Meet the Mayor

A lifelong Fort Wayne resident, Mayor Thomas C. Henry is committed to collaboration, engaging the community and having Indiana’s second largest city’s deliver high-quality government services every day.

He keeps Fort Wayne a place where good jobs can grow and families can thrive through continued investment in neighborhood infrastructure and the vitality of commercial corridors, including downtown revitalization. Henry has worked closely with his counterparts in County government to facilitate the co-location of City and County government in a once-vacant downtown building and form an agreement to merge the City and County’s 911 call centers into a single emergency dispatch center.

Other accomplishments since taking office January 1, 2008, are: coordinating strategies for Fort Wayne’s growing refugee and immigrant populations, strengthening the connections among local social service agencies to identify gaps and duplication of services, overseeing improvements to Fort Wayne’s sewer utility that will improve water quality in the city’s three rivers, a citywide safe house program for children in emergencies, and additional opportunities for “active transportation” through the development of multiuse trails, bike lanes and additional sidewalks.

Mayor Henry’s community and board involvement includes the Fort Wayne-Allen County Economic Development Alliance, Indiana Urban Mayors Caucus, the board of the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic and Science Central.

Before being elected mayor, he served 20 years on Fort Wayne’s City Council, representing northwest Fort Wayne residents in the 3rd District from 1984 to 2004. With experience in the private sector, Mayor Henry was a successful small-business owner at a Fort Wayne insurance agency and healthcare consulting firm and as the CEO of a group purchasing organization serving hospitals in the tristate area.

A 1970 graduate of Fort Wayne Central Catholic High School, Henry earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology and his MBA from the University of St. Francis. He is also an Army veteran.

Tom Henry is the second of Jerome and Marganelle Henry’s 17 children. Since 1975, Tom has been married to Cindy (Kocks), owner of the popular neighborhood restaurant and pub The Green Frog. Tom and Cindy have a grown son and a daughter. The Henrys are members of Most Precious Blood Catholic Church.

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