Jennifer Adams

Vice Mayor

Nebraska native Jennifer Adams moved to Arizona in 1987 to further her education at ASU and is the current Vice Mayor on the Tempe City Council. First elected to City Council in 2018, she was re-elected in 2022 and was unanimously voted in as Vice Mayor by her fellow councilmembers.

She earned a Bachelor of Science in Social Work from the University of Nebraska in 1987 and a Master of Social Work degree from Arizona State University in 1989. She learned the value of helping others from her mother, a lifelong community volunteer. Jennifer’s father was a mayor in her hometown, and taught her how important public service is if you want to make a difference.

During her 29 years as an employee for the City of Tempe, Jennifer worked in the Human Services, Public Works and Internal Services divisions, where she managed multi-million-dollar budgets and oversaw a large number of employees.

Due to her hard work and dedication, Jennifer became the president of Arizona’s chapter of the American Public Works Association (APWA). She founded the national APWA Young Professionals Committee, was the chair of the national APWA Diversity Committee and served on the national APWA Sustainability Committee. As an employee, Jennifer also served at the president of the Tempe Employee Council, which has since been dissolved and split into several Tempe city employee unions.

After retiring from the City of Tempe, Jennifer followed in her father’s footsteps by running for - and winning - a seat on the Tempe City Council. Working now as a full-time City Councilmember, Jennifer uses her extensive knowledge of Tempe city departments to fulfill promises made on the campaign trail.

Of the projects Jennifer’s worked on so far, she is most proud of annexing a portion of the County Island in north Tempe for development and much-needed revitalization, leading the effort to build a new city recreation center and pool at Clark Park,, and securing a large funding increase for the city’s pavement restoration program, in order to accelerate repairs of the city’s aging neighborhood and arterial roadways.

As co-chair of the city’s Sustainability and Economic Vitality committee, Jennifer is also a driving force behind sustainability promotion. Retrofitting city buildings with sustainable products and equipment, and advocating for green building codes for new city development projects are among her top projects in this area.

Jennifer serves on the National Board of Directors for both the Democratic Municipal Officials Board and the National League of Cities LGBTQ+LO Board. Locally, she serves on the Board of Directors for both the Tempe YMCA Board and the Tempe Tourism Board. She is also the Tempe representative on the Valley Metro Board of Directors and the Valley Metro RPTA Board, as well as serving on the Valley Metro Audit Finance Subcommittee, and as Treasurer of the Valley Metro Rail Board. She is also a member of the Kiwanis Club of Tempe.

Jennifer resides in Tempe with her family, their gentle giant of a rescue dog Stetson, their new puppy Bayou, and their 3 rescue cats. In her very rare spare time, you can find her tinkering around her yard, playing golf with her friends, or enjoying any one of Tempe's amazing local businesses.