Mike is best known and recognized for his tireless advancement and promotion of public administration in our state. Building on his success in Granite and Mannford, Mike has attended over 70 city council meetings throughout the state, speaking on topics such as "How to Hire a City Manager", "Understanding the Role of Elected Officials" and his "Out of the Box" series on economic development and financial success for municipal operations. Mike has traveled the state as an evangelist for innovative thinking and practices for public administrators and elected officials. In promoting the economy of the community he looks for win-win strategies that suit the needs of the business as well as the Town. These travels and lectures have been at no charge to the cities and towns receiving this training - Mike charges neither honorarium nor mileage to these communities. Mike has also appeared in two training DVDs produced by OMAG, "Understanding the Role of Elected Officials" and "Mayor!".

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Leon Nelson has been a mentor to many young people who launched successful local government careers under his tutelage. It is not surprising then that he credits educator/banker Dr. Eugene Swearingen and Gerald Wilkins, then City Manager of Enid, as the inspirations for his career in City Management. In 1957, as Dean of the College of Business at Oklahoma A&M, Swearingen encouraged Leon to apply for a summer internship with the legendary Wilkins. A year later he became Assistant City Manager at Ponca City and then was City Manager there from May 1959 until May of 1978.

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Jessie James Nelson, known to most as "Jess", served on the Guymon City Council for 28 years, the last 14 as Mayor, ending in 2005 when he did not seek re-election. During his service, he distinguished himself state-wide for performing, as Representative Gus Blackwell describes it, "yeoman work in representing and furthering rural issues for small cities"- no easy task given the driving distance from Guymon to other parts of the state.

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