Commissioner Tony Schertler - District

Tony Schertler was appointed as the Executive Director of the Dakota County Community Development Agency in January 2016. The CDA, one of the largest housing and community development agencies in the Midwest, works with local, state and federal agencies to create affordable housing opportunities and strengthen Dakota County communities. Tony oversees operations for the CDA’s six departments: Administration, Community & Economic Development, Finance, Housing Assistance, Housing Development and Property Management. The CDA currently administers over 30 programs and manages a 2,700 unit portfolio of public, senior, workforce and youth affordable housing.

Prior to joining the CDA, Tony was a Senior Vice President-Director of Housing and Economic Development Services at Springsted Incorporated and worked with local governments around the country on strategic and economic development planning as well as assisting in the negotiations of over a billion dollars of public-private developments. His municipal clients were located in California, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, Virginia and Wisconsin.

He also worked at the City of Saint Paul in the Department of Planning & Economic Development for 10 years, serving as Interim Director on two occasions. During his time at Saint Paul, he oversaw two major initiatives including the creation of Saint Paul’s Housing 5000 project, a program that produced over 5,000 new units of housing in four years resulting in an over $1 billion investment from the public and private sector, and the formation of an internal Resource Team responsible for assuring on-time availability of financial resources required for housing and economic development projects. He was also responsible for implementing and administering the City’s role in land-use planning, housing and economic development, small business lending, home rehab, foreclosure prevention programs, and neighborhood revitalization.

Earlier in his career, he was a City Council Legislative Aide in Saint Paul, worked as a research assistant at the U.S. House of Representatives, and provided logistical support for a presidential election campaign. Tony has a Bachelor’s degree in History from St. John’s University and a Juris Doctor from William Mitchell College of Law.