KANSAS CITY, MO— Ted A. Gaebler, forward-thinking local government leader, lecturer, teacher, entrepreneur, and mentor to countless MPA students, recently was honored as a 2016 recipient of the Distinguished Service Award by ICMA, the International City/County Management Association. Mr. Gaebler was recognized at a “Celebration of Service” presentation on Wednesday, September 28, as part of the 102nd ICMA Annual Conference in Kansas City, Missouri.

ICMA’s prestigious Distinguished Service Award (DSA) is presented to a city, town, or county manager who has retired from and made an outstanding contribution to the local government management profession. ICMA’s DSA recognizes those individuals whose service has been evaluated by their peers as strong or exceptional and who have made major contributions beyond direct service to local government.

Mr. Gaebler was cited for his commitment to creating a government that is community-centric and that puts its residents first through pragmatic, internally driven change; decentralized authority; increased transparency and accountability; reduced management layers; and public/private partnerships—all to provide more efficient and cost-effective services.

“I’ve spent my entire career not just managing but trying to make our profession and each of the jurisdictions that I worked in better,” Mr. Gaebler told conference attendees during his DSA acceptance remarks.  “And I would urge all of you to do the same thing. We all get paid to be managers but take that little extra step; go beyond managing and think about the kinds of contributions you can make to change the culture of your organizations and the culture of our profession. We are the professionals. We are the ones who can make a huge difference.”

Mr. Gaebler has served local government for nearly five decades. After receiving a master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1965, he began his career as an intern with the city of Oxford, Ohio. He later accepted positions as an administrative assistant (1965-68) and assistant to the city manager (1969-70) with the city of Salem, Oregon.

  Mr. Gaebler went on to serve as assistant manager of Columbia, Maryland (1970-72); city manager of Vandalia, Ohio (1972-75); and assistant city manager (1975-78) and city manager (1978-85) of Visalia, California. He was named city manager of San Rafael, California, in 1985, the same year he launched The Gaebler Group, Inc., a privately held consulting firm in San Rafael, California, with which he served as president until 2000.

It was during this period, in 1993, that Mr. Gaebler co-authored the seminal best-seller, Reinventing Government: How the Entrepreneurial Spirit is Transforming the Public Sector. The book served as an inspiration to those progressive managers who believed that governments needed to be more mission-driven, customer-focused, and results-oriented. Reinventing Government also informed the 1993 creation of The National Partnership for Reinventing Government, the Clinton-Gore Administration's initiative to reform the way in which the federal government operated.

A member of ICMA since 1965, Mr. Gaebler served on the organization’s Committee on International Activities (1996-97), Committee on International Management Issues (1997-99), and Management Task Force on International Affiliations (1999-2001). He also served on ICMA’s Base Reuse Consortium (1990s)and Nominating Committee (2004-05) and has advocated for professional local government management an ICMA Senior Advisor since 2014.

He was recognized with the organization’s Career Development Award in Memory of L.P. Cookingham in 2009 and received an ICMA Service Award in 2013 in recognition of his 35 years of service to local government. Mr. Gaebler has been a member of the Alliance for Innovation since 2012.                                                                                                                       

About ICMA

ICMA, the International City/County Management Association, advances professional local government management worldwide. The organization’s mission is to create excellence in local governance by developing and fostering professional management to build sustainable communities that improve people’s lives. ICMA provides member support; publications; data and information; peer and results-oriented assistance; and training and professional development to more than 11,200 appointed city, town, and county leaders and other individuals and organizations throughout the world.