The ICMA Executive Board convened in Chicago, Illinois, for its quarterly meeting June 4-5, 2021. During the meeting, they interviewed candidates and voted to select Jeff Towery, city manager of McMinnville, Oregon, as 2021-2022 ICMA President-Elect. As president-elect, Towery will play a key role in advancing professional local government leading up to his term as president, which will begin during the 2022 annual conference in Columbus/Franklin County, Ohio.

ICMA President Jim Malloy, when announcing the selection, noted

“The ICMA board had a difficult choice between excellent candidates for our next president-elect.  Jeff Towery demonstrated a passion for the board’s priorities and communicated a clear vision on how he would continue to move ICMA forward as the next president-elect. After serving with Jeff previously on the board, I know his commitment to ICMA and its values and that he will make our association and his community proud with his service in the president’s role.”

Towery served on the ICMA Executive Board 2014-2017, where he was a board liaison to the Sustainable Communities Advisory Committee (2015) and Governmental Affairs and Policy Committee (2016-17). He was a member of the Conference Planning Committee for the 2020 UNITE Conference and is a member of the host committee for the 2021 Annual Conference in Portland.

Regarding his selection, Towery said,

“I am humbled to receive the board’s nomination to serve as president-elect of ICMA. This is an exciting and challenging time for our profession, and I look forward to working on behalf of ICMA and its members for the next three years. I am especially honored to be the first member from Oregon to serve in this role.”

Towery began his local government career in Coos Bay, Oregon, as assistant to the city manager, city manager pro tem and assistant city manager from February 1986 to May 1990. From there he went on to serve Cottage Grove, Oregon, as city manager from June 1990 to March 1997 and held the same position in Auburn, New York, from April 1997 to November 1998. In August 2001, he joined Lane County, Oregon, as a management analyst II for one year and then served as the land management manager until April 2007. He was hired as assistant city manager for the city of Springfield, Oregon, in April 2007, serving in that position until June 2016. Towery assumed his current position as the city manager of McMinnville, Oregon, in February 2017. He and his wife Doris are Rotary members and the proud parents of two children, Jared and Paige.

Learn more about the ICMA Executive Board.