A mayor and a chief resiliency officer were elected to the National Civic League’s board of directors at its last regular meeting. John Dailey, Mayor of the City of Tallahassee and Nicole Ferrini, Chief Resiliency Officer for the City of El Paso, TX were each elected to a three-year term. The National Civic League board of directors is made up of 22 civic leaders from around the U.S. and meets three times each year to help lead the 125-year-old organization.
Below is more information about the board’s new members.
Mayor John Dailey, Tallahassee, FL
Mayor Dailey has dedicated his professional life to building strong, vibrant communities. He has had public service in his sights his entire life. As the son of Dr. John Scott Dailey, the former Executive Director of the Florida Institute of Government and a former two-term Leon County School Board member, John could not have had a better role model to learn the value of just how effective quality leadership in government can be for our community.
He began his professional career working for the Florida League of Cities, representing over 400 municipal governments before the Florida Legislature and Administration. He also represented municipal governments across the nation before the U.S. Congress and Administration while working for the National League of Cities in Washington, D.C.
John received his bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Florida State University, where he served as President of the Student Government Association. He received his first master’s degree in Public Administration from FSU, and went on to receive a second master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the London School of Economics while serving as an Aide to Roger Casale (Labour – Wimbledon) in the British Parliament.
John returned to Tallahassee in 2005 and founded JDA Strategies, a research and development consulting firm focused on local governance. In 2006, he was elected to the Leon County Commission by the citizens of District Three and was re-elected twice without opposition. He served as Chairman of the Leon County Commission twice (2010-2011, 2016-2017). John is a graduate of Leadership Tallahassee and Leadership Florida.
John was elected Mayor of the City of Tallahassee in 2018. John and his wife Virginia have two young boys, Tommy and Henry.
Nicole Ferrini, Chief Resiliency Officer,
El Paso, TX
Nicole Ferrini holds degrees in both interior design and architecture from Texas Tech University. It is from that basis in the world of design that Nicole launched her career building better, stronger, more prosperous communities. In 2007, she founded Uncommon LLC as a mechanism to affect positive change within the built environment. The Uncommon concept of “Build for life” is about creating environments that move with the way we live now and change for the way we will live tomorrow, while always maintaining respect for the rich cultural history that represents where we’ve come from.
Nicole is a founding member of the USGBC Chihuahuan Desert Chapter, Eco El Paso Founding Board Member and member of the Congress for New Urbanism. Through her work with these organizations, Nicole has established herself as a community leader working to raise the bar for design and provoke a new conversation among civic leaders, industry professionals and the community at large. Most recently, Nicole acted as spearhead for the GRO El Paso Initiative focused on building grass roots resilience at a regional scale with emphasis on issues ranging from climate instability, resource conservation and crisis management to urban development and social justice.
For more information about the National Civic League board of directors please visit https://www.nationalcivicleague.org/who-we-are/