Mark Greer

Many thanks to the Akron Black Artist Guild for naming me their 2025 Artist Advocate Award recipient, and for all the impactful work they do to support the many amazing artists of color throughout our city! 🙏🏾 Honored to receive the award, and always happy to support our vibrant arts community, which adds so much to the fiber of our culture and society.

Humbled and honored to be named the 2025 Leadership Ohio Visionary Leadership Award recipient. Congratulations to my fellow honorees of this year’s Ohio Impact Awards!

Join us this Wednesday, May 14th for Leadership on Main!

Looking forward to speaking on the alumni panel for the Leadership Ohio Opening Retreat this Friday, April 19th, which also happens to be my birthday! Should be a great time.

Today I was honored to attend the Hope & Healing Survivor Resource Center 50th Anniversary Annual Luncheon, where my friend Rosa Beltré, President & CEO of the Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence (and Leadership Ohio 2022 classmate - BEST class ever) gave a stirring keynote address. Rosa has done the work and continues to lead in the vitally important and impactful mission to end sexual violence and empower survivors. She’s also one of the most authentic people you will ever meet. I am truly honored to know her.

And a huge thank you to my friend (and fellow Summit County Continuum of Care board member) Teresa Makeda Stafford, President & CEO of the HHSRC for the outstanding work of her and her team that has been a beacon of hope to survivors in our region for the past 50 years. I encourage you to support the Hope & Healing Center by scanning the QR code below or texting “DONATE” to 844-926-3138.

In celebration of Black History Month, join Mark this Sunday afternoon, February 4th, at 3:00 pm for a special concert of spirituals with bass-baritone, Frank Ward! Concert is free and open to the public, at Guzzetta Recital Hall at The University of Akron School of Music.

One thing life has taught me is that every journey led from the heart will always lead you to the best of God’s plans and purposes. This run for mayor is no different. From the beginning, this campaign was a continuation of the purpose and calling on my life: to serve and build communities, to value the neglected, to lift the downtrodden, to open opportunities, change the status quo, and bring our forgotten neighborhoods out of the shadows into the forefront. This journey has never been about me. That is why I can continue, boldly, unscathed, hopeful, and more determined than ever.

I am proud of not only the race we ran, but how we ran it. Our campaign helped set the tone and shape the agenda for the mayoral race, from the issues we advanced, the policies we promulgated, and the people we championed. We did this without any dirty politics, no back room deals, just honesty, integrity, authenticity, and courage.

There was a time in my life when I could not speak fluently. A speech impediment made simple conversations seemingly insurmountable, and public speaking nearly impossible. To cope, I chose to withdraw from social interactions, stay on the sidelines, and keep my mouth shut even when I had something important to say. I learned what it was like to be voiceless. Overlooked. Underestimated, and ignored. And because of this, I purposed within myself that when I overcame these challenges I would never forget nor neglect the voiceless among us. I would speak for them. Fight for them. And win for them. It is this pledge that propels me day by day, step by step…journey after journey. And while the outcome of this race was not what I envisioned, my view of the horizon has grown brighter.

I am eternally grateful for the love, prayers and encouragement of my wonderful mother, Eula Greer, and family, the hard work and perseverance of my campaign manager, Justin Lepley, and our amazing, stellar team of volunteers and supporters, who gave so much in our joint mission to bring real change to all of Akron. So many of you have reached out to me over the past day offering words of encouragement and gratitude. Please know that I see them all, and am both humbled and sincerely thankful, more than you will ever know. I also want to congratulate Shammas Malik on his election victory.

As we look forward, never forget that the road less traveled is the one that leads to our greatest destinations. And the path, though rocky, will lead to the mountaintop.

-Mark U. Greer

Time to Shock the City! 🗳️ Vote Mark Greer for Mayor on TUESDAY, MAY 2nd!

📣🗳️Be sure you know where to cast your vote Tuesday, May 2nd for Mark Greer! Check your polling location HERE: https://markgreerformayor.com/vote

Vote Vote Mark Greer for Mayor of Akron, Tuesday, May 2nd and bring the change we need to ALL of Akron