Jessica Deakyne

In honor of the association’s 71st anniversary, MMANC is celebrating the past presidents that brought MMANC to success. As the world reopens, we’d like to take this opportunity to highlight one of our fearless leaders through the pandemic: 2020 MMANC President Jessica Deakyne.

Jessica joined MMANC after learning about the opportunity through a coworker. Her fellow MMANC members’ kindness and willingness to help ultimately inspired her to pursue a leadership position– she wanted to help advance the association for this great group of people.

Jessica started her term as President having to quickly adapt her goals and plans to the pandemic. She learned to approach its challenges using the “pilot philosophy” which called her to research, try something and make adjustments as needed. Despite all obstacles, Jessica and her Novato team were able to grant almost $400,000 to small businesses struggling economically.

“Without MMANC, I’m not sure I would have pushed our staff to get this done and I’m so proud of that work,” commented Jessica.

Jessica always knew she wanted to work in the public sector and was further inspired after earning a Master’s in Public Administration from Cal State Fullerton. During her Master’s program, she participated in the City Management Fellowship Program, where she learned first-hand from city managers what it meant to build, nurture and connect a community. Throughout her career, Jessica has served in different areas of local government. She currently serves as Assistant City Manager in the City of Novato.

“MMANC has served as a leadership lab for me,” Jessica stated. “I’ve learned to define my leadership style, identify my purpose for pursuing a career in local government and develop a network of friends who support me and share my passion for public service.”