Michigan Suburns Alliance    Michigan Suburbs Alliance

About Us

Board of Directors



Ed Klobucher
City Manager, City of Hazel Park

Board President

Prior to his appointment as Hazel Park city manager in 2002, Ed Klobucher served Hazel Park as assistant city manager, acting city clerk and special projects coordinator. He firstbegan working for the city's Recreation Department as a program supervisor while in college. Before returning to work for the City of Hazel Park, Mr. Klobucher served as a deputy sheriff with the Oakland County Sheriff's Department Parks Division, taught "Introduction to Future Studies" at Madonna University, and worked as a senior therapist in the Department of Psychology and Behavioral Neuroscience at the Detroit Medical Center.

Mr. Klobucher holds a bachelor's degree in political science and history, a Master of Arts in clinical psychology and a graduate certificate in public administration. He also earned the Certified Public Manager designation from Saginaw Valley State University. In 2006, he was awarded a Taubman Fellowship to attend the Senior Executives in State and Local Government Program at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. Mr. Klobucher currently serves as the co-chair of the public policy committee of the Michigan Suburbs Alliance.


Stephen Truman
City Manager, City of Roseville

Board Vice President

Steve Truman's career with the City of Roseville began in 1979 as the Executive Director for the Roseville Housing Commission. In 1983 he was appointed as the Director of Building and Inspections. Steve has served as the City Manager of Roseville since March of 2005. Prior to his city employment, he worked in the private sector as a city planning consultant.

Steve holds a master's degree in urban planning from Wayne State University and a bachelor's degree in secondary education from Eastern Michigan University. He has maintained his interest in public education as a member of Utica Community Schools Board of Education since 1995. In addition, he is a charter member of the Roseville Optimist Club and the Utica Community Schools Foundation for Educational Excellence.

Steve and his wife, Pam, reside in Sterling Heights and have four children.


Erik Tungate
Project Manager, Michigan Economic Development Corporation

Board Treasurer

Erik Tungate is the National Business Project Manager for the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC).  While in his current role, Erik has been credited with packaging complex investment packages for national business relocation prospects in Detroit and across the state.  Mr. Tungate is a graduate of Western Michigan University (Bachelors, 1999) and Wayne State University (M.B.A., 2001).

Prior to his current position, he was employed as the Business Development Manager for the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation (DEGC) and before that, the Director of Community & Economic Development for the City of Hamtramck.  Before his career in economic development, he worked in the financial services and automotive industries. Over his career, he has been active in various capacities with several nonprofits and professional organizations, including City Connect Detroit board of directors, board chair of both the Hamtramck Economic Development Corporation (HEDC) and Hamtramck Brownfield Authority (HBRA) and a board member of the technical committee for the Detroit Transit Options for Growth Study (DTOGS).

Erik resides in the Brush Park neighborhood of the City of Detroit and serves as an elected member of the Brush Park Citizens’ District Council. 


Karen Majewski
Mayor, City of Hamtramck

Board Secretary

Karen Majewski was first elected mayor of the City of Hamtramck in 2005, and is now in her second term. She is the city's first woman mayor. Previously, she served as City Council President/Mayor Pro Tem, and on the Hamtramck Historical Commission. She is also a member of the Board of Trustees for the Dekaban Foundation and the Michigan Municipal League, and a former member of the Executive Board of the Michigan Suburbs Alliance's Millennial Mayors Congress.

Majewski holds a Ph.D. in American Culture from the University of Michigan, where she specialized in the study of immigration and ethnicity. An active scholar and published author, she is also former Executive Director of the Polish American Historical Association. Majewski is Project Manager for the University of Michigan's Community Economic Adjustment Program (CEAP), which assists midwestern communities impacted by the downturn in the auto industry.


