Why I’m running: strengthening our community

Wilmette is a well-run Village and an attractive place to live. I am running to be able to better apply my experience and ability to ensuring Wilmette’s continuous improvement: maintaining our strong financial position; reinforcing and improving the infrastructure we all benefit from; and, especially, strengthening the sense of community that makes Wilmette distinctive.

My work on Wall Street as a financial analyst and my years advising Fortune 500 companies provide me with an ability to both distill critical details from dense financial reports and maintain a view of the overall financial health. Wilmette’s current financial position is good, but we have multiple, expensive infrastructure needs: a modernized police station, the replacement of lead water service lines, additional maintenance of our water treatment and delivery systems, and returning our streets and roads to their historical standard of quality. My financial expertise will help us chart a course to improve those assets while remaining within the bounds of a sensible budget.

But Wilmette is more than its infrastructure - it’s a distinctive sense of community. It’s a pack of 5th graders riding their bikes together to Highcrest; running into old friends at the coffee shops downtown; watching light-sabre “battles” at the Third of July; taking the family to Taste of Wilmette; strolling along tree-lined streets. The Village Board contributes to each of these common experiences that make living in Wilmette what it is. And Wilmette has created a strong comprehensive plan to further these experiences, with clear areas of focus from sustainability, to business & commerce, to community character to land use. My years of experience in corporate strategy and overseeing our public schools have trained me to dig into the details without losing track of the goals.

There are multiple good candidates for Village Board this year - and you can choose any three of them. I hope, whichever candidates you choose, that my distinctive experience, demonstrated public interest, track record of accomplishment, and dedication to strengthening our community will earn me, Mark Steen, your vote on April 1st.