Eileen Baden, AICP is the Park and Open Space Planner at the Maricopa County Parks and Recreation Department. She specializes in park and environmental planning, as well as community outreach. She graduated with an undergraduate degree in Economics with minors in Environmental Policy & Planning and International Studies from Virginia Tech in 2007. Eileen graduated from the Master of Urban and Environmental Planning (MUEP) program at Arizona State University (ASU) in 2012, and prepared a park master plan for the Town of Eagar, Arizona as her applied project. Following graduation, she worked at various consulting firms in Tempe specializing in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and worked on various park projects. Eileen has been a member of the Arizona Association of Environmental Professionals for over ten years and has served as Secretary and President.

Prior to working for the parks department, Eileen was the MUEP Senior Program Coordinator for students in the Master of Urban and Environmental Planning (MUEP) program at Arizona State University. She held events, workshops, trainings, as well as served as a career advisor for students in the planning program. She also served as advisor for the Student Planning Association (SPA), ran a mentorship program, and taught environmental planning courses to undergraduate and graduate students. She has over eight years of experience in environmental planning and over thirteen years in project management.

Councilwoman Ann O'Brien is the newly elected representative of Council District 1.

She is an Arizona native and has been a resident of District 1 since 2004.  She made her mark in the community as an advocate for quality education--first as an active parent and volunteer in the Deer Valley Unified School District, and then as an elected Deer Valley Unified School District (DVUSD) Governing Board Member in 2014. She was reelected to the DVUSD Board in 2018 and is currently the Governing Board President.

Councilwoman O'Brien's extensive volunteer service to her community includes providing support to students, teachers and staff as a committee member of the of the Stetson Hills Elementary School Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA) and the Sandra Day O'Connor Academy of History Booster Club. In 2017, she was elected to the Arizona School Board Association (ASBA), where she is currently the President and the appointed chairperson of the 2020 Legislative Committee.  

Professionally, Councilwoman O'Brien is a proud Sun Devil, who has worked in project management with the Arizona Department of Child Support Enforcement and as a business broker for a local company.

With Council District 1 on the brink of great economic growth, Councilwoman O'Brien's focus will be preparing the community for incoming industries and developments in the area, ensuring that transportation, housing and key infrastructures are part of the overall plan. Equally important to her are the community's concerns surrounding homelessness and public safety. Her goal is to work closely with neighborhood associations and Block Watches to understand their issues and public safety needs and determine a roadmap that provides a strategy in finding solutions.

Family time is of great value to Councilwoman O'Brien. When she needs a refresh, she spends time with her husband of 27 years, Terry, along with their daughter, Amanda, and son, Thomas, both graduates of Sandra Day O'Connor High School and Northern Arizona University.

Tom Ellsworth is the Director of Planning and Development for Maricopa County. Tom is an urban planning professional with 22 years of experience. He started his current position with Maricopa County in early July of this year having previously worked as Principal Planner for the City of Mesa.

His career has given him a wide range of experience in planning for growth and development while maintaining quality standards to ensure a healthy and sustainable community. Tom’s experience includes working with policy makers, developers, and citizens on a range of projects including the creation of comprehensive area plans, to large master planned communities, to the redevelopment of maturing developed areas.

He holds a Master’s Degree in Public Administration and a Bachelor’s Degree in Urban Planning, both from Arizona State University. Tom is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners and the American Planning Association. Tom is a native to Arizona and currently lives in Gilbert with his family.

Phoenix Community and Economic Development director, Christine Mackay, has served the people of Phoenix since August 2014. She is responsible for leading and fostering an environment where businesses can create and retain jobs, make capital investment and reinvestment in the community, and connect our workforce to employers and training opportunities. During Mackay’s tenure with the City of Phoenix, the department has facilitated the creation of over 75,000 high‐value jobs, seen the average wage of those jobs increase from over $30,000 in 2014 to more than $70,000 in 2019, and closed deals with more than $20 billion in capital investment.

Christine leads a department of over 55 full time staff that encompasses the full spectrum of economic development areas including: business attraction, business retention and expansion, community development, international relations, Sister Cities, the Phoenix Business and Workforce Development Board, administration, research, marketing, the City‐owned Footprint Center and the Phoenix Biomedical Campus.

In 2021, Christine was named as one of the Top 50 Economic Developers in the Country by Consultant Connect.  She is a two‐time honoree as "Economic Developer of the Year, Large Community" by the Arizona Association for Economic Development.  Mackay was recognized as "Leader of the Year in Economic Development–Public Policy" by the Arizona Capitol Times, and "Industry Leader of the Year – Economic Development" by Arizona Commercial Real Estate Magazine. She has also been on the list of the Phoenix Business Journal’s "50 Most Influential Women in Arizona."

She is a member of the Economic Development Director's Team for Greater Phoenix, Maricopa Association of Government's Building a Quality Regional Community committee, Flinn Foundation Biosciences Roadmap committee, the International Economic Development Council (IEDC), Commercial Office Real Estate Executives (CoreNet), the Arizona Association for Economic Development (AAED), and the Arizona Business Incubator Association.

Christine has nearly 25 years’ experience in economic development overlapping 30 years of commercial real estate experience. Mackay has spent both her personal and professional life here in the Valley.