Muriel Bowser will be recognized with the 2012 Phyllis Campbell Newsome Public Policy Leadership Award at the Center for Nonprofit Advancement’s Annual Celebration on October 17.

Muriel Bowser, a fifth‐generation Washingtonian, brings a pragmatic, no‐nonsense approach to legislation, oversight, and policy‐making in her hometown. She was first elected as the Ward 4 Councilmember in a special election in 2007. Eighteen months later, she was re‐elected with more than 75 percent of voters endorsing her ambitious agenda focused on improving neighborhoods, transforming schools, and revitalizing corridors.

In her first full term on the Council, Councilmember Bowser now chairs the Committee on Government Operations and is the Council’s representative on the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s (WMATA) Board of Directors. This committee is responsible for matters relating to elections, campaign finance, general services, personnel, grants management, government procurement, matters relating to the general operations and services of government, and matters relating to WMATA. She has previously chaired the Committee on Libraries, Parks and Recreation and the Committee on Public Services and Consumer Affairs. Councilmember Bowser strongly believes that effective grassroots leadership changes communities. She was twice elected to serve her Riggs Park neighborhood as Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner and served in executive posts in ANC 4B, the Lamond Riggs Citizens Association, and the Ward 4 Democrats. She now works in partnership with Ward 4’s Advisory Neighborhood Commissions, neighborhood associations and business groups.

Councilmember Bowser earned a Bachelor of Arts in History from Chatham College and a Master's degree in Public Policy from American University. It is with extreme pride and gratitude that she serves the nearly 80,000 residents of Ward 4.

Photo and bio courtesy of Councilmember Muriel Bowser.