Michael Peoples, Gastonia City Manager, was sworn in as president of the North Carolina City & County Management Association (NCCCMA) during the Association’s business meeting on June 25, 2022, in Beaufort, NC.
Founded in 1938, NCCCMA is the premier professional development association for local government managers in North Carolina, representing more than 400 active local government managers and senior level department heads and over 200 retired local government managers. NCCCMA is a state affiliate organization of the International City & County Management Association (ICMA), which has over 11,000 members worldwide and whose mission is to advance professional local government management through leadership, management, innovation, and ethics.
“As a leader with my peers across the state within NCCCMA, I am honored to serve this professional organization that takes public management seriously and holds local government officials to high standards and ethics,” Peoples said.
Since 2000, he has been associated with NCCCMA where he previously served as the first vice president, second vice president, member of the board of directors, and chairperson of the professional development committee for nine years.
Peoples has been the Gastonia City Manager since April 2017 and previously served as Assistant City Manager and Enterprise Services Director for the City of Gastonia. He has also previously worked in Grifton, NC, and Cramerton, NC.
Peoples is a member of the Rotary Club of Gastonia, board member of Gaston Together, and board member of the NC Municipal Power Agency 1. He is a past president of the Appalachian State University Local Government Alumni Association and has served on the Appalachian State University Alumni Council. He is also a member of the Western Carolina University Association of Local Government Catamounts.
Peoples grew up in Iredell and Alexander Counties, NC, and earned two bachelor’s degrees from Western Carolina University and a master’s degree from Appalachian State University. He is a graduate of the UNC School of Government Municipal Administration Program and the Public Executive Leadership Academy (PELA). Peoples obtained ICMA Credentialed Manager (ICMA-CM) status in 2008.
He, his wife, and two children reside in Gastonia.
