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Metro Council President Tom Hughes learned to be a leader while living in an Eastern Oregon logging camp. He was just a toddler when his family moved from Hillsboro to Starkey, and for eight years Hughes watched his father serve as de facto community leader within the camp.

The Hughes family moved back to Hillsboro when Tom was 9, and his mother and father were both involved in public service and political activism throughout his childhood.

Civic engagement is a family trait that seems to span multiple generations in his family.

“I’ve done some genealogy work as I’ve gotten older, and I discovered that my ancestors, dating back to New Hampshire, were school board members, town council members and things like that,” Hughes said.

So perhaps it’s not surprising that Hughes has dedicated his career to public service as well. He taught government and history at Aloha High School for 30 years, served on Hillsboro’s City Council for 24 years and was a member of the city’s planning commission for more than a decade.

In 2001, Hughes became Hillsboro’s mayor and has been credited with reinvigorating the city’s downtown core with projects such as the Civic Center, a new main branch of the public library and a cultural arts center. During Hughes’ tenure, Hillsboro built the nation’s first city hall in the country to receive a gold rating in the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.

Hughes also boosted Hillsboro’s profile as a center of business, attracting SolarWorld, the Pacific University Health Professions Campus, an Intel developmental facility and a Genentech facility to the area.

In 2009, when Hughes stepped down as mayor, the city renamed the plaza in front of City Hall after him. The Hillsboro Chamber of Commerce named Hughes its most distinguished citizen for 2009.

Hughes served on Gov. Kulongoski’s Green Jobs Council while campaigning for Metro Council president. He was sworn in on Jan. 4, and quickly learned the new job is accompanied by a demanding schedule that leaves little personal time.

However, one of the things Hughes enjoys most about leading entities such as the city of Hillsboro and Metro is the diversity of issues that arise each day.

“That diversity really keeps your brain agile and gives you a real intellectual challenge,” he said.

What was the best piece of advice you ever received?

Try to tell the truth because it’s easier to remember.

Who was your mentor, and how did he or she help shape you as a person?

“I spent 30 years as a school teacher, and the person who really made me want to become a teacher was Gene Doty, my chemistry teacher at Hillsboro High School. He was a Look magazine Teacher of the Year, and one of the top 10 in the country.

When it comes to city government I would say my mentor was Eldon Mills, who was city manager of Hillsboro when I was first elected to the city council.”

Tell me something about yourself most people wouldn’t know.

“I spent four summers when I was in high school and college working up at the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park. Part of what we did as a staff was put on shows, so I was basically a stand-up comic for three years. That was good training to be a teacher.”