Candidate for
Council Member; City of Cincinnati

Jeff Berding has dedicated his personal and professional life to building a better Cincinnati.

As a fifth-generation Cincinnatian, Jeff was born and raised in Westwood and attended St. Catharine Elementary School and St. Xavier High School, where he played varsity football. Jeff graduated cum laude from Miami University, and in 1999 he earned his M.B.A with honors from Xavier University. He is currently the Cincinnati Bengals Director of Sales and Public Affairs.

Early in his career, Jeff took on the task of making his hometown a better place to live, work, and raise a family. Jeff helped form a coalition of Democrats, Republicans, Charterites, members of the NAACP, and many other concerned citizens dedicated to reforming city government. After gathering input from across the city, Jeff helped lead the coalition to pass the reform that allowed city voters to directly elect their mayor.

Jeff's work on that initiative led Mayor Charlie Luken to appoint him as Vice-Chair of the Cincinnati Electoral Reform Commission, which was charged with finding ways to make Cincinnati city government more efficient and accountable in serving the needs of its neighborhoods. In this role, Jeff built partnerships with citizens and community leaders throughout the city and sought their input on how to make the city government better. Ultimately, the commission recommended strengthening the role of the mayor and electing council members from neighborhood districts where they would be directly accountable to neighborhood voters.

Jeff has pledged to work with citizens to put the reforms on the ballot in early 2006, to give Cincinnatians a chance to choose to improve their city government.

Jeff has a long record of public service, taking on roles where he focused on getting government to work as an active partner in building stronger communities. Jeff worked for former United States Senator John Glenn, former Ohio Attorney General Anthony Celebrezze, and former Congressman David Mann. Also, Jeff led a successful national legislative campaign to protect funding for higher education.

Jeff has taken an active role in the Greater Cincinnati United Way and local Chamber of Commerce. He has chaired various committees and worked with social service agencies and businesses to better direct United Way funding to agencies that make a real difference in Cincinnati neighborhoods. For the last nine years, Jeff has volunteered with the Chamber of Commerce to study the community and business impact of local ballot issues.