education Politics and Policy; School to Prison Pipeline; Emerging Issues and Trends in Education; Beyond Marginality; and Educational Policy Goes to School. He has also been published in the Journal of School Public Relations. Brian holds a Ph.D. in educational policy from Michigan State University and is currently finishing his J.D. from Mitchell Hamline School of Law. He holds an MA in Rhetoric and a BA in English from the University of Michigan.

Victor Cardenas
City Manager, City of Novi

Victor Cardenas joined the City of Novi as Assistant City Manager in October 2010. He was named Interim City Manager in November 2022 and was selected as City Manager in June 2023. For twelve years, Mr. Cardenas assisted the City Manager in developing program strategies to achieve City Council goals and to improve the quality of life in Novi. He coordinates day-to-day operations and ensures integration of services among City Departments as well as the dependable delivery of high-quality services while conserving community resources.

Mr. Cardenas instituted a citizen relationship software that has greatly improved Novi’s receipt of service requests and workflow management and created a digitized version of the City’s Capital Improvement Program.

He continues to be active with the International City/County Management Association, being elected to the Board of Directors in 2020, the Michigan Municipal Executives and multiple committees, associations, and organizations throughout the region. Additionally, he sits on the boards for the Intelligent Transportation Society of Michigan and the Michigan Library Network.

Mr. Cardenas holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Grand Valley State University and a Master of Public Affairs degree from Indiana University. Victor and his wife Kathryn live in Novi have three children, Lewis, Reina, and Emerson.

Daniel Coss
City Administrator, City of DeWitt

Daniel Coss was appointed DeWitt’s City Administrator in 2011, after previously working for the City of Marysville for more than 11 years. Dan is originally from the mid-Michigan area and has a Bachelor of Science in Forestry from Michigan State University and a Master’s of Science Degree in Administration from Central Michigan University. He is married with two children.

Bridget Dean
Mayor, City of Berkley

Bridget Dean was first elected to Berkley City Council in 2019 and re-elected in 2023. She and her husband have lived in Berkley since 2005 and have two grown children. Bridget has owned the knit shop “…have you any Wool?” in Berkley for twenty years. Being both a resident and business owner gives her a unique perspective and compliments the skills already on City Council.

Bridget has been active in numerous organizations, as a member and vice chair of the Berkley Downtown Development Authority and several of its committees, and as a member and board member of the Greater Berkley Chamber of Commerce. Bridget has a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a Master’s in Social Work, both from the University of Michigan.

Maureen Donker
Mayor, City of Midland

Maureen has more than sixteen years’ experience as a municipal official, having served as mayor of Midland since 2009. She has been the Executive Director of The Reece Endeavor of Midland, a community program providing homes for individuals with special needs, since 1998.  Maureen is also active in the Midland community, serving on various local and regional civic organizations.

Brad Gurski
Vice Mayor, City of  Saint Johns

Brad serves as the Vice Mayor of the City of St. Johns, a position he has held since 2022 following his election to the City Commission in 2020. He also serves as Vice Chair of the Clinton Area Ambulance Service Authority, contributing to regional public safety and emergency service planning.

Adam Smith
City Manager/Municipal Executive, City of Grand Ledge

Adam Smith has had the opportunity to work in village, city, and county government since 2003. He currently serves as the city manager/municipal executive for the City of Grand Ledge.

Adam is a full member of ICMA and an active member of the Michigan Municipal Executives (MME). For many years, he has served as the MME Advocacy Chairperson and worked to place MPA student interns and fellows in communities throughout Michigan. He served on the MME Board of Directors from 2013-2016.

Adam currently serves on the MML Workers’ Compensation Fund Board of Trustees and has previously served as chair of the Michigan Municipal League’s Municipal Services Committee. Smith served as the MML’s City Manager Representative on the Elected Officials Academy Board of Directors for six years and received the League’s Special Award of Merit in 2013.

Adam has a Bachelor’s degree in both Public Administration and Sociology and a Master’s in Administrative Leadership from Central Michigan University. He has a Certificate in Strategic Foresight from the University of Houston and is a graduate of the Disney Institute for Leadership Excellence and the Gettysburg Leadership Institute. Adam also holds the designation of a Certified Labor Relations Leader from Michigan State University.

