Ellen Dickson (mayor)

Ellen Dickson is an American politician who served as mayor of Summit, New Jersey from 2012 to 2015. She had previously been a member of the city council for five years before her election as mayor, and served as the council president in 2009.
Political career
City Council
Dickson would be elected to the City Council as a Republican in 2000 shortly before the election of the first Democrat councilors in 2001. A champion of fiscal conservative forces in the city, she spearheaded efforts that slashed the number of municipal employees, reduced city spending, and decreased the city's property tax.
Mayor of Summit
Summit had long been a Republican stronghold until the early 2000s when it shifted towards a Democrat stronghold. This change is best personified by the election of the city's first democratic mayor Jordan Glatt in 2003 and his re-election in 2007, both of which he won handily with roughly 60% of the vote. However, Glatt declined to run for a third term in 2011. Councilwomen Dickson was the Republican nominee and ran against a community organizer, Eileen Ludden, who received the Democratic nomination, and former mayor of Milburn, Michael Vernotico, who ran as an independent. She won the election with 39% of the vote to Ludden's 34% and Vernotico's 27%. During her term the city saw $338,000,000 in construction investments which she helped oversee as a member of the city's Planning Board. Some of this came from the administration of Chris Christie when he designated downtown Summit a Transit village to improve pedestrian safety. During her term she faced criticism for allowing the shuttering of the Merck & Co. campus in the city, however, it was quickly purchased by Celgene. She oversaw the redevelopment of several of the city's parks, including a $275,000 project to restore Briant Park and was well known for her fundraising abilities for other community projects. However, for the most part, she had very little say in the politics of the city since Summit operates under a weak mayor system with the mayor mostly being a ceremonial office.
Dickson would run for re-election in 2015 but would be defeated by former council president Nora Radest who received 58% of the vote to Dickson's 42%.
Post Mayoral Career
Following her defeat in her re-election campaign Dickson retired from politics, but has made appearances endorsing statewide candidates. Namely endorsing Kim Guadagno in her failed 2017 campaign for governor.
Personal life
Ellen got her Bachelor of Business Administration at the University of Massachusetts and her Master of Business Administration from Babson College. Before becoming a city councilor she worked as a portfolio manager for National City Bank which is now part of KeyBank. Ellen is married to Chip Dickson and together they have two daughters, Laura and Julia, and a son Henry.<ref name="NJ.com2" />

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