About Our Speaker:
Mayor Horrigan took office in January of 2016 and is now in his second term as Akron’s Mayor, winning over 77% of the vote in 2019. With a core focus of growing Akron’s population again, he has been laser-focused on key areas of opportunity, including jobs and economic inclusion, improving infrastructure, advancing racial equity in city services, hiring and procurement, investing in safety equipment and programming, uplifting neighborhoods and investing in public spaces.
Some of Mayor’s key accomplishments include tripling Akron’s annual repaving budget by passing a vital income tax increase, reducing the City’s financial obligation on mandated sewer projects by $158 million, passing the City’s first non-discrimination ordinance, convening annual Healthy Equity Summits to address maternal and child health, partnering with the United Way of Summit County in opening the City’s first Financial Empowerment Center and convening a citizen-led Racial Equity and Social Justice Task Force to address systemic racism in our community.
Also, with a focus on reinvigorating business and housing development, Mayor Horrigan has also created northeast Ohio’s first open innovation hub called Bounce, commissioned and completed a Downtown Vision and Redevelopment Plan, instituted a tax abatement program to incentivize housing renovation and construction and commissioned the transformational redevelopment of Main Street in the center of downtown Akron.
As Mayor continues to move Akron forward, he strongly believes the city’s future rests on engaged and servant-style leadership.