Mike Dunafon is the ninth Mayor of Glendale in its 60-year history. Prior to his election, Mayor Dunafon served as mayor pro tem for eight years and has been a member of the Glendale Planning Commission since 1999 and chairman since 2004.
A Colorado native, Mayor Dunafon has been a major player in initiating and shepherding the extraordinary 14-year transformation of the small City of Glendale into an entertainment capitol and internationally-known city. This transformation began when Dunafon first chaired the Strategic Planning Initiative in 1998. The Glendale citizens clearly sent a strong message: they wanted a new identity -- a more vibrant Glendale.
Co-founding the first Glendale Chamber of Commerce, Mayor Dunafon launched a full-time effort to collaboratively unite the residences and businesses of the city into a single vision.
Mayor Dunafon was instrumental in establishing a community-wide newspaper, “The Glendale News,” which subsequently became “The Glendale / Cherry Creek Chronicle,” currently mailed to 85,000 homes and businesses in the area.
With the mayor’s guidance, Glendale became the first city in the United States to adopt rugby as the sole and official sport of the city, and today Glendale is known as “Rugbytown USA.”
Dunafon has a B.A. from the University of Northern Colorado, where he lettered for four years and was part of the All-Conference team. He signed contracts to play with the Denver Broncos in 1976 and 1977. His rugby career began in 1978 with the British Virgin Islands RFC and continued until 1992. He has a USA Rugby Level 3 coaching certification.