During a career that spanned 44 years, Gary Sears worked as a professional for five municipalities in Colorado—Loveland, Greeley, Silverthorne, Glendale, and Englewood.

Along the way, he applied the knowledge and experience he gained to improve the quality of life in each of the communities he served. He consistently sought win/win solutions and innovative approaches to the issues affecting local government, while giving back to the profession both as a practitioner and after retirement.

During much of his career, he managed the challenges posed by growth in a geographic area where ranching and mining coexist with ski areas and other recreational amenities that attract new residents and visitors. Regional planning and development issues required coordination with other municipalities, business groups, citizen activist groups, local elected leaders, planners, developers, staff members, and residents. Sears provided leader-ship on such projects as construction of an innovative town hall in Silverthorne, negotiation of water rights for Glendale, the revitalization of the Cinderella City Shopping Mall in Englewood into an award-winning mixed-use transit-oriented development, and numerous parks, recreation centers, senior facilities, and other improvements. At the forefront was the need to ensure adequate power and water supplies, sound wastewater treatment, flood mitigation, and transportation.

Sears has received numerous local, state, and national awards recognizing his leadership and innovations in water supply and wastewater management, public-private partnerships, and development projects, as well as contributions to local civic events. Upon his retirement from Englewood in 2014, the Colorado State Legislature recognized him in person with a citation that said in part:

 “Gary Sears . . . has been a well-respected and valued public servant. . . . His dedication to his community has helped shape Englewood into one of the best places in the world to live, work, and raise a family. The members of the Colorado House of Representatives are proud to recognize and thank Gary Sears for his commitment to public service, and for the contributions that he has made over the years not only for Englewood, but to the entire state of Colorado.”

A member of ICMA since 1971, he is the ICMA Liaison to Colorado and has served on the ICMA conference planning and host committees, spoken at the conference on diversity in municipal organizations, and contributed two case studies to ICMA’s book, Managing Local Government: Cases in Effectiveness. Sears’s leadership in regional, state, and national management associations includes service on the board of the Colorado City/County Management Association, multiple terms as president of the Denver Metro Managers’ Association, and honorary life membership in the Colorado Municipal League after his service as president. In several communities, Sears has been active in Rotary, coordinating exchange programs of young professionals with those from other countries and hosting students from abroad. His interest in international connections continued with his involvement in an ICMA exchange program, in which he developed a relationship and exchanges with Belm, Germany.

Sears has taught undergraduates and graduate classes at the University of Colorado in Boulder and Denver for many years and has served as a guest lecturer. He is the mentor for the ICMA Student Chapter at the University of Colorado Denver, a school that received an ICMA award for its New Directions Program, which offers “best and brightest” internships that have led many graduates to government careers. He was selected as a site visitor reviewing graduate schools’ applications for accreditation with the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA) and served on the NASPAA board as the “practitioner” member In addition to the case studies published by ICMA, Sears has contributed articles to Colorado Municipalities, Public Works, Town and City (published by the Texas Municipal League), and the National Civic League’s 1987 Privatization Report. 

Said Sears: “My work and hands-on experience in the early part of my career in the agriculturally diverse and full-service cities of Loveland and Greeley helped me in meeting the challenges and community improvements that I faced later.” The Distinguished Service Award recognizes Sears for his leadership and contributions to local government over a decades-long career.