Committed to Our Community.
Council Member
Darren is honored to serve as a newly elected member of the Village Council, where his priorities include:
- Public Safety: Supporting law enforcement and emergency services while encouraging proactive community engagement. Darren will work to ensure the Village remains one of the safest and most secure places to live in the region.
- Community Character: Preserving the Village’s beauty, well-maintained homes, and strong sense of pride in ownership through responsible planning and infrastructure investment. He plans to focus on maintaining the quality of life residents value while advancing efforts that protect and enhance property values.
- Fiscal Responsibility: Ensuring taxpayer value through sound budgeting, transparent reporting, and long-term financial planning. Darren will emphasize strong fiscal stewardship to sustain the Village’s exceptional quality of life for years to come.
- Community Engagement: Promoting open communication, constructive dialogue, and active participation in Village life. He is committed to engaging new generations of residents to ensure the Village continues to attract and retain dedicated, talented, and community-minded individuals well into the future.
- Our School System: Supporting our schools as the Village’s foremost amenity and community cornerstone. While the Village Council does not oversee the district’s finances or operations, Darren believes the Village plays an important role in fostering collaboration and community support. He is committed to strengthening that partnership and helping the schools continue their tradition of excellence as one of Ohio’s top-performing districts.
Local Service & Education
Darren has supported regional development initiatives since 2018. He currently works with local economic development councils to actively attract investment rather than waiting for outside interest to appear, believing local leadership should take a national and international approach to bringing opportunity to our area.
As Co-Chair of the City of Toledo’s Human Relations Commission, he led programs that promoted inclusion and understanding for more than 600,000 residents across the metro area. One of his proudest moments was spearheading a team whose efforts led to several gang truces and a measurable reduction in summer violence.
A tradesman and builder at heart, Darren is a proud vocational school graduate and lifelong supporter of the skilled trades. He earned an Associate Degree in Environmental Control Systems from the Community College of the Air Force, followed by a Bachelor and Master of Science in Civil Engineering from The University of Akron and an Executive MBA from Georgetown University.
Darren has shared practical lessons from his work at the United Nations General Assembly, Georgetown University, Cambridge University, and King’s College London. Darren was recognized as one of the Frontier 100 Best Leaders by the Initiative for Global Development and recently nominated for the Aspen Institute and Anti-Defamation League’s Civil Society Fellowship, which helps leaders grow “from success to significance.”
Professional Background
Darren’s background reflects a lifelong commitment to service and country. He is proud to continue a family legacy of military service, with every generation on his father’s side having served, dating back to the Revolutionary War. A week after September 11, during his first semester of college, he joined the Ohio Air National Guard and later became a U.S. Navy officer. In that role, he worked alongside special operations and engineering teams in demanding environments and later helped manage Naval facilities in the Washington, D.C. area. His leadership earned recognition from the Joint Special Operations Command and the Secretary of the Navy.
Darren is now the CEO of a company in Washington, D.C. that focuses on practical problem solving in complex environments. His team provides logistics, infrastructure, and resource support in the Caribbean, Latin America, Africa, and underserved communities here in the United States, helping partners grow more stable and self-sufficient.
He also serves on the board of an impact investment fund, and has helped launch new tech, including a digital platform in the sports and entertainment space, where he enjoys connecting innovative ideas with real-world impact.
Outside of work, Darren mostly just wants to spend time with his wife and kids. He enjoys leisure sports like sailing, tennis, clay shooting, and trying to get better at golf.