Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway – Madison, WI

Satya Rhodes-Conway is the 58th Mayor of Madison. First elected in 2019 and re-elected in 2023, she is the city’s second woman and the first openly LGBTQ person to serve as Mayor. Her administration is focused on delivering high-quality public services, expanding affordable housing, advancing rapid transit, promoting equitable economic growth, and combating climate change.

During her time in office, Mayor Rhodes-Conway has doubled Madison’s affordable housing fund, launched the city’s first bus rapid transit system, and created CARES, a patient-centered mobile crisis response team that offers alternatives to police response. She has overseen the construction of Madison’s first purpose-built homeless shelter, expanded rental and utility assistance while piloting guaranteed income for low-income residents, and advanced climate resiliency measures that have reduced greenhouse gas emissions.

Before being elected Mayor, Rhodes-Conway was the Managing Director of the Mayors Innovation Project and a senior associate at the High Road Strategy Center at the University of Wisconsin–Madison for 13 years. She worked with cities across the country to implement innovative policies and wrote extensively about local strategies that promote sustainability, equity, and democracy. She also served on the Board of the UniverCity Alliance and is a proud member of AFT Local 223.

Earlier in her career, Rhodes-Conway analyzed state endangered species programs for Defenders of Wildlife, researched progressive environmental policy at the State Environmental Resource Center, and taught undergraduate courses in biology and ecology.

Nationally, Mayor Rhodes-Conway is Chair Emerita of Climate Mayors, an appointed member of the EPA’s Local Government Advisory Committee, a founding member of Mayors for a Guaranteed Income, and a member of Mayors Against Illegal Guns.