Maxine Berman
Director of Special Projects, Governor's Office of Southeast Michigan

Maxine Berman has served as Governor Granholm’s Director of Special Projects since 2003. She runs the Governor’s Centers for Regional Excellence program, which provides grants to regions throughout the state that participate in collaborative projects. Ms. Berman has been involved with the Suburbs Alliance since 2002 as a member of Redevelopment Ready Communities® and serves as on the Michigan Suburbs Alliance Board of Directors. She also serves on the board of the Institute for Local Government at the University of Michigan-Dearborn.

Prior to service with the Governor, Ms. Berman served fourteen years in the Michigan House of Representatives, the last six on the House Appropriations Committee, where she chaired the subcommittees on Public Heath and K-12 Education and was instrumental in creating a new system for funding Michigan’s public schools. In 1997, Crain’s Detroit Business named her one of Detroit’s One Hundred Most Influential Women.


Robin Boyle
Professor of Urban Planning, Wayne State University

Robin Boyle is Professor of Urban Planning and Chair of the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at Wayne State University. Prior to assuming chairmanship of USP, he spent ten years as Associate Dean in the College of Urban, Labor and Metropolitan Affairs at WSU. Boyle’s research interests include local economic development, trends in retail investment, urban education, local planning and urban policy.  This final interest lead him to collaborate with the Michigan Suburbs Alliance, serving as a member of the Redevelopment Ready Communities® steering committee since its inception and on the Suburbs Alliance Board of Directors since 2007.

Boyle presently serves on the steering committee of the Detroit division of the Urban Land Institute and as the midwestern representative for the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning. In  2004, he was nominated to the planning board for the City of Birmingham, and became chair in 2006.


Steve Duchane
City Manager, City of Lincoln Park

Steve Duchane's career spans 25 years of local government management experience and 29 years of public service in the State of Michigan and California. Prior to becoming Lincoln Park's first city manager, he held city management positions in Sterling Heights, Marysville (California), Corunna and Howell. Mr. Duchane has been involved with the Michigan Municipal League serving on the Board of Directors, a Regional Officer and an Employee Relations Committee member. Mr. Duchane is presently a member of the Lincoln Park Chamber Board of Directors and is also a member of the American Society of Public Administration.

Mr. Duchane earned a bachelor's degree in community development and public administration cum laude from Central Michigan University and is a graduate student of Central's M.P.A. program. He also completed the University of Virginia Senior Executive Institute for Local Government Managers, Harvard University's Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government, and the Southeast Michigan Regional Criminal Justice Training Academy.


Ronald Gillham
Mayor, City of Huntington Woods

Mayor Ron Gillham was born, raised, and educated in Missouri. After graduation from the Missouri School of Mines in 1956, he joined General Motors at the Tech Center in Warren. He served in a variety of interesting and challenging positions, eventually retiring from Advanced Product Engineering in 1992.

In his "second career," Mayor Gillham has served the citizens of Huntington Woods continuously since 1975, first as a Zoning Board of Appeals member and Commissioner, then taking on the position of Mayor in 1981. He is active in the Michigan Municipal League where he formerly served on the Board of Trustees as Vice President. Currently, Mayor Gillham is chair of the South Oakland County Mayor's Association.

Mayor Gillham and his wife, Shirley, have lived in Huntington Woods since 1959. They have three children and seven grandchildren, all of whom reside in Huntington Woods.


Edward Koryzno
City Manager, City of Ypsilanti 

Edward B. Koryzno Jr. has worked in local government for more than 29 years. He is a member of the International City/County Management Association and has been City Manager of Ypsilanti since 1996. Previously he served as the Manager in the cities of Fenton and Grand Haven, as well as the Village of Spring Lake.

Koryzno is a past president and board member of the Michigan Local Government Management Association and former board member of the Michigan Municipal Workers Compensation Fund. He holds a bachelor's and master's degree from Michigan State University, and also attended the University of Virginia’s Senior Executive Institute.


Joseph Kuspa
Mayor, City of Southgate

Biography forthcoming.


