About Derek

Derek Dobies is the former mayor of the City of Jackson, serving from 2017 through 2021. Prior to his election he served six years as a City Councilman and four years as the city’s Vice Mayor. He’s been a strong advocate for the policies, programs and projects necessary to transform our urban cores into vibrant places where people and businesses want to locate. In his time in office he has worked in a bipartisan fashion with seventeen different mayors and council members, and numerous city administrators.

As member of the city’s Downtown Development Authority, Dobies helped facilitate the economic revitalization of downtown Jackson through the largest investment in public infrastructure in over three decades. His approach to equitable development led him to create the MLK Corridor Improvement Authority to drive development into the city’s impoverished south side. He worked with the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce, the Lean Rocket Lab, Consumers Energy and Henry Ford Allegiance Health to build out new business incubators to strengthen a culture of entrepreneurship. 

Leading the city to a certification as a Redevelopment Ready Communities® by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, Dobies’ expertise in economic development includes streamlining internal policies and procedures, site acquisition and redevelopment, and marketing of public and private assets. As an active member of the city’s Planning Commission, Dobies gained a unique understanding of site plan review, building design and site plan standards, and zoning regulations. As a member of the Marijuana License Review Committee, Dobies helped change city code to attract and locate new developments in the adult-use cannabis industry, and helped redevelop blighted properties as a member of the Brownfield Redevelopment Authority.

In 2018, working with Consumers Energy CEO Patti Poppe, Dobies announced plans for a new Jackson Smart Energy District in downtown Jackson to encourage development in the energy provider’s Michigan hometown and provide a hub for new technologies that make buildings use less energy and rely on clean energy sources. The plan has prioritized high-efficiency builds, solar panels, battery storage and electric vehicle charging stations. Later that year, Dobies authored legislation to create an Environmental Commission and tasked them with spearheaded the city’s first Climate Action Plan to envision the city’s role in helping to combat climate change through new technologies and systems change across the community.

In 2017, Dobies earned the Changemaker of the Year award from Equality Michigan, the state’s leading LGBTQ+ advocacy organization, for his work in spearheading the adoption of the city’s Non-Discrimination Ordinance, providing protections from discrimination in housing, public accomodations and employment. In 2021, he earned the Legislator of the Year award from the Michigan AFL-CIO for his work on several policies that supported working families, including a Responsible Contractor Ordinance.