Massachusetts Select Board Association Fall Conference 2026

Clarence Anthony has been the NLC’s executive director since 2013. He previously served for 24 years as the mayor of South Bay, Florida, having been first elected at the age of 24. He became president of the Florida League of Cities in 1995, and of the NLC in 1999. He was also part of the founding group of Palm Beach County Black Elected Officials and Discover Palm Beach County, the tourism development council. He served as first vice president of the International Union of Local Authorities. Following his time as mayor, Anthony represented local governments as founding treasurer and interim manager of United Cities and Local Governments. He later founded Anthony Government Solutions, a firm focused on strategic visioning, policy development and management restructuring for government and private sector organizations. Anthony has a master’s degree in public administration, with a specialization in city growth management policy, from Florida Atlantic University. In 2020, he received the National Forum for Black Public Administrators Marks of Excellence Award.

Marc Ott has been leading the ICMA for the past six years. Previously, he served for almost nine years as city manager of Austin, Texas; six years as assistant city manager in Fort Worth, Texas; four years as city administrator in Rochester Hills, Michigan; seven years as assistant city manager, deputy city manager and then city manager in Kalamazoo, Michigan; and eight years in leadership and support roles in Grand Rapids and in Jackson, Michigan. Ott has a bachelor’s degree in management, with a concentration in economics, and a master’s degree in public administration, both from Oakland University in Michigan. He has also completed the Senior Executives Program in State and Local Government at the Harvard Kennedy School. Ott has won numerous awards for his service, including the ICMA’s Award for Career Excellence. The National Forum for Black Public Administrators has honored him with a Marks of Excellence Award and its 2020 Hall of Fame Award.

Tami Pyfer has experienced the challenges and rewards of public service at many levels — from PTA president to Utah state education board member, and from city councillor to gubernatorial advisor, with steps in between. Now a nonprofit leader and USA Today’s 2025 Woman of the Year for the state of Utah, Pyfer will share her insights as the keynote speaker at the Women Elected Municipal Officials Leadership Luncheon during the MMA’s Connect 351 conference on Jan. 23 in Boston. Pyfer is the chief external affairs officer for UNITE and the co-creator of the nonprofit’s Dignity Index, a tool that measures political speech along an eight-point continuum from contempt to dignity.

Renowned futurist Mike Walsh explores how AI-driven agents capable of independent decision-making will redefine work, leadership, and innovation. Drawing on cutting-edge research and real-world case studies, he paints a bold picture of firms operating as networks of billions of AI agents, solving problems at unimaginable speed and scale.

Over the past several years, Timothy Shriver, a nonprofit leader and chair of the Special Olympics, has been dedicated to restoring dignity to the national conversation. As CEO and founder of UNITE, Shriver, along with Tom Rosshirt and Tami Pyfer, created the Dignity Index, a tool that scores political speech along a continuum ranging from dignity to contempt. The index helps political leaders and citizens rethink the language they use to describe people with different views. UNITE works with political leaders, school districts, colleges and universities, businesses and others to help ease divisions, prevent violence, and solve problems. Earlier this year, the nonprofit partnered with the University of Utah to promote the study, teaching and practice of dignity. UNITE and the university previously worked together in 2022, to score the political speech in Utah’s midterm congressional races. Shriver draws his insights from an extensive career in public service, which includes serving as CEO of the Special Olympics, working as a public school teacher, and producing numerous films. He co-founded and chairs the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning, sits on the boards of numerous organizations, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is the author of a bestselling book about his experiences, “Fully Alive: Discovering What Matters Most.” Shriver regularly appears on television shows and podcasts, and gives speeches and writes about the importance of restoring dignity in civic life. In November 2024, he wrote an opinion piece for Newsweek urging Americans to reject contempt in the wake of the presidential election. A nephew of the late President John F. Kennedy and U.S. senators Robert F. Kennedy and Ted Kennedy, Shriver is the son of Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who founded the Special Olympics, and Sargent Shriver, a one-time vice presidential candidate who served as a U.S. ambassador to France and helped found the Peace Corps.