Through an array of workshops over the past several years, Smith has spoken with hundreds of elected officials, appointed officials, and municipal management personnel regarding effective Council-Manager relationships, municipal partnerships, innovation, and leadership. Adam remains committed to life-long learning.

Craig Stolsonburg
Village Manager, Village of Middleville

Craig has been Village Manager of Middleville since 2022. Prior to joining the village, he was a Business Solutions Professional with West Michigan Works! for six years, and began his career with twenty years in real estate. He has previously served on the Barry County Board of Commissioners for eight years, including five years as Chair. A lifelong resident of the Middleville area, Craig is actively involved in his community, including membership in the Middleville Rotary Club and the Thornapple Area Enrichment Foundation (Past President), and sitting on the Boards of Directors for the Thornapple Credit Union and Barry County United Way. Additionally, he has coached for the Thornapple Kellogg High School wrestling and football programs, and volunteers as a public address announcer at school sporting events. Craig is married with two adult children and enjoys spending time with family, golfing, and rooting for the Detroit Lions.

Deborah Stuart
City Manager, Mason City

Deborah Stuart has served as City Manager of Mason City since January 2016. She has more than 20 years of local and state experience in community and economic development, most recently in her role as Community Development Incentives Director for the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC). Previously, she served the MEDC as its Community Assistance Team Specialist and the City of Jackson in various economic development roles. Deborah currently sits on the Boards of Directors for three statewide entities: the Michigan Municipal League, the Michigan Municipal League Foundation and the Michigan Municipal Executives. In addition, she is an active contributor to the 16/50 Project in Michigan, focused on increasing the number of women in local government executive positions through training, mentoring, and promotion of the field to undergraduates. Deborah holds a Bachelor’s degree in Communication from Central Michigan University and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Western Michigan University. She is a proud resident of the City of Mason with her husband and her two children.

Dan Gilmartin (Ex Officio)
Executive Director & CEO, Michigan Municipal League

Dan is the executive director and CEO of the Michigan Municipal League.  Through his work with communities, Dan is recognized as a national leader in the fields of urban revitalization, placemaking, local government reform, and transportation policy.

Under Dan’s leadership, the League powers innovative programs and practices that improve communities in Michigan and beyond. He is a frequent national and international speaker. In recent years, he has given presentations internationally including in China, Sweden, Australia, and Denmark, and across the nation—from Los Angeles to D.C. to Vermont. In 2018, Dan gave highly publicized testimony before a U.S. Congress Senate Committee on behalf of local governments nationwide regarding state and local transportation infrastructure needs.

Dan is frequently quoted in state and national publications on community-related topics.  He has also authored numerous opinion columns that have appeared in statewide publications, including the Detroit News, Crain’s Detroit Business, mlive.com, and Bridge Magazine.

In 2018, Dan added podcast host to his resume on the Economics of Place podcast, part of the League’s We Love Where You Live podcast series. He is a frequent blogger and a contributing author to the books The Economics of Place: The Value of Building Communities Around People and the follow-up Economics of Place: The Art of Building Great Communities.

Dan is actively engaged in the National League of Cities and previously served on the NLC’s board of directors.  In 2018, he was selected to the NLC’s National Task Force on Housing and in 2015 was a member of NLC’s President Election Task Force.

Prior to his current position, Dan served for four years as the lead advocate for Michigan’s communities in Lansing and Washington, D.C., where he concentrated on a number of key issues including transportation, land use, and urban redevelopment.

Dan is a Michigan kid, a Detroit native (and booster), and currently resides in the historic downtown of Northville, Michigan with his wife, Lori, and two young sons.

Michael Forster
Fund Administrator, Michigan Municipal League

Mike oversees all administrative, financial and regulatory aspects of the League’s casualty and workers’ compensation insurance programs. He is responsible for implementing the policies of the insurance program governing boards and for reporting operating results to the boards and League members. Mike has been with the League since 1990. Before his appointment as Director of Risk Management in 2004, he held the positions of Claim Manager and Assistant Director of Risk Management. Mike also spent eight years with a national insurance carrier as a multi-line claims supervisor. A 1981 graduate of the University of Michigan – Dearborn, Mike is currently pursuing the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) designation.