WASHINGTON, DC – The Board of Directors of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) today elected Prince George’s County Council Member Andrea Harrison as its Chairman for 2011.  The COG Board is made up of local and state elected officials from the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia and is responsible for the regional body’s overall policy and funding decisions.

Harrison was sworn into office May 19, 2008, following a special election to fill a vacated seat and was re-elected in 2010. She was the first woman elected to represent District 5 on the County Council and served as the County’s Vice Chair in 2010. She has also served as Vice Chairman of the COG Board for the past two years. During this time, Harrison and her colleagues on the COG Board have undertaken a number of initiatives including workforce development, Recovery Act funding grants, and the creation and adoption of Region Forward, a planning guide for the metropolitan Washington region.

“I look forward to continuing COG’s leadership in moving the region forward during my time as Chairman,” Harrison said. 

COG also elected its 2011 Vice Chairs—Frank Principi and Phil Mendelson. Principi has served as the Woodbridge District Supervisor on the Prince William Board of County Supervisors since 2008. Mendelson, a previous COG Chairman and President, has served as an At-Large Councilmember for the District of Columbia since 1998.