ICMA

Founded in 1914, ICMA (International City/County Management Association) is the premier local government leadership and management professional organization. Its mission is to create excellence in local governance by advocating and developing the professional management of local government worldwide. In addition to supporting its 8,200 members, ICMA provides publications, data, information, technical assistance, and training and professional development to thousands of city, town, and county experts and other individuals throughout the world. I am privileged to serve on the Executive Board of ICMA.

Last Thursday and Friday, I participated in ICMA’s northeast regional summit in White Plains, New York. Along with dozens of other local government managers from the northeast states, I participated in a professional development workshop. The workshop, entitled “ Sustainability as Legacy: Leaving a Legacy of Public Service”, reviewed sustainability in a variety of areas, including economic, environmental, organizational and social.

As a member of the ICMA Board, I also participated in business meetings related to the organization. A main focus of the organization is to build the next generation of public managers. This is a challenge given demographic data that indicates a shortage of qualified candidates for managerial positions, along with the trend of Master of Public Administration graduates pursuing private non-profit opportunities.