County Board
Christopher Zimmerman - Member, Arlington County Board
Biography
County Board Member Christopher Zimmerman has been a resident of Arlington County since 1979. He was first elected to the Arlington County Board in 1996 and re-elected in 1998, 2002, 2006, and 2010. He served as Vice Chairman in 1997, 2001, 2005, and 2010. He also served as Chairman in 1998, 2002 and 2006 and 2011.
A former civic association president and planning commissioner, Mr. Zimmerman has been an advocate of the County’s legacy of transit-oriented development and managed growth, and a proponent of the principles of the New Urbanism. During his tenure on the Board, he has emphasized traffic calming and neighborhood conservation, transportation infrastructure, affordable housing, schools and programs for youth, economic development, public safety, protecting open space, and enhancing recreational facilities. He has worked to improve transit service and to make Arlington more pedestrian-friendly. He has devoted much of his effort to ensuring the availability of affordable housing in the County. Regionally, Mr. Zimmerman has worked to promote the concept of “smart growth” as the Washington area seeks to cope with the problems of traffic congestion and environmental pollution.
Mr. Zimmerman has represented Arlington on many regional transportation bodies. He has represented Arlington on the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority from its inception in 2002 and as Chairman in 2008. In 2004, he was Chairman of the Transportation Planning Board for the National Capital Region, which he has served on since 1999. In 2009 he served as Chairman to both the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission, which he has served on since 1998 and the Virginia Railway Express Operations Board, where he has been a member since 2000. From 2004 to 2006 Mr. Zimmerman served as President of the Virginia Transit Association. Mr. Zimmerman represented Arlington as one of Virginia’s two members on the Board of Directors of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority from 1998 – 2010, serving as Chairman in 2002 and 2008.
In 2004 Mr. Zimmerman became the first recipient of the Livable Communities Leadership Award from the Washington Regional Network for Livable Communities. He has also been honored by the Virginia Transit Association for Outstanding Contribution by a Public Official (2003), and by the Arlington Coalition for Sensible Transportation as a Champion of Sensible Transportation (2001).
Prior to his service on the Arlington County Board, Mr. Zimmerman was Chief Economist and Committee Director for Federal Budget and Taxation at the National Conference of State Legislatures. He holds a Master of Arts in Economics from the University of Maryland and a Bachelor of Science in Political Science and Economics from The American University.
Mr. Zimmerman and his wife Mary Beth live in the Douglas Park neighborhood of south Arlington where they have raised three children, all graduates of Arlington Public Schools.
Current as of January 2012