Team Category: Steering Committee

Kate Gallego is the Mayor of Phoenix, Arizona, the 5th largest city in the nation. In November 2020, she was returned to office by the highest number of votes ever cast for a mayoral candidate in Phoenix. Mayor Gallego is the second elected female Mayor in Phoenix history and one of the youngest big city Mayors in the United States. She graduated from Harvard University and earned an MBA from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. Before being elected to Phoenix City Council, Mayor Gallego worked on Economic Development for local utility company, Salt River Project. Mayor Gallego has focused on three key policy areas during her time in office: diversifying the economy, strengthening infrastructure investment, and working to make Phoenix a leader in sustainability. The year 2020 saw a significant addition to that list: ensuring the public health is protected by adhering to the evolving science around the COVID-19 virus. Her record of proven results includes leading the campaign to pass Phoenix’s citywide transportation plan through 2050, which was the largest local government commitment to transportation infrastructure in the country when it passed in 2015. She has led efforts on criminal justice reform and ensuring equal pay for equal work. Mayor Gallego is passionate about building a Phoenix that works for everyone and improving the quality of life for all Phoenicians.

Barbara Buffaloe is Columbia’s mayor. She is passionate about sustainability and community development and leads initiatives to create a greener, more resilient city. Before becoming mayor, Barbara was the city’s first sustainability manager. Barbara serves on several boards, including the Missouri Innovation Center, Regional Economic Development Inc. (REDI) and the Columbia Chamber of Commerce. She’s the chair of the Environment Standing Committee for the U.S. Conference of Mayors and represented U.S. mayors at the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference in 2023. Barbara is part of the Bloomberg Harvard Civic Leadership program, which equips mayors and senior city officials to tackle complex challenges in their cities and improve the quality of life of their residents. She has held accreditation through Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) since 2004. A proud alumna of the University of Missouri, Barbara moved to Columbia from Springfield, Illinois, in the late 1990s. She earned a bachelor of science in environmental design and a master of science in environment and behavior. Barbara lives near downtown with her husband, Dr. Lucas Buffaloe, and their two children, Eleanor and Benjamin. She’s also an active member of the Columbia Rotary Club and continually seeks ways to give back.

Lauren has dedicated her career to protecting what makes Boise, Boise, while ensuring the next generation can build a life here too. She started off as a resident who just wanted to get involved by knocking on doors and organizing the community to protect our foothills. After the successful Boise Foothills Open Space Levy in 2001, she served on the Boise City Council, and in 2020 made history as Boise’s first woman elected as mayor. As a community volunteer, council member, and now Mayor, she works alongside neighbors to ensure Boise remains a safe and welcoming place where everyone can live, work, and thrive. Lauren is laser-focused on doing what she’s always done: listen to our neighbors and deliver for our people by building more homes at Boise budgets, investing in parks in every neighborhood, expanding protections for our cherished foothills and open space, and strengthening an economy that provides dignity and opportunity for every Boise family. Like so many in Boise, Lauren and her husband, Scott—her high school sweetheart—moved here as young newlyweds with big dreams to pay off student loans, buy a home, and build a family in a community they knew was special. She and Scott pinched pennies as they bought a fixer-upper and welcomed their first child. Eventually they became a family of four, they worked hard, their home became the center of gravity for the neighborhood kids, and they made memories doing what so many Boise families love to do: run through our foothills, ski Bogus, and backpack in Idaho’s wilderness. Their kids, Madeleine and Aiden, eventually graduated from public schools and started their own lives. While so much has changed in Boise over the last few decades, what made Lauren and Scott fall in love with this special place never did: strong neighborhoods, precious open space, opportunities to get ahead, and welcoming neighbors who look out for one another.