David L. Howard was first elected in 2009 and served on the City Council of Charlotte, NC for six years. He chaired Governance and Accountability Committee, and co-chaired the Transportation and Planning Committee and served on the Environment Committee. Howard also formerly chaired the Transportation & Planning Committee and was a member of the Economic Development and Council-Manager Relations Committees. He also was the Council Representative for the Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization (CRTPO). He also represented that Mayor on the Red Line Transit Task Force. He co-chaired the Transit Finance Working Group with Huntersville Mayor Jill Swain. This committee was charged by former Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx to explore financing options to move the regions mass transit program forward.

He is currently the Senior Vice President of Strategic Initiatives and Fund Development of The Housing Partnership where he has worked since 1997. The Housing Partnership is the largest developer of affordable, workforce housing in the region, having participated in the development of over 2,500 housing units. Howard was the project lead on a $120M, 90+ acre Brightwalk at Historic Double Oaks revitalization project, the group’s largest redevelopment project to date.

Howard was a member of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Planning Commission for six years, serving as its chairman from July 2007 to June 2009. He is also chaired of the Planning Coordinating Committee, a county-wide regional planning body which consists of officials from all elected bodies in Mecklenburg County, and the former co-Chair of the CONNECT Sustainable Growth Cabinet, which is part of regional visioning effort of local Council of Governments (COG).

Howard was selected as the 2012 Richard H. Hagemeyer Educational Advancement Awardee, an annual honor for a former student from Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC). The Charlotte Business Journal selected him as a member of the 2009 annual ‘40 under 40′ leadership class. In 1997, the Charlotte Observer, the local daily newspaper recognized him as a member of “A New Generation of Leadership”. He has also been recognized for his role as a co-founder of Mothers of Murdered Offspring, Inc. (MOMO) with the 2003 Pride Award as the Organization of the Year and other special recognitions.

He was selected as a 2009 American Memorial Fellow by The German Marshall Fund, which annually awards this honor to only 55 emerging leaders from across the U.S. This gained him the opportunity to visit Brussels, Amsterdam & The Hague, Barcelona & Ilieda, Skopje & Orchid and Berlin.

Howard is also a member of the BMW Foundation Young/Responsible Leaders Community, having participated in the 16th Transatlantic Forum in June 2013, which was held in Berlin, Germany. The title of the conference was “The Art of the Possible: Striking a Balance between Participation and the Delegation of Power”. Howard was honored to serve on a panel entitled “The Professional Citizen – An Equal Partner in Business and Politics?” during the conference where he shared the opportunities and challenges of public service.

Howard also participated in BMW Foundation’s 4th World Young Leaders Forum in Bejing, China in 2013. The theme of the Forum was “Going Sustainable – Towards Quality Growth in China and the World”. Howard was selected as one of 350 leaders from around the world to attend this conference. The World Young Leaders Forum brings together leaders from all over the world, targeting all of the approximately 1600 participants and speakers who have taken part in the BMW Foundation’s past Young Leaders programs.

Howard also was honored to receive a national fellowship, along with then San Antonio Councilwomen, and current Mayor Ivy Taylor, as a part of the 2011 inaugural fellows class with the NBC LEO, a caucus of the National League of Cities. He served as the First Vice President of the NBC LEO Board of Directors.

Howard was also appointed and served as an National Urban Community Advisor for the National Urban Land Institute in Washington and participate a number of meetings aimed at setting policies and studies around issued urban centers face. He also served on the group’s Transit Oriented Development (TOD) product working committee.

David was appointed in January 2011 to 2014, and served as one of the Vice-Chairs of the Planning and Environment Legislative Action Committee for the North Carolina League of Municipalities. He is also a board member for the Charlotte Mecklenburg African American Community Committee (CMAACC), which is affiliated with the Foundation of the Carolinas and Johnson C. Smith University.

Additionally, David was honored to represent the local office of U.S. Congressman Mel Watt at the First & Second Annual National African American Leadership Summits in 2003 and 2004 on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., for the sole purpose of building a more focused dialogue and partnership between African American community leaders and their representatives in Congress.

Howard has been involved in the Charlotte community leadership for more than 20 years. He and two others co-founded the group Mothers of Murdered Offspring in 1993, and they received the 2003 Pride Award for Organization of the Year. His other community organizations and board memberships have included: The ‘Committee of 21’ Road Funding Solutions Committee; Mecklenburg County Environmental Policy Coordination Committee; Urban Land Institute - Charlotte Council; Mecklenburg Union Metropolitan Planning Organization (MUMPO); YMCA – Steele Creek branch; Belmont Community Development Corporation; Housing Charlotte 2007 Planning Committee; and the Mecklenburg County Human Services Council.

He is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and holds a BA in sociology and a certification as a housing development finance professional from the National Development Council. He is also a 1998 Fellow of the North Carolina Institute of Political Leadership. He and his wife Mary Walker-Howard have four children and two grandsons.