Personal life, education and career

Leavitt was born in Yakima, Washington

Yakima, Washington

Yakima is an American city southeast of Mount Rainier National Park and the county seat of Yakima County, Washington, United States, and the eighth largest city by population in the state itself. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 91,196 and a metropolitan population of...

 and has lived in Clark County

Clark County, Washington

Clark County is a county located in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Washington, across the Columbia River from Portland, Oregon.Clark County was the first county of Washington, named after William Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition...

 since 1980. He graduated from Fort Vancouver High School

Fort Vancouver High School

Fort Vancouver High School, known as FVHS, is a public high school located in Vancouver, Washington. It is named after Fort Vancouver, an early trading outpost...

, then attended Clark College

Clark College (Washington)

Clark College is a community college located in Vancouver, Washington.The college, which celebrated its 75th anniversary on October 1, 2008, was founded as a private, two-year, junior college in 1933...

 and Washington State University

Washington State University

Washington State University is a public research university based in Pullman, Washington, in the Palouse region of the Pacific Northwest. Founded in 1890, WSU is the state's original and largest land-grant university...

, where he received a masters degree in environmental engineering. From 1998 throughout his political career, Leavitt has worked for civil and environmental engineering firm PBS Engineering and Environmental. He has never been married and has no children.

Political career

In January 2003 Leavitt was appointed to the Vancouver City Council to fill a vacancy and was elected to the seat in November of that year. While on the Council, Leavitt also served on the board of directors

Board of directors

A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...

 of C-TRAN, including acting as its chair for several years.

In January, 2010 he succeeded 14-year mayor Royce Pollard

Royce Pollard

Royce Pollard was the six-term mayor of Vancouver, Washington, the fourth largest city in Washington state. After a career as a U.S. Army officer ending in the late 1980s, he served a seven-year stint on the City Council...

 after winning the 2009 election by nine percentage points. Most attribute the upset of Pollard's decade-plus dominance of the city's mayoral politics to an election divided over whether tolling will be used to pay for replacement of the Interstate Bridge

Interstate Bridge

The Interstate Bridge is a pair of nearly identical steel vertical-lift, through-truss bridges that carry Interstate 5 traffic over the Columbia River between Vancouver, Washington, and Portland, Oregon, in the United States...

, with Leavitt opposing tolls for Vancouver residents.

Leavitt was sworn in for his term of four years on January 4, 2010.

External links

• Leavitt's campaign website