Mac grew up in Jackson, Michigan. Attending Michigan State University’s James Madison College, he graduated in 2003 with dual degrees in international relations and Russian language and literature. He worked in the financial services sector in New York for nearly a decade before moving back to Detroit in 2012.
Starting in a volunteer position in Mike Duggan’s campaign in 2013, he started as a phone bank volunteer, and ended as finance director for the campaign. He joined the mayoral administration in 2014 and worked through the bankruptcy on operational restructuring, focusing on topics such as EMS response time, income tax collection, infrastructure and blight reduction. Since joining the Villages Community Development Corporation in 2015, he has raised over two million dollars, put forth a clear strategy to stabilize and grow our neighborhoods on the east side of Detroit, and pioneered new infrastructure and development work, including nagging the city to roll out speed humps and clear out alleys for years.
Not knowing what he was doing, Mac bought a house in 2014, and moved to Pingree Park in 2019. In addition to his day job with the Villages CDC, he has renovated six houses in West Village, Indian Village and Pingree Park, and is looking to develop larger commercial project as well. Mac is currently the Vice President of the Pingree Park Association, executive director of the Villages Community Development Corporation, is a member of the Indian Village Tennis Club, the Detroit Athletic Club and Jefferson Avenue Presbyterian Church.
Mac believes that Detroit deserves the same kind of services and infrastructure that other municipalities have to keep existing residents and attract new, that our politics is truly broken at almost every level of government, and that by focusing on peoples’ actual needs, rather than shouty identity politics, you can rebuild your community.