Who is a member?
Our members are the local governments of Massachusetts and their elected and appointed leadership.
Clarence Anthony, CEO and executive director of the National League of Cities and a lifelong champion of municipal government, will be the Saturday keynote speaker on Jan 24 during Connect 351 in Boston.
Anthony will focus on building effective partnerships, bridging divides, navigating artificial intelligence, and addressing housing needs. (His appearance at Connect 351 is a programming update for Saturday, and a focus on AI will be shifted to a workshop at the conference.)
From the offices of City Hall in South Bay, Florida, where he was mayor for 24 years, to the national stage he now occupies, Anthony has forged a career centered around the needs of communities and the people who lead them.
“I truly do love public policy,” Anthony said during a May 7 episode of the “Chief Influencer” podcast. “I love my job and the people I work with. Most importantly, the work we do really does have a major impact on the lives of people and communities. It gives me a chance to really give back every day.”
Anthony’s passion for public service reaches back to his childhood. Growing up in a poor community, he worked in celery fields and bagged groceries at a Winn-Dixie supermarket through college.
“I feel like it prepared me, because I could almost visualize that there are so many more Clarences in communities all over America,” he said on the “Chief Influencer” podcast in May. “And I get the blessing and opportunity every day to help leaders, to think about ways they can improve their communities.”
After he received a master’s degree in public administration from Florida Atlantic University, Anthony’s early entry into politics grew out of a frustration with his local government. At age 23, he attended a City Commission meeting to relay his mother’s concerns about public safety in their neighborhood. When the mayor said the city was focused on other priorities, Anthony thought, “Oh my gosh, I know this guy didn’t just say my mother’s issues are not important.”
When Anthony returned to his seat, a colleague convinced him to run for mayor, and he beat the incumbent by 33 votes in a runoff election.
“I look back at the 23-year-old that decided to run, and the 24-year-old that got elected, and I honestly say to myself, ‘Were you crazy? What were you thinking at that time?’” Anthony said on “Chief Influencer.” “And I would tell myself again, ‘Step up, don’t complain, be a part of the solutions to the issues that are facing your community, find ways to give back, and be resilient as much as you can as you go through life.’”
Anthony has said he quickly learned that “the easy part is getting elected; the difficult part is governing.” But as mayor, he learned how to govern in his small city on Lake Okeechobee, creating educational and economic development opportunities for residents, and building the community’s first library.
Anthony’s influence quickly stretched beyond the limits of South Bay. He became president of the Florida League of Cities in 1995, and of the NLC in 1999. He was part of the founding group of Palm Beach County Black Elected Officials and Discover Palm Beach County, the tourism development council. He also served as first vice president of the International Union of Local Authorities.
After leaving the mayor’s office, Anthony represented local governments as founding treasurer and interim manager of United Cities and Local Governments. He also founded Anthony Government Solutions, a firm focused on strategic visioning, policy development and management restructuring for government and private sector organizations.
In 2013, he became CEO of the NLC, the nation’s largest and oldest organization representing America’s municipalities and their leaders.
Under Anthony’s leadership, the NLC successfully advocated for federal pandemic relief through the CARES Act and the American Rescue Plan Act, and championed the passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to support transportation, broadband and water projects in communities nationwide.
Anthony has also focused on helping local leaders as they confront increasing hostility, having authored a 2021 report, “On the Frontlines of Today’s Cities: Trauma, Challenges, and Solutions,” examining the decline of civility and democratic institutions at the local level.
Anthony serves on the Advisory Board for the University of Illinois Chicago Urban Forum, and is a member of the Board of Destination DC. He has also served on The GEO Group’s board of directors, and in 2021 was named as a member of the Council on Underserved Communities. In 2020, he received the National Forum for Black Public Administrators Marks of Excellence Award.