As a native of East Summit since 1983, my wife Paula and I have five children with daughters in Summit and San Francisco and sons in Newport Beach, Burlington and Glastonbury. None live at home or ask for money anymore. Our youngest won national girls’ soccer recognition that saved us a bundle in tuition. I’ve helped with youth groups and coaching and have involved all our children in helping the under-privileged. We’re active District 1 Representatives to the Summit Republican City Committee.

I’m a proud graduate of the United States Naval Academy and served as Personal Honor Guard to the President at the White House. As a Marine Commanding Officer, my Missile Battery was commended for operational readiness and later was the first Marine Unit deployed to Vietnam. Some of the men I trained never returned. I’ve honored them through a memorial gift to the Naval Academy President’s Circle. After my Marine Corps service, I earned an MBA at the Harvard Graduate School of Business.

My business and life experiences are well suited to help Summit, with expertise in general management, planning, financial control, budgets, mergers and bankruptcy workouts. As the first CEO of Adidas USA, my 600 employees attained record sales and profits. As part of the Spirit of the Games campaign for the Los Angeles Olympics, we built consensus with our distributors to contribute athletic shoes to underprivileged youth. Additionally, we planned an Initial Public Offering, the buyout of distributors and a global data link, that were all implemented.

As President of Nortron in Silicon Valley, we developed a strong team that launched the first electronic wheel balancing system and captured a 62% market share. Formerly, as General Manager and Vice President of Pirelli of Italy’s first U.S. affiliate, we created profitable results with a philosophy to listen to employees and treat them as we would like to be treated, that turned out to be feedback and motivational home runs.

Now it’s payback time to contribute to the betterment of Summit. I’m a results-oriented business person with a sense of urgency and core values strong on honesty, reliability, fiscal responsibility and common sense. As a resident and officer of the Summit East Condominium Association, I hope to become Summit’s first councilperson from a multiple housing community. Our council team consists of Andy Lark for the At-Large seat, Nuris Portuondo for Ward I, and yours truly Rich Madden for Ward II.

Summit, like most other cities, is confronted with many challenges in these difficult economic times. I’ve attended council, budget and committee meetings to listen to the issues, interviewed key people to understand their positions and am exploring possible results that can benefit Summit. I welcome the opportunity to listen to and share your ideas to improve Summit at 908-875-8776 or E-mail marsmadden@aol.com