Awards

Emerging Leader Award

This award recognizes a top performer who has served at least three years in the profession in one or more of the following roles: Management Analyst, Management Assistant, Assistant to the City Manager/Administrator, Assistant City Manager/Administrator, or Deputy City Manager/Administrator and has been identified by their organization as a dynamic early career leader whose skills and abilities set them apart and they are seen as having great future potential in our profession.

Christine Burns Award

This award recognizes MME professionals that have not only exhibited excellence in municipal management and leadership but also made a difference in enhancing career opportunities for women in the local government management profession. This award is presented annually in the name of Christine Burns, former Spring Lake Village Manager and MME President.

Innovation Award

This award recognizes MME professionals who have developed innovative solutions to providing services to their community. The innovation should have increased the level or quality of service offered and at a sustainable cost for the community to continue the service for the foreseeable future.

Community Leadership Award

This award recognizes MME professionals that have helped guide their community through a significant event that resulted in a favorable outcome. The event should have been a significant concern for the majority of the citizens and the solution a clear beneficial outcome to the community.

Mentoring Award

This award recognizes the MME professional who has made significant contributions in the development of new talent and/or who has designed and implemented outstanding career development programs for local government employees.

New Executive Achievement Award

This award recognizes new municipal executives to the profession – anyone from 1-5 years of experience. This application should express how the executive came into the profession and any challenges the new executive faced and navigated when beginning his/her career and recent accomplishments.

Executive of the Year Award

This award recognizes the MME professional that has made significant contributions to the field of local government management over the past 12 months.

Outstanding Assistant Award

This award recognizes the deputy or assistant manager or administrator that has demonstrated outstanding performance, particularly with a special project or during a period of unique conditions and circumstances.

DEI Leadership Award

This award recognizes MME professionals that have led, implemented, and supported diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in their organizations and communities that have improved the lives and experience of people across the range of human differences, i.e. race, gender, age, sexual preference, nationality, ethnicity, etc.

Retiree Impact Award

This award recognizes a retired MME professional who has made significant retirement contributions in the mentor of new talent and/or continued development and progress to experienced talent contributing to local government employees.

John M. Patriarche Distinguished Service Award

The Distinguished Service Award is the highest honor the association bestows. It honors members of the Michigan Municipal Executives association who have been members of the association for a significant number of years. Those honored have worked consistently and effectively to foster representative democracy by enhancing the effectiveness of local elected officials through innovative programs, projects, and by consistency in providing excellence in character and professionalism. A nominee must have been a member of the MME or its predecessors for a significant number of years.

To read more about the past recipients of the John M. Patriarche Distinguished Service Award, click here.

NOMINATIONS ACCEPTED THROUGH FRIDAY JULY 25, 2025.

2025: Thomas M. Markus

MME honors Thomas M. Markus with the John M. Patriarche Distinguished Service Award. In the press release announcing his receipt of the award, Markus said, “I am humbled to be considered among the previous recipients of the John Patriarche Award. I accept the award on behalf of all the employees, administrative staff members and elected officials who supported me and worked with me to make our city the best it could be. Michigan local governments have a strong history of providing the services our communities need and desire. Our member organizations, the Michigan Municipal Executives, and the Michigan Municipal League provide excellent support, service, and education for our members and communities.”

Markus has had nearly fifty years of experience as a municipal official, serving in seven cities in five different states. He was city manager for the City of Birmingham from 1989 until 2010. Markus then became city manager of Iowa City, Iowa, followed by Lawrence, Kansas, until his retirement in 2019. He came out of retirement to return to Birmingham in 2021, serving as its city manager until 2023.

“His return to Birmingham was a testament to the trust and confidence people placed in him, and to his commitment to preparing communities for the future. Through it all, his deep love of public service, unwavering ethical standards, and genuine care for people have defined his career,” said 2025 MME President Bridgette Gransden.

Markus holds a Bachelor of Science in Urban Studies and Business Administration/Finance from Minnesota State University and a Master of Public Administration from Roosevelt University. He is a member of the International City/County Management Association (ICMA), sits on numerous boards and state committees, and was MME president from 1996 to 1997. When not traveling to visit their three children and seven grandchildren, he and his wife Debra live on their tree farm in the Upper Peninsula.

Past Recipients:

Christine Burns – 2024
Curtis Holt – 2023
Al Vanderberg – 2022
Edward Koryzno – 2019
Jack Duso – 2018
Daryl Delabbio – 2017
Alex Allie – 2015
Kathie S. Grinzinger – 2014
Eric DeLong – 2013
Charles Graham – 2012
Mark Wollenweber – 2011
Theodore Staton – 2010
Kurt Kimball – 2009
Karl Tomion – 2008
Robert Hamilton – 2007
William M. Costick – 2006
Thomas W. Kressbach – 2005
Richard. A Huebler – 2004
William J. Baldridge – 2002
Frank A. Gerstenecker – 2001
Robert S. Kenning – 2000
Clifford R. Miles – 1997
Fred. H. Tholen, Jr. – 1995
Edward H. Potthoff, Jr. – 1994
John M Patriarche – 1992