Mayor Tuerk was born in East Stroudsburg in 1975. He spent his first nine years under the watchful eye of his Pop-Pop and Mimi (an immigrant from Cuba) while his parents dedicated themselves to their education. In 1984, the family moved to Boulder, Colorado, where his parents continued their studies. Daily life in a progressive college town taught him the value of equity and diversity. Mayor Tuerk's brilliant “second mom”, Nana Kathleen, reinforced that message, saying “value your whole self, be grateful for your blessings, and there is no difference in people simply because of color; racism is a human-generated distinction, cruel and wrong. Mayor Tuerk had always wanted to return to his Eastern Pennsylvania roots, so in 2004, he and his wife Karen moved to Allentown because they were attracted to the energy and diversity of the city. After taking time off to care for their two daughters, Karen became a lecturer in Environmental Science at Muhlenberg College in 2011. They have two daughters, Amelia and Margot. After becoming LVEDC’s Vice President of Economic Development in 2015, he led the group in attracting billions of dollars in economic growth in the Lehigh Valley and creating thousands of jobs for its residents. His success in this role led him to become the nationally known spokesperson for economic development in the Lehigh Valley. LVEDC was recognized as a Top 20 Economic Development Organization by Site Selection magazine in 2019, and then again in 2020. In 2013, he joined Don Cunningham to transform the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation (LVEDC). Starting as the Director of Research and Innovation, he led a data initiative to contextualize the region’s economy for local stakeholders and national developers. As Vice President of Administration, he rebuilt LVEDC’s internal systems and finances, and established a Salesforce platform for managing economic development projects. In 2020, Matt stepped down