Irv Lowenberg
Treasurer, City of Southfield

Irv M. Lowenberg is a distinguished graduate of the City University of NY/Baruch College of Business - Finance/Accounting program. Mr. Lowenberg made the National Deans List, was a Baruch Scholar, and a member of Beta Gamma Sigma – the nation’s top business school honor society.

Prior to coming to the City of Southfield, Mr. Lowenberg was the founder/portfolio manager of Continental Asset Management Group, where he managed portfolios for high net worth individuals and institutions worldwide. As a Wall Street investment banker, Mr. Lowenberg’s firm brought public the top performing initial public offering four out of five years in a row. Mr. Lowenberg also served as assistant controller at GCB&O, a leading engineering consulting firm with a substantial amount of government contracts in New York. Mr. Lowenberg also served as the assistant branch manager for Allied Home Mortgage, America's largest, privately held mortgage broker financing over $15 Billion in loans in 2003. Lowenberg's branch was chosen for the Circle of Stars–the company's top honor for performance, customer satisfaction, and compliance to all government regulations–from 2002-2005 out of more than 750 branches nationwide. Mr. Lowenberg has been a Southfield Resident for the past 12 years. He is married with three daughters and one son, the President of Shomrey Emunah/Southfield, and a member of the Southfield Democratic Club, Sherwood Village Homeowners, and the AARP.


Greg Pitoniak
Executive Director, Southeast Michigan Community Alliance

A lifelong resident of Taylor, Michigan, Greg Pitoniak served as Mayor of the city from 1997 to 2005. Before that, he represented the area in the Michigan House of Representatives. He has long believed that quality public investment stimulates quality private investment. This philosophy, combined with his background in economic development, allowed him to provide strong leadership and renew private developer interest in Taylor during his tenure as mayor. He became Deputy Treasurer of the State of Michigan in late 2005. Today, Greg Pitoniak is the executive director ofSoutheast Michigan Community Alliance (SEMCA).

Mayor Pitoniak received a bachelor's degree in urban studies and political science from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and a master's degree in public administration from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.


Suzanne Pixley
Mayor, City of Eastpointe

Biography forthcoming.



Mark Wollenweber
City Manager, City of Grosse Pointe Woods

Mark Wollenweber has dedicated his career to public service and local government in southeast Michigan.  Prior to retiring as City Administrator for the City of Grosse Pointe Woods for 6 years, he served as the City Manager of St. Clair Shores for almost 15 years.  He was the City Manager of Huntington Woods for 12 years prior  and held positions in city administration in Plymouth and Westland.  As his first job out of graduate school, Mr. Wollenweber was a staff assistant for the Michigan Municipal League.  

Besides serving on the board of the Michigan Suburbs Alliance, Mr. Wollenweber serves on the board of the Traffic Improvement Association, The Suburban Library Cooperative and Vice Chair of The Library Network. He also serves as the 2nd Vice Chair of the Detroit Area Agency on Aging. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners from the American Planning Association, and previously served as a board member and state president of the Michigan Local Government Management Association.  As well, Mr. Wollenweber was previously elected as a Midwest Vice President of the International City Management Association, and is an ICMA Credentialed Manager. Mr. Wollenweber earned bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Detroit mercy.  He completed the Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government at Harvard university, on a fellowship from the Taubman Company, and as well participated in the Senior Executive Institute at the University of Virginia.


John Zech
City Manager, City of Wayne

John has worked for the City of Wayne since December of 1979. Initially he was the Community Development Director; however, in September of 1983, he was promoted to Assistant City Manager. In January of 1992, he was appointed City Manager. John is a member of the International City Management Association (ICMA), the American Society of Public Administration (ASPA) and the Michigan Local Government Management Association (MLGMA). He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration from the University of Detroit Mercy and has worked toward a Master Degree in Public Administration at Ohio State University. He has served a three year term on the Michigan Municipal League Board of Directors. John has been either Wayne's Delegate or Alternate Delegate to the Central Wayne County Sanitation Authority (CWCSA) since 1992.

John and his wife, Chris, reside in Wayne.
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