Clarence E Anthony
Mayor of South Bay, Florida
By Andrew Stevens, Deputy Editor

12 January 2008: The Democrat mayor for the lakeside city of South Bay, Florida has emerged as a vocal "champion for the voiceless" in his 20 years tenure of the small city. Despite being mayor for a relatively small community, he has also emerged as a city leader of national and international standing, holding leadership positions in US and global civic organisations.

Anthony was first elected mayor of the small Palm Beach community of South Bay in 1984, aged just 24. Mayor Anthony undertook undergraduate and postgraduate studies at Florida Atlantic University and holds a masters in public administration from the institution.

The city of South Bay itself has a recorded population of 4.037 (2004) and sits on the shores of Lake Okeechobee (the second largest freshwater lake in the US), though much of the neighbouring territory is unincorporated within Palm Beach County. It is one of many cities of 10,000 or fewer inhabitants in the Miami Metro Area.

Mayor Anthony's overloaded shelf of accolades include the Ebony Magazine Future Leader, Outstanding Young Men in America and Outstanding Community Leaders in America awards, as well as the Florida Junior Chamber of Commerce Mayor of the Year. However, it was with his election as 75 th president of the National League of Cities for 1999 (only the second from a small city) that his arrival as a city leader on the national stage arrived. This was later augmented with his 2007 election as treasurer and first vice president of the United Cities and Local Governments organisation.

The South Bay mayor is also the only municipal figure serving on the state's constitution revision panel. He is also a member of the Federal Judicial Nomination Commission, the Florida Environmental Land Management Study Commission and the Federal Government Everglades Ecosystem Task Force.