David M. Sander, Ph.D. serves as the President of the National League of Cities and is the Mayor of Rancho Cordova, CA. Sander has been active in many community, state and national endeavors. He currently serves as Founder/President of the Rancho Cordova Athletic Association and on the Board of the Sacramento Children’s Museum, Sacramento, and NextEd’s CRANE CEO Oversight Panel.
Sander is a Founder and Past Chair of the Rancho Cordova 4th of July Committee, an active member and Past President of the Board of the Cordova Community Council, and a past Board Member of the Rancho Cordova Chamber of Commerce, past chair and board member of Regional Transit, Paratransit, the Friends of the Sacramento Library Board, the Cordova Community Planning Advisory Council (CORPAC), Sacramento County Airports Master Plan Commission, and the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department’s Citizen’s Advisory Panel.
He has been recognized with several awards, including being named to the prestigious National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) in 2012. Previously, he was named as the Sacramento Region’s Elected Official of the Year (2006). In 2002, he was named “Volunteer of Year” by both the Rancho Cordova Chamber of Commerce and the Cordova Community Council. He has been a delegate to the National Summit on Retirement Savings at the White House and was a member of the California State Franchise Tax Board’s Technical Advisory Committee. In 2001-02, he co-chaired a successful ballot measure (Rancho Cordova Kids First) that funded $49 million in school improvements in the city.
Sander is the Principal and Founder of Sander and Associates, a scientific consulting/development firm that specializes in medical and scientific projects. He received a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Biology from Tulane University and did undergraduate work in physics, math, biology and chemistry at Saint Louis University in St. Louis, MO. After his doctoral work and before moving to Rancho Cordova, Sander was appointed and served two years as a Congressional Science Fellow, working for a senior member of the House of Representatives in Washington, D.C. on matters involving health and science policy.
Sander and his wife, Dr. Margaret Parsons, a dermatologist, have lived in Rancho Cordova since the 1990s. They have one young son.
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