Current Mayor Jennifer Lyle grew up in New Concord, Oh for most of her life before going to New Hampshire College and later moving to New York.

She lived in New Concord with her two sisters and her parents. Her father was a music professor at Muskingum University.   

The New Concord resident described her decision to run for New Concord Village Council as one that she never would have considered if Muskingum History Professor Dr. Bil Kerrigan didn’t approach her about it in 2014. 

“Dr. Kerrigan came to me one day and said, ‘You know I’m thinking of running for Village Council, and I think it would be great if the two of us ran,’ because there were plenty of seats open. And that was the first time I ever contemplated running for election,” said New Concord Mayor Jennifer Lyle. Lyle and Kerrigan ran for New Concord Village Council together. Before deciding to run for village council, she had already been working at Muskingum.  

“I stayed here professionally for probably 10 years, which was surprising to me,” said Lyle. Lyle said that she originally came back to her hometown in 2001 for personal reasons. She worked at Muskingum University where she met her husband, retired Muskingum men’s basketball coach Jim Burson.   

Before coming back to New Concord, Lyle had worked corporate sales for companies and later freelance work in New York.  

Lyle moved to New York because she had been living in a town where everyone knew each other for most her life and wanted to try something different. Lyle said that although she loves New York, there are aspects of New Concord that she prefers more.  

“Everything that I didn’t like in New York, I liked in New Concord, and everything I didn’t like about New Concord, I liked about New York. So, they balance each other out in that way,” said Lyle. 

“I like the people, I like the fact that everything is within walking distance, I like that I can walk down to my driveway and go to the grocery store a few blocks away,” said Lyle.

When discussing about being mayor, Lyle said the reason she decided to run was because of the economy in New Concord. 

“I had been serving as New Concord Village Council for six years and I really believed that there were things for the community that needed to be done that weren’t happening, primarily in economical development,” said Lyle.  

Lyle is serving her second year as mayor.