About
Women have made great strides in government, yet nearly seven in 10 elected offices across the country are still held by men. Local seats are no exception: women hold less than a third of all municipal offices nationwide. Only one in four mayors of cities over 30,000k are women, and many US cities have never elected a woman to serve as their mayor. This panel explores the history of women mayors, including trailblazing gains in recent years, the differences women make when leading their towns and cities, and what can be done to help more women ascend to and succeed in mayor’s offices.
Meet the Speakers
Moderator: Rima Khan, Student Voices, 1st Amendment-1st Vote
Rima Khan is a rising senior at Williamsville North High school in New York State, and is interning with Melina at 1st Amendment-1st Vote this summer. At 1st Amendment-1st Vote, Khan is updating their student tracker database and compiling current stats on women in US government executive leadership at the local, state and national levels. Rima is an academic, an activist for positive change, and a lead member of 1stA-1stV's Student Voices Team. She plans to pursue neuroscience and psychology at the University of Buffalo after graduating from high school.
Moderator: Jean Sinzdak, Associate Director, Center for American Women and Politics
As associate director of the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP), Jean Sinzdak is responsible for developing strategic initiatives and projects, as well as general administrative oversight. An experienced program director with a strong background in women’s leadership development and civic engagement initiatives, she directs CAWP's Program for Women Public Officials, which aims to increase the impact of women in politics and make political women's leadership more effective through national, regional, and local events and programs for women officeholders, candidates, and campaign operatives. She is currently expanding the national network of Ready to Run® of campaign trainings for women, a bipartisan effort to recruit and train women to run for all levels of office.
Sinzdak also oversees CAWP's New Jersey initiatives, including Ready to Run® New Jersey and the Bipartisan Coalition for Women's Appointments. She was a leader in the development of the Diversity Initiative of Ready to Run® New Jersey, designed to attract more women of color to the political process.
She is the project director of Teach a Girl to Lead®, a national education and awareness campaign to re-envision what public leaders look like, inspire girls and young women to follow in their footsteps, and make women's political leadership visible to America's youth. Sinzdak was instrumental in organizing The 2012 Project, a national nonpartisan campaign to recruit women to run for office in 2012, she helped coordinate project faculty, communications, and campaign strategy.
Prior to joining CAWP, she served as director of outreach and communications at the Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR) in Washington, DC. Earlier, she worked at the Council for Urban Economic Development, also in Washington, DC. Sinzdak received a Master of Social Work, specializing in social and economic development, from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and a B.A. in English from the University of Scranton.
Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome, Baton Rouge, LA
Sharon Weston Broome is the first woman elected as Mayor-President of Baton Rouge and East Baton Rouge Parish. With a focus on enhancing citizens' quality of life and infrastructure resilience, she has focused on improving disinvested communities, roads and transportation, public safety, education and economic development.
Mayor Broome's career includes serving on the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Council and the Louisiana State House of Representatives and State Senate, where she broke barriers as the first woman to have served in the highest positions of leadership as both Speaker Pro Tempore in the House and President Pro Tempore in the Senate.
Her leadership has been recognized nationally, earning her spots in the Bloomberg-Harvard City Leadership Initiative. She is the first vice president of the National League of Cities (NLC). Broome is on track to become the president of NLC in November 2024. She is also the Chair of the Mayor’s Alliance to End Childhood Hunger, Secretary of the African American Mayors Association, and a member of the advisory board of the US Conference of Mayors, and other national organizations.
She has received numerous awards for her service, including from the NAACP, Girl Scouts, and the Louisiana Coalition to End Domestic Violence. Broome is also a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated.
Mayor Broome holds a bachelor’s degree in mass communication from the University of Wisconsin-Lacrosse and a master’s degree Communications and Regent University and has been an adjunct instructor at Louisiana State University, Southern University and Baton Rouge Community College.
Karen M. Greenwald, Author, A Vote for Susanna, The First Woman Mayor
Karen M. Greenwald is an award-winning children’s author with experience in international law, government, and branding.
Her book, A Vote for Susanna, The First Woman Mayor, was named a Kansas Notable Book (2022). It was also chosen to represent Kansas at both the Library of Congress National Book Festival, and in the Library of Congress Center for the Book’s Great Reads from Great Places initiative.
In April (2024), The Mud Angels: How Students Saved the City of Florence launched. It has been featured in domestic and international magazines, news sites, and at an international academic conference.
Karen is dedicated to helping increase literacy. She hosts two “new book” drives a year for under-resourced school libraries. Professionally, her strategic branding efforts have earned 17 international awards.
Mayor Lily Mei, Fremont, CA
Mayor Lily Mei's journey in public service began with her election to the Fremont School board in 2008. Her ability to foster collaboration and build consensus earned her the trust and admiration of her colleagues and constituents alike.
In 2016, Mayor Mei's leadership and unwavering passion for improving her community won her the mayorship on platform focused on economic development, affordable housing, public safety, infrastructure, and environmental sustainability. Her message resonated with the residents of Fremont, and she emerged victorious, becoming the city's first female and first minority/Asian-American Mayor.
Throughout her tenure, Mayor Mei has implemented a plethora of transformative initiatives – in sustainability, affordable housing, and infrastructure - that have positively impacted her community. Under her mayorship, a historic number of affordable housing units were built, and Fremont was recognized as the 4th greenest city in the United States.
Mayor Lily Mei's exceptional leadership and dedication to public service have garnered recognitions from San Francisco Business Times Most Influential Women in Bay Area Business, International Leadership Foundation Leadership Award, and Citizens for Better Community Citizen of the Year. Her transformative initiatives and unwavering commitment to the well-being of Fremont's residents have positioned her city as a model for others to follow.
Mayor Michelle Romero, Henderson, NV
Michelle Romero was elected Mayor of Henderson in June 2022 and took the Oath of Office on January 3, 2023. She was elected at-large to the Henderson City Council in April 2019, representing Ward I.
Mayor Romero represents the City of Henderson on the Board of Directors of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance, Civilian Military Council, as one of the Chief Local Elected Officials overseeing the Board of Workforce Connections and as the Council representative to the Henderson Audit Committee.
Prior to her elected service, Mayor Romero served the City of Henderson for 25 years in several capacities, most recently as the Henderson Redevelopment Agency Manager from 2007 until 2016. In this role, Romero lead a team of professionals who indelibly changed the face of the Downtown Henderson/Water Street District and other maturing areas of the city. Her responsibilities included managing all services and activities of the Redevelopment Agency and the five Redevelopment Areas, which include Downtown, Cornerstone, Tuscany, Eastside and Lakemoor.
A native of Henderson, Romero graduated with a bachelor’s degree in public administration from Upper Iowa University and is the owner of Michelle Romero Consulting, which specializes in Redevelopment, Economic Development and Planning issues.
Former Mayor Diana Smith, Seneca Falls, NY Mayor-President
As the former Mayor of Seneca Falls and former President of the New York Conference of Mayors (NYCOM), Diana is a strong advocate for local governments. She actively promotes strategic municipal planning and authentic community engagement to support informed decision-making, through her work at MRB Group. She is passionate about encouraging women to pursue leadership positions - especially elected office! Diana currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Women’s Institute for Leadership and Learning, the Ability Partners Foundation, and the Finger Lakes Health Foundation.