Mark Collier, one of the founding members of LINK nky and the current director of economic development for the City of Erlanger, has been appointed as Erlanger’s new city administrator.
Collier will begin his duties as the city administrator on Sept. 1.
Collier was appointed via a municipal order at the city council meeting on Tuesday, although he won’t officially be sworn in until the council’s September meeting. He will take the reins from Peter Glenn, who is retiring. Glenn previously served as the city’s director of public works and assumed the role of city administrator in the summer of 2023.
Collier will now join the ranks of people like Sharmili Reddy, who was appointed as Covington’s city manager last month, and Chris Moriconi as the central administrative officers of Kenton County’s largest population centers: Erlanger, Covington and Independence, respectively. Covington and Independence are the county’s dual county seats.
Collier graduated from the University of Kentucky in 2005 with a degree in journalism. His first job out of college was with a financial advisory firm. Collier told LINK nky that his background in private business sets him apart from previous city managers, who came from government backgrounds. The two city administrators who preceded Glenn came from police work.
“Communications, I feel like, is my strong suit,” Collier told LINK nky.
Collier founded Fort Thomas Matters, a small media outlet that eventually merged with River City News to form what would become LINK nky, in 2008. He bought Living Magazines, a set of lifestyle periodicals that have been in operation since 1977, in 2016. He would later sell the magazines in 2023. Currently, the magazines release regular issues for Fort Thomas in Kentucky and Hyde Park, Indian Hill and Wyoming in Ohio.
Collier had worked extensively with River City News founder Michael Monks to cover the general election in 2020, a collaboration that eventually led to the merger that created LINK nky in 2021. He served as LINK’s COO before joining the City of Erlanger in 2024 as the economic development director, as well as the city’s assistant city administrator, where he worked closely with Glenn.
Erlanger Mayor Jessica Fette commended Glenn and his time with the city, pointing to a recent project he and the other city department heads collaborated on: the renovation of the city building’s break room. Fette said the project- wherein Glenn trained people, including Collier, who did not have a background in the trades, to renovate – was a small gesture and way of leaving his mark on the city.
“He’s so full of life lessons and is so willing to share them,” Fette said of Glenn.
Collier served a single term as a Fort Thomas City Council member beginning in 2019. He met Fette in 2020 when they were both newly elected officials and both participating in the Northern Kentucky Chamber’s Leadership NKY program.
Fette said that Collier have similar points of view on leadership and that they had “grown through politics and leadership together.”
Collier said the city will likely not immediately back fill the position of economic development director and hoped to wrap many of the duties of the position, such as drawing business to the city and creating relationships, into the expectations of the city administrator position. The city may revisit the economic development director position in the future if necessary, Collier said.
Fette pointed to Collier’s work on the Eons project, a massive 1,000-acre park complex, as one of Collier’s achievements since he came onto the city staff. She characterized him as the “conductor” of the project, especially as it related to gathering partnerships with local businesses and institutions. The first phase of the project, which includes a dog park, is ongoing. Reconstruction of the intersection and parking lot that will lead into the dog park has been put out to bid.
“He can think big and get things done,” Fette said, “and those are phenomenal qualities to have in a city administrator.”