CHANDLER, Ariz. – Chandler native and former mayor, councilmember and state senator Jay Tibshraeny will be inducted Saturday, Feb. 22 at 9 a.m. as the 2025 Celebration Plaza honoree. Celebration Plaza is located at the center of Tumbleweed Park, 745 E. Germann Road.
Tibshraeny served Chandler for nearly 40 years and has been instrumental in shaping Chandler's financial stability, economic prosperity and quality of life. His leadership offered a steady hand that guided the community’s high growth periods in the 1980s and 1990s through investments in parks, recreation and transportation. He helped preserve the Price Corridor as the city’s largest employment area and ushered in thousands of jobs that fortified Chandler’s status as the Innovation and Technology Hub of the Southwest.
Tibshraeny was appointed to Chandler’s planning and zoning commission in 1980 and served six years in that capacity. He was first elected to the City Council in 1986 as a councilmember and he served as vice mayor from 1990 to 1994. Then, he was elected for the first time as mayor in 1994 and served seven terms from 1994 – 2002 and again from 2011 to 2019. He represented Chandler as an Arizona State Senator from 2003 – 2010.
Celebration Plaza, a permanent water feature and monument wall near the center of Tumbleweed Park, is a place where the Chandler City Council recognizes organizations or individuals for their civic leadership, public outreach and outstanding personal service and commitment to the community. Nominations are open to members of the public each year. After nominations are made, the Chandler Museum Foundation forwards recommendations to the Chandler City Council for final selection.
Chandler Museum is an innovative learning environment where the community comes together to share our stories, store our cultural heritage, and experience Chandler as a people and place. The vision of the Museum is to be the community’s principal resource to explore its people’s history, culture, and place in the rapidly changing world of today – within and without the walls of a building. More information can be found online at Chandler Museum.
Media contact:
Rebecca Vega
Chandler Museum Marketing and Volunteer Coordinator
480-782-2879