RA Board Hires Michael A. 'Mac' Cummins As New CEO

RESTON, VA — After nearly a year of searching, the Reston Association finally has a new chief executive officer to manage its day-to-day operations.

At the start of Thursday night's monthly meeting, the Reston Association Board of Directors announced that it had hired Michael A. "Mac" Cummins to fill the position that has been vacant since last September.

"We are very pleased to have Mac join our community and lead the association," said RA Board President Sarah Selvaraj-D'Souza, after announcing Cummins' hiring. "He has extensive expertise in planning and community development, and will provide the association with the innovative thinking and collaborative leadership needed to move us forward in our efforts to actively advocate for issues that are most important to our members, including recreational and sports activities, environmental sustainability and land use."

Following Selvaraj-D'Souza's remarks, Cummins told the board that he was excited, both personally and professionally, about taking on this new endeavor and becoming a resident of Reston.

With more than 20 years of municipal government experience, Cummins most recently served for more than five years as the director of the Community Development Department in Bellevue, Washington. In that role, he was responsible for a $79 million operating and capital budget. Cummins also managed economic development, planning affordable housing, arts and culture, and citizen or neighborhood outreach services.

Before coming to Bellevue, Cummins was a planning manager for the City of Westminister, Colorado, as well as the principal planner in Scottsdale, Arizona. He earned a master's in public administration, city and urban community and regional planning from the University of Southern California. He also earned a bachelor of science in public policy and management with honors at USC.

“I have followed and studied Reston for years, starting in my collegiate studies in Urban Planning. I have observed the vision of Robert Simon being realized with such amazing amenities and smart planning around open space, recreation facilities, trails and housing,” Cummins said, in a release. “This commitment to quality of life and community is a primary factor in my family’s excitement to be a part of the Reston community. I am thankful for the opportunity to lead this dynamic, community-oriented organization. I look forward to working together with the board, members, and staff to preserve and enhance the Reston community so that Reston will continue to be the model community where all can live, work, play, and get involved.”

Cummins will officially start his job as RA's CEO on Aug. 22.

"I can't wait to get in with the board individually and collectively and talk about what the future holds for all of us out there," he said.

In the next couple of weeks, Cummins will move into a home near the North Point Shopping Center with his wife and daughter.

RA has been without a full-time CEO since Cummins' predecessor Harry P. "Hank" Lynch stepped down to take a similar job at WildAid, a nonprofit focused on protecting endangered species and their habitats.

Throughout the rest of 2021 and the first few months of this year, the previous RA Board was focused on hiring a new CEO before the new board was seated at the annual meeting in April. That failed to happen.

The current nine-member board, which includes five new members since April, made hiring a new CEO one of its priorities.

"Our new board worked expeditiously on this," Selvaraj-D'Souza said. "In just under three months, we went from resumes, to interviews, to a signed contract."

Ever since Lynch stepped down, Larry Butler, RA's chief operating officer, has been serving as the associations acting CEO.

Patch Exclusive: Get To Know RA's New CEO

New Reston Association CEO Michael A. "Mac" Cummins will be answering questions during an exclusive Facebook Live Interview on Friday, at 12 noon, on Patch's Lunch with the Reston Reporter. Submit your questions beforehand by emailing them to michael.oconnell@patch.com. Questions can also be submitted in the comments during the interview.

LINK: Facebook Live: Learn more about RA's New CEO on Friday, at 12 p